New Orleans Saints 24 - 20 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Saints have taken down Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers, providing a spark of hope for the future of this team, as well as for the Carolina Panthers. The team had great performances from many of the young players in this one, and Brandon Staley appears to have officially turned around a defense that looked hopeless last season. In a year where all hope seemed lost, Tyler Shough has provided life for the fanbase and has 100% earned his role as the 2026 starter for the team (barring any drastic decrease in play quality). Two games ago, I was praying the Saints landed as high of a draft pick as possible, and now I see myself not caring too much about it if Shough continues to play like this. If the Saints can rely on Shough to uplift a team void of talent at different positions, then they can quickly scratch off the QB position from the offseason needs list and turn their focus to other positions. With that being said, let’s dive into how the team did and where they need to focus this offseason. 

Tyler Shough

Tyler Shough played an incredible game today, although it may not appear that way when glancing at the box score. Passing-wise, he finished 13/20 with 144 yards and an interception on a clear communication with Chris Olave, but shined in the run game with 55 yards on seven carries and two touchdowns. One came on a designed run play, with Shough shooting out of the hole alongside a great block by Devaughn Vele. The other came on a play where it looked like Shough would be taken down for a disastrous sack, from which he broke free and broke Kevin Harlan’s mind. He has showed multiple times this season that he can make plays in the clutch, and played an excellent second half to close this game out. He made multiple pro-level throws in big moments and displayed why some commentators have compared him to guys like Josh Allen and Ben Roethlisberger. If Tyler Shough continues to play the way he has, the Saints will have found their guy, and the worry about Shough’s age will disappear into thin air. I will say I’m surprised at the low level of hype he has gotten across social media and sports commentary, so I’m interested to see the discourse about him after this massive win.

The Young Guys

The Saints appear to have made all of the right picks in this past draft, with every drafted player performing well. This does not include Broughton, who was injured earlier on, and the seventh rounders, which are as good as blind shots in the dark anyway. Specifically in this game, Devin Neal played an excellent game, and all of the other guys have shown they definitely belong in the National Football League. Neal finished with 70 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, with a few really solid runs where he had to fight for extra yardage through contact. If he continues to play this way with Alvin Kamara out, he will likely be the Saints' RB2 for the foreseeable future, and possibly work his way into the RB1 role if he continues to develop. If the Saints were to go the Jeremiyah Love route in the draft, he and Love would be an amazing duo to watch every week. 

The Saints' young guys in the secondary also played well today, with Kool-Aid McKinstry leading the team in tackles and having a clutch PBU late in the game, and Alontae Taylor having a big-time interception to start the third quarter. I also really liked what I saw from Jonas Sanker and Jordan Howden in this one, which is a positive without Justin Reid being able to play. Another young player that wasn’t drafted this offseason but is new to the team, Devaugn Vele, had two huge catches for third-down conversions on the last offensive possession. Although Vele is not young in the traditional age sense, he is on a rookie contract. If he can be the bigger body receiver that the Saints depend on to get first downs, the trade they made with the Broncos will pay off massively. 

Brandon Staley’s Defense

The Saints' defense ranked 19th and 30th last season in points and yards allowed, respectively. Brandon Staley has the defense turned around in the points allowed per game department, where they currently rank 12th in the league. Although the Saints' defense currently ranks 22nd in points allowed per game, it’s hard to put that fully on Staley, as the offense has struggled to stay on the field and constantly has put this defense in poor positions this season. This is not at all to say the defense is perfect or that it doesn’t have holes, but it is nice to see the defense slowly starting to find its identity, even without a lot of high-level talent. This is a team that can acquire a high-level impact player like Arvell Reese or Caleb Downs in the draft and see their defense truly take a leap with the current coordinator at the helm. I will say, I can’t end this section without noting that Demario Davis has continued to play out of his mind for yet another season, and that I would happily watch another couple of years with him in the black and gold on if the team decides to bring him back. 

Kellen Moore

I absolutely dragged Kellen Moore the last couple of weeks, and well, if the Saints didn’t win this one, you’d be seeing a common occurrence with another dragging of the Saints' head coach. That being said, the Saints DID win this one, so I will go a little easier on Kellen Moore than I expected to just a few hours ago at halftime. Kellen Moore has made mental mistakes time and time again this season. His playcalling when needing a yard on offense is that of a five-year-old mashing buttons on Madden… random. The most recent instance came in this one on fourth and one when he called an outside toss to Devin Neal, which proceeded to get stuffed for a loss of two. On plays where a Taysom Hill touch possibly makes sense, he refuses to call one, and will then call a Taysom Hill RPO on first and 10, or leave Taysom Hill in to drop two passes. In addition to playcalling woes, Kellen Moore’s decisions of when or when not to challenge plays have been worse than bad. On a third and one in the middle of the third quarter, Audric Estime went up the middle and seemed to gain a yard past the first down marker, yet the ball was marked a yard short. Instead of challenging this seemingly clear first down that was terribly spotted, he simply went for it, and an illegal man downfield penalty led to the Saints taking the field goal. This is by far not the worst mistake he’s made as a head coach, but as a 2-10 team with nothing to lose, it makes sense to throw the red flag and try to avoid the four-point swing that occurred. Tyler Shough is the future for the Saints at the quarterback position. By the end of the season, I would really like to see Kellen Moore give me reasons to believe he is the future at the head coach position as well. 

Offensive MVP: Tyler “Turn That Nine Upside Down It’s a Six” Shough

Defensive MVP: Whole defense

Special Teams MVP: Mason Tipton