New Orleans Saints 34 - 26 Tennessee Titans

This is the exact type of game the Saints and Tyler Shough needed, albeit against a weak opponent, to help create assurance that the tides are actually turning. For the last few seasons, anytime the Saints fell behind by 10 or more points, it has felt like 21 or more. However, with Tyler Shough at the quarterback position, when the team starts slow, I don’t feel like they are ever behind by an amount they cannot come back from. In this game, when they fell to a 13-point deficit to start the game, I never once felt deflated as I had in the past few prior seasons, which is an amazing feat for this current roster to achieve. Look at the injuries that have piled up on the offensive side of the ball. Tyler Shough is throwing to receivers and handing the ball off to running backs who weren’t on the 53-man roster to start this season. We saw a similar, if not the same, situation play out last year for Spencer Rattler, who was unable to overcome the situation to win games. The thing with that is, Spencer Rattler is not a BAD quarterback by any means; he’s a high-end backup or bottom-tier starter, but he is 100% an NFL-level quarterback. This just shows that Tyler Shough is the true franchise quarterback for the Saints, and that even when the team is down, both in score and in talent, their current QB can elevate them to wins. With all of that being said, let’s look at the performances of this game and how they are changing how I want the Saints to attack this offseason.

Chris Olave

I can’t start this breakdown without giving Chris Olave his flowers. He has absolutely destroyed any doubt I had in him being able to be the number one guy for this team on any given week. He finished this one with eight catches for 119 yards and a touchdown. This performance gave him career highs across all receiving categories and also put him in a great spot to get a massive contract from the Saints this offseason, which he deserves. He isn’t in the conversation for comeback player of the year, but after saying he was genuinely considering retirement at the age of 24, he should be. He won’t win the award, as Christian McCaffery has absolutely shattered expectations of what he could be this season, but Olave, having his best season as an NFL player after his worst concussion yet, should not go unnoticed. 

Tyler Shough

Once again, and I will try not to overdo it here, Tyler Shough was the team MVP and the best quarterback on the field for the fourth straight game. That includes games against Baker Mayfield, Bryce Young, and Cam Ward. Are those the best quarterbacks in the league? No. Are they quarterbacks that NFL fans and pundits had much higher hopes for this season than Tyler Shough? Yes. 

The conversations involving Shough have gone from “How did he go above Shedeur?”, to “Why are the Saints benching Rattler for him?”, to “How is he going to overcome all of these injuries?”, all the way to now “Is he a top 15 quarterback in the league?” If I were to be asked that last question right now, it would be tough to give a definitive answer, but I am definitely leaning towards yes, he is. He has now led the Saints to four straight wins, and the current buzz around the league is that the Saints are the best team in the division, even though they won’t make the playoffs. Shough also surpassed Tetairoa McMillan today as the favorite to win the offensive rookie of the year, even though he has only started eight games. The things Tyler Shough is doing are certainly unexpected, but just because they are unexpected doesn’t mean they should go underappreciated by the league and NFL media. It’s nice to see the media finally starting to pick up on what’s going on in New Orleans. I hope that it continues throughout this offseason. 

There is a big divide among the Saints fanbase about whether or not the team should really be happy about winning these games, since their draft position has been going down with every win. To me, the answer couldn’t be clearer; these wins are exponentially more valuable than their draft pick position. With these wins, the fanbase and the team have learned that they have a franchise quarterback, and the team culture is being rejuvenated more and more every week. I’m not sure if you have seen it yet, but if not, check out this video from the locker room postgame below. I’m not sure if it’s just because it is the highest quality video I’ve ever seen from a locker room (was this thing filmed with an IMAX camera??), or if it is truly just how happy everyone is, but I am completely bought in on Shough and the future of the organization at this point in time. 

https://x.com/Saints/status/2005405454608859372?s=20

Kellen Moore

Anyone who has read these articles throughout the season knows I have been VERY down on Kellen Moore as the season progressed. That being said, I think he has truly spun my whole image of him and made me buy into what he is doing as the Saints' head coach. Is he perfect? No. Will the training camp next year look the same as this year’s? Again, No. However, Kellen Moore’s playcalling and decisions with timeouts and game management have 100% improved in recent weeks. Maybe he is more confident in calling a broad range of plays with Shough at quarterback, maybe he is simply more confident in the team’s ability as a whole to execute them, or maybe he simply has learned a little bit more every week what works and what doesn’t. He has called a lot more outside runs than he did to start the season, and has also learned how to manage the ends of halves. He had a few blunders of epic proportions to end halves this season due to timeout usage, and this week, Justin Reid ruined a really good job by Moore to use timeouts and display confidence in his QB and offense to go get points in a short amount of time. 

Kellen Moore’s post-game speeches are very unique in comparison to what I see from other head coaches across the league as well. He is never overly energetic, he never screams just for the sake of screaming, and he never seems to run out of game balls. Moore isn’t a guy who yells like Dan Campbell or Ben Johnson, but you can tell that he is genuinely excited and happy for the team and the players every single week in these post-game speeches. Players can see straight through a fake personality, which is genuinely what I believe happened with Dennis Allen at the helm. In Moore’s case, he is almost genuine to a fault. If he were this nice to a team that continued to underperform and not execute, maybe it would grow old. But the team didn’t do that; they have overperformed expectations, and Moore has continued to be the same guy he has been all year. The players have definitely seen this, and you can tell they are happy to have Moore as the head coach. 

Moore gives what he calls “shout-outs” to all of the guys who perform well in games. These shout-outs come with game balls for all of the players named, which leads to a LOT of game balls being tossed around the locker room. This may seem corny to those outside of the locker room, but the players love it; they are all getting recognized for what they bring to the table, something that can quickly win over a team to follow a coach to battle every week. Moore gave so many balls last week and also this week that in this week’s speech, he said he may get in trouble with the league. 

Kellen Moore has completed a full 180 and is now someone I am confident in to lead the Saints to victory in the near future. I love the way he is calling an offense going through injuries left and right, and I love the way he is currently managing the locker room. He accomplished the hardest thing to do in a rebuild: picking the right quarterback. So, now my question is, how will he follow that up? If Moore, alongside Mickey Loomis, enters this offseason and successfully identifies the weakest position groups and gets talent there, he can earn himself a very long tenure with the organization in New Orleans.

The Future

I was relatively sure last week that the Saints had their quarterback and head coach of the future, but after this performance, I couldn’t be more sure and positive. With both of those things being locked in, where do the Saints go from here? The team is still lacking talent depth at numerous position groups, but to me, the two biggest concerns are the interiors of the lines on both sides of the ball and the weapons Tyler Shough has to throw to. 

Before yesterday’s game, I would have had running back on this list too, with Kamara, Miller, and Neal all being injured and not seeing much from Estime or Hull the past couple of weeks. However, Audric Estime had the best game of his career on only 14 carries, finishing with 94 yards and a touchdown. If Estime can repeat a similar performance next year, it makes the conversation of who should stay around next season much harder. I could see Kendre Miller being a guy the Saints move in the offseason for a draft pick, simply due to injury history, but man, he can run the damn ball when he is healthy. This conversation could become even tougher if Kellen Moore decides he wants to build the run game for the team up even more by going and drafting the best RB in college football, Jeremiyah Love. If that happens, I don’t think there’s any chance Kendre Miller is back with the team. 

I have not gotten the chance to scout interior talent from either side of the line much, but the Saints will need to decide whether or not the weaknesses there are something to attack in the draft or free agency. I believe the Saints could find solid fixes in free agency for the defensive side of the ball and try to find young talent in the draft to shore up the interior offensive line. 

If the Saints go the route I believe they should pursue, which is to go and get a wide receiver with their first round pick, there are a couple of guys I think they should look at. Makai Lemon and Carnell Tate. Some may say I’m crazy for leaving Jordyn Tyson off of this list, but his injury history and competition level both scare me. Another great route the team could go is to go EDGE in the first round, then Elijah Sarratt in the second if he isn’t a shoo-in first-rounder by the time the draft comes around. All of these guys would be great additions to go alongside Chris Olave, Devaughn Vele, and Juwan Johnson in the passing attack for Shough.

The Saints are the best team in the division, and I don’t feel like that is a homer take. The Saints have looked the best on both sides of the ball and beat both of the teams above them. In addition, the Saints may end up finishing in second place in the South with a win over the Falcons next week and a Bucs loss to the Panthers. However, the ideal scenario is for both the Saints and Bucs to win, with the Saints finishing on a five-game win streak and getting the third-place schedule next year. The Saints are crushing expectations to end the season, and causing hope to rise over the win-deprived city of New Orleans. What more could you ask for? 

Offensive MVP: Tyler Shough

Defensive MVP: Chase Young

Special Teams MVP: CHARLIE “THE IRISH HAMMER” SMYTH