Tyler Shough expects his hand to be a non-factor when the New Orleans Saints visit the New York Giants on Sunday. Asked Wednesday how it was doing, the Saints quarterback said it is “progressively getting better” and “really hasn’t been limiting me at all today and on the past week, so it should be fully good to go.”
He still plans to keep it covered. “I’ll probably wear a glove just for another week in a row with it, but more just kind of being safe with it,” Shough said. “You don’t know whenever you’re going to get hit on it. So I think right now, obviously, doesn’t really affect me. But in a game, I want to make sure you’re not taking a direct shot.” The only adjustment in practice, he said, was switching how he handled certain handoffs and play-action fakes, using two hands.
Answers for the blitz
The bigger topic was pressure. New Orleans has lost three straight, the latest a 23-13 home loss to the Vikings, and when asked whether the blitzes will keep coming until the Saints show they have answers, Shough said they have to “be ready to go in all those situations, early and late.” He noted the Giants brought cover zero “quite a bit” late in their overtime tie with Washington.
“Whenever you get into second-and-long and third down, those are extremely advantageous situations where you can get into those packages,” he said. “So it doesn’t really favor us, and that’s obviously the Vikings special. And they got us.” He called heating up those downs and getting linebackers on running backs “the trend of the league right now,” and said the fix begins before the snap: no penalties, no movement, get set and play. “When we are on the ball, we have good tempo. When we’re all on the same page, we’re hard to stop,” Shough said. “And right now, we were stopping ourselves.”
“I don’t need to be Superman”
Shough was blunt about the turnovers that have piled up over the last three games. “I’m not trying to get it all back. I don’t need to be Superman and try and make up for a previous play,” he said. “I’m never going to shy away from ripping it. … But there’s a couple times where either I can go find a running lane, or just take a sack, or go limit it.”
He called one of his interceptions against Minnesota “just a dumb decision” after he had escaped the pocket, and said he “sped myself up” on the second one late in the game. He also said he should have tucked the ball and run more in some of those spots. Ball security, he added, opens practice every day.
An offense-only message
Shough said he and a teammate spoke to the offense before Wednesday’s walk-through, which he called probably the best of the year. “There was too many mental errors all over the position groups, including myself,” he said. “So I think the biggest thing is owning that, everybody, and then let’s put an emphasis on, hey, let’s go up there and let’s play our style football.” He said other team leaders had spoken up after the loss, and he credited Kellen Moore for staying himself. “He is who he is, and we love him for that,” Shough said.
He also had praise for the quarterback on the other sideline. Jameis Winston spent four seasons in New Orleans, and Shough said people in the Saints’ locker room still describe him as one of their favorite teammates ever. “That’s something that I want to represent here,” Shough said. “I think that’s the biggest compliment you can give.”
Giants, then Paris
The 1-4 Saints visit the 3-1-1 Giants at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, October 18, at 1 p.m. ET, then face the Pittsburgh Steelers at Stade de France on October 25 before their open date. Shough said the Paris logistics were “handled long ahead,” and that time on the road together could help. “We’re all in the same place, hotel together,” he said. “We’re going to go out there and battle and go in somebody else’s stadium and show what we can do.”
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