Tyler Shough didn't need a magical performance on Sunday against Tennessee to meet the soaring expectations that have followed him since becoming the Saints starting quarterback.
But in New Orleans a little lagniappe doesn't hurt.
Shough helped provide it for Saints fans in Nissan Stadium against the Titans, leading a furious second-half comeback in a 34-26 victory, the fourth straight for New Orleans (6-10) and the fifth win in his eight games as a starter.
New Orleans, which outscored the Titans 24-6 in the second half, hadn't won four consecutive games in a season since winning nine straight in 2020. Shough posted a career-high 333 passing yards and two touchdowns while completing 22 of 27 passes. Audric Estimé ran for a career high 94 yards, and a touchdown, on 18 carries.
Chris Olave caught eight passes to push his season total to 100, a career high, for 119 yards and a touchdown. Charlie Smyth kicked a career-best 56-yard field goal in the second quarter, then topped it with a 57-yarder in the third.
And the defense held the Titans (3-13) to two second-half field goals benefited from four sacks, including 1.5 by edge Chase Young, who returned a strip-sack 33 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter to keep the Saints afloat until the offense found its groove.
"As enjoyable of a win as we've had this year, just from the standpoint of the first half going the way it did — not meeting the standard, having to navigate some stuff in there and then the second half — just the way our guys responded," Saints coach Kellen Moore said.
"It took all three phases. Complementary football at its finest. All three phases contributed really well in that second half and we had some big-time plays by some big-time players."
Nothing less would have sufficed for New Orleans, which trailed 20-10 at halftime as it sputtered offensively (92 yards) and failed to keep Tennessee under wraps on defense (184 yards allowed, 135 of them passing).
But Shough and the offense sprang to life in a second half that was littered with explosive plays: A third-quarter completion of 30 yards (Juwan Johnson); fourth-quarter completions of 32 (Dante Pettis), 39 (Johnson) and 60 (Olave) yards; and a 32-yard touchdown run by Estime in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring.
The five plays accounted for 193 of the Saints' 331 yards in the second half, and 46 percent of their overall output.
"It was our same approach the whole game," said Shough, who completed 12 of 16 passes for 251 yards and both touchdowns in the second half. "We just had to be more dialed. At halftime, Coach Nuss (offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier), myself, all the guys, we were all firing up. Just keep doing what we're doing but find that extra edge, find that extra inch and we can go out there and finish them."
But before the finish there was the mud-stuck start. New Orleans forced a punt on the game's opening drive, but gave up a sack to end its own three-and-out open on offense. The Titans kicked two field goals and scored on a 43-yard touchdown pass by rookie Cam Ward to take a 13-0 lead, and the Saints answered with Smyth's 56-yard field goal before Young injected life back into the game.
Tennessee drove from its own 24 to the Saints' 46-yard line before a holding penalty pushed the ball back to the Titans' 44. On first-and-20, Ward was pressured by edge Carl Granderson and, in his quest to escape, was sacked from behind by Young. Instead of taking Ward to the ground, Young wrestled the football away and won a 33-yard sprint to the end zone, pulling the Saints within 13-10 with 3:51 left in the second quarter.
The Titans scored another touchdown before the half ended, but New Orleans had already found the jolt of adrenaline it needed.
"They chipped me, I went high," said Young, who raised his sack total to a career high 8.5 this season, with three fumble recoveries. "I owe Grando a couple of steak dinners. He pushed the pocket — it doesn't work if we're not together. He went lower, I went high, (Ward) came right to me.
"Mid-play, when I saw him the ball was in the air, and for that split second — my Dad used to tell me when I was a kid and I played D-end, 'Take the ball out of his hand' — And for that split second it hit me and I was like the ball is right there, I can take it. I came down on it, and I just took it. And that was all she wrote."
The rest was written by his defense (152 yards allowed and six stops on eight third-down plays in the second half) and offense, which produced 74-, 80- and 64-yard touchdown drives that ended on 19- and 10-yard touchdown passes to Olave and Kevin Austin Jr., and Estime's run.
Austin and Estime joined the list of unlikely heroes that have surfaced for New Orleans, which continues to produce despite ongoing injury issues.
"I feel like we just don't care," Shough said. "We're here for a reason. We're going to go out there and operate. There's no, 'Oh, man, if we had this.' Let's go out there and play football.
"This is why you do it, and that's kind of my message. Like, what a great opportunity. Next man up, now you get to go make plays. Everybody stepped up."
