Tyler Shough on opportunity to start vs. Rams | New Orleans Saints

Tyler Shough on opportunity to start vs. Rams | New Orleans Saints

What’s up, guys? Welcome. So, can you tell us a little bit about um the conversation maybe that you and and Kellen had, what you can tell us and just what was it like being told that you were going to be the starter this week? Um, I mean, it was it was a it was a great feeling, but knowing that, you know, there’s a lot of work to be done. It was um he was just complimentary of the work that I’ve done behind the scenes and I was going to be the starter um for this week and, you know, obviously continually. So, um, but he just was kind of talking about what we need to do offensively, how we can kind of turn this around a little bit and, um, just looking forwardly. So, it was it was a good feeling, but also at the in the same breath that we had a lot of work to do. So, that’s my mindset. Um, and you know, nothing changes process-wise, but the the sense of urgency does. You know, we’re just going to have fun. You know, we got to go go out there um and put points on the board and go out there and win. Have you been confident all the through, you know, the last couple of months that this time was going to come? Is this something you expected to come at some point this season? Um, in my head, you know, I was ready to go in at any moment. So, in a way, yes. You know, I was I was ready to go in and and and do my job. You know, I’m not expecting, you know, you know, the game to play out any certain way. You know, I want to go out there and win. I want our team to win. So, um, ultimately, we haven’t been able to do that. And, you know, I just want to be able to help the team as much as I can. and and you know up to this point you know I felt you know I was doing the best I you know I could and and I was helping out the defense growing myself learning a lot um and and you know we got to continue to do that obviously like this is the dream right like to be a starting quarterback in in the NFL when you get news like that like who’s the who’s the first person you talk to after the first phone call that Yeah sure she’s she’s been such a huge role in this and obviously just up to this point you know um from every every college, every journey, every step in the process to now through the whole draft process. Um, so it was a it was a good feeling, but she’s also, you know, she was a competitor. She played soccer. She’s like good, you know, like I mean, go out there and win. She’s not really satisfied with any neither am I. Like there’s nothing to be excited about. So, um, it’s just another step and you I mean, we got to go out there and win cuz um I I could have done a better job in the Bucks game. I mean, who knows? We had opportunities to go out there and score. So, um, yeah. How would you measure kind of your progress throughout the the course of the season even in like within points and losses? You know, I feel like I’ve I’ve gotten better each each day and each week. Um and and really my intentionality was trying to play a game within the game each week of practice and um what every rep I’m getting uh when Spencer’s out there playing, learning everything I can, you know, from those reps. So, you know, I felt mentally just, you know, you’re seeing things for the first time, just a new play each week or a new defense. So, that’s kind of been the the fun part is how does game planning work? How does how do we want to attack this? So, that’s been just kind of great to see for the first half of the season. And now you can kind of come into it, how do we kind of, you know, what has worked well? What do we need to change? How do we need to make walkthroughs better? How how can we um have a little bit more urgency coming into practice each day? So, um, I think that’s been good for me to learn from. As a player, is that is that meaningful you knowing that like you can go out there and make mistakes and learn, you know, without having to kind of worry about like, am I going to lose my job? Um, I think it’s twofold. I think um you you have to perform. You know, it’s it’s a performance-based league. And I think my job is to go out there and and do that. And the only way the other part of that is just just have fun. You know, I feel like my mindset whenever I’m playing the best is just attacking, feeling like I have nothing to lose as far as that because um you know, I’m super blessed to be in this opportunity and I’ve and I’ve learned a lot and you know, I’m going to fail continually going forward. I’m going to make mistakes. So, um, I’m going to do everything I can to learn from those mistakes and then just have fun doing it, getting better, cuz at the end of the day, this is the first time you’re going to be seeing some of these defenses, some of these guys. You the Rams are such a great team. So, um, what a great opportunity, you know what I mean, to go out there and just to let it rip. When you reflect on the adversity that, you know, you went through in your career, transferring the injuries and whatnot to see, you know, finally get your shot at this point, I know you mentioned how you’re never satisfied, but when you kind of reflect on all you’ve been through to get to this point, I How does that feel? Yeah, I think you it’s it’s good to look back on and and and think about how little you may have known at that time and how much you’ve learned to this point. Um, you know, cuz I think you look back I think all of us can look back each year and and thought we had it figured out or thought maybe we were had come a long way. And I think the continual growth and process of it for all of us is is the cool thing to see. So, um, it’s just another part of it. And I think as an offensive unit, you know, we’ve grown week to week through failures and through losses and um but I think we have to set the tempo and set the standard going forward and playing complimentary football and that starts with me. How have your teammates kind of responded to you being named your star? I mean, so far so good. I think just building those relationship with those guys, you know, it’s been it’s been awesome um throughout the locker room. Obviously, it’s not a it’s not like a fun situation. It’s not, you know, we’re not we’re one and seven right now. It’s not like a we got to go out there and play better. So, but I think there’s a an understanding that we need to to come in there and like I said before coming out to practice, let’s have a sense of urgency, have some fun. You know, we get to do this for a living. Let’s go out there and and and and be intentional about it. And but obviously, I talked to all the receivers, man. We I mean, we’ve been super close throughout this whole time. And actually finally getting some reps in practice with them has been really really good. So, looking forward to kind of continuing that. Yeah. Breny Cooks was like one of the first guys to talk to you on the sideline during the game on Sunday. Have you What have your continued conversations with him been like? Seems like you have a pretty good He just said just remember what I told you in the beginning of the season. You know, he just I think obviously he’s been in the league so long he kind of understands um just how things go from a game perspective, how you can learn from from each game, you know, when you might get your opportunity, all that stuff. Just just staying ready. Um he just said go be you and just continuing out every single day in practice. cuz he’s always talking to me, you know, what you’re seeing here. Hey, you know, if we’re calling a shot, doesn’t mean that you have to throw the shot. Um, stuff like that. And I think he’s got great pointers and he’s kind of just like your, you know, quarterback’s old best friend. You know, he’s like the opposite of a tight end. He’s not he’s the big body, but he’s the the smaller guy, but he’s still the safety blanket for sure. Um, but he’s been great. When you see the transition from backup to starter, it’s obviously a leadership position. Just finding your voice in that role, is that something you think about? Does it have to happen naturally? like how do you kind of make that transition? Uh it happens naturally. Um you can’t come in there and and and be corny or fake, but you know, I haven’t changed anything. I’ve been still sending out installs, the scripts, all that stuff, you know, since the beginning of the season and still doing everything I can to communicate with those guys. And I was trying to plan ahead as much as I could to whenever I do get an opportunity or if that may come, it doesn’t need to be like a, you know, now I’m going to change, you know. So, I think you just be yourself and um and guys will gravitate to it and we got ultimately at the end of the day you got to go out there and win. So, um you know, we’ll get to it. What do you want to prove to yourself or your teammates or the general public over the last nine games here? Uh I’m going to win. I I So, I think if we win then I mean that’d be great. I I think you can’t really you gota watch the film after the game. You don’t I don’t even know you don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s the cool part about this game. So, uh, at the end of the year, you can look back and reflect on it, but right now your mind my mindset is just keep getting better and then, um, do everything we can to win and you go from there. That’s like second NFL sacks right now. What what jumps out of their pass first pass rush face as a starter? Yeah, I mean, they’re uh I mean, probably the best in the league just from a disruptive standpoint, you know, attacking the quarterback. Um, so I I got to do my role and and and protect the ball, you know, be ready to step up, find find different lanes, um, and and just be comfortable back there. I play play each play at for a new one. You know, you know, you don’t know what’s going to happen, but their defense is, um, incredibly good. You know, they’re they’re all, you know, front seven, back end, they do a really good job. So, it’ll be a great uh challenge for us. I’m sorry. So, you kind of have an appreciation that um kind of we trust you to go against a defense like this in your first game. Yeah, 100%. I mean, same thing against the Buccaneers. You know, my mindset was like, screw it, let’s go. Like, you know, well, you got you got nothing to lose. Let’s go out there and rip it. Um so, you’re going to get hit, you’re going to get sacked, we’re going to not every play is going to be perfect. Same thing’s going to be with the Rams, too. They’re probably going to make a really good play and they’re probably going to um you know, do their job. They they practice really well, too. and we got to um have our practice and routine and and be sharp going into it to go out there and attack. So, um it’s the NFL, you know, everybody’s going to be really really good. How much of an advantage is it for you knowing that, you know, instead of just getting thrown into the fire, you have a week of knowing, okay, I’m the guy this week and going through practice with all that preparation compared to I know you said the prep stays the same, but knowing that, you know, you’re the starter with a few days ahead of time instead of just getting thrown in. How much of advantage is that? Um, I mean, you get, you know, two or three practice days to get some chemistry reps for and and whatever the install is, but from a, you know, it’s not the same as a 8week or full off season of of of reps and maybe in the offense. So, there’s going to be a lot of nuances of of you’re going against a new defense and there’s a new kind of game plan or um each week. So, um, my mindset is to master it and do everything I can to where it’s that comfortability is there and you get more time with it, but at the end of the day, you gota out there and play football. And I think kind of keeping that same mindset to where you know you’re you’re building the game plan, but at the end of the day, you got to go make a play. Offense will look different with you running it or how will it be different? Just the differences naturally between you and Spencer. How will that look different, do you think? Um, I don’t know. We’ll see. We’ll see how we’ll see how it turns out. Um, I I don’t I think the game plan wise, you know, I couldn’t necessarily give you any insider stuff as far as that, but uh I think just being able to to watch and learn from him and and obviously Jaylen in the past and Dak and Justin Herbert and all the previous kind of places he’s been. Um, I think there’s nuances to all of it. So, I think it kind of changes each week, but I think for me and my skill set, um, obviously I want to do everything I can to get the first down and score touchdowns. Going back to like your your time on the scout team. Um, one of the things Kell was saying is it kind of allows you to like test your limits, push the envelope a little bit. Like how much does that help you in your your development? Like saying you can try something that you may not necessarily try within the structure of like Yeah. Um, that’s been huge. It’s been huge just because from a timing element, the the pocket presence like I mentioned before, you know, ripping seams, whole shots, finding the checkdowns, finding different different routes, you know, doing everything you can to to manipulate defenders. um that that’s been really good to to kind of test that, you know, and then obviously once you get later in the week, Friday, Saturday, there’s it’s more of a walkthrough tempo, but um it’s been it’s been great kind of going week to week and kind of continually going against those guy those guys like Kool-Aid and Alante and and Justin who are great at disguising and you know, great at tracking the ball. So, um you can kind of take it and learn from it. It’s also helped from like a pocket field standpoint. It’s like having kind of muddy pockets to work. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s almost every rep, you know, that’s obviously they’re we’re not going to, you know, chop or, you know, hurt our own guys, but they’re you’re giving them a look, but they’re going to obviously, you know, be in the back field doing their job. So, you got to navigate that. And that’s kind of what um Nus and and Scott have been really really reinforced to me is just play the game. And that’s that’s my mindset going forward. specific play or moment that that already stands out just from whatever that was, 30 plus snaps that that like that was something you learned in that game from a situation that came up that that nothing else could have recreated yet. Um just like something that is brand new that I learned from meaning I think some of the situational stuff at the end is always great to see just third down fourth down what’s your mind like mindset trying to get maybe half back you know have to get all of it you know your thought process there cuz obviously when you’re you’re just installing plays or running reps and you’re just run you’re trying to master those but the all the situational stuff um was really really good to to kind of feel out you know fourth down you know the one where I kind of spun and then I threw it too quickly hit a jack, you know, thinking I was a little bit warmer there, but it’s fourth down. You might as well just try and scramble. Um, that was good to kind of learn from rather than you’re playing quickly, but you on that down, you don’t need to. You can actually kind of extend it because it’s the last down. Stuff like that was all was all great. Do you remember the very first time you dreamed of being a quarterback? Um, probably when I was a kid. I had like a Brett Favre jersey on and I remember I saw him just like spinning it. Um he was kind of one of my favorites growing up and I don’t know you’re a kid so you could call it a dream I guess but once you start to actually go into route those reps you realize how much of a daunting task that may actually will be like oh shoot I got to get bigger stronger all that stuff and then you get hurt a couple times you’re like I’m definitely not going to league and you obviously have that inner belief and I’m being facicious but um the task remains the same it’s you want to continue to grow and you kind of you know level up and I’m still I haven’t done anything yet so There’s a lot more to go. You have to start to kind of sink in though this week. Are you starting to kind of um a little bit of both, you know, a little bit of both. I think there’s that, like I said before, that sense of urgency and that and you know, we got to get things going. You know, it’s not like a great feeling right now. So, um, but at the same time, you it’s just go going out there and playing ball. So, trying to have have that perspective, but at the same time, we got to get things going. It doesn’t seem like you’re taking it for granted, but I’m curious what you make of, you know, the NFL is nothing’s guaranteed this, even though Tylen has no intention of making a switch, like this is kind of your opportunity and how you’re kind of approaching this stretch here. Yeah, I mean, like I said, it’s a great opportunity. We got to go out there and there’s no, you know, everything is ahead of us. We got nothing to lose. nothing but green grass to go out there and and and do everything that we can to to to string along a lot of wins and um so that’s my whole mindset. You know, why not? And I understand, you know, obviously you don’t perform well, then there’s going to be learning there’s going to be learning moments. You know what I mean? But at the end of the day, you got to go out there and do everything you can. What things do you do away from the facility in terms of creating chemistry with some of those guys on offense? Mhm. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I’m going to to O line dinners, tight bringing the tight ends every single week. Um, you know, that’s that’s probably one of my favorite days of the week for sure on Thursday, spending two or three hours with those guys just chopping it up. Um, hanging out. So, that’s been really fun. Other than that, timing wise, we’ll, you know, we’re doing stuff on the plane over just hanging out. You know, we’re playing games together and, you know, a lot of the guys, you know, hop on the video game at night or if we’re going over there. So little things like that to where you can kind of disconnect is is almost equally as important when you’re your chemistry on the field. That way you can have that discourse and that’s been really cool for me to kind of see up to this point where um how you build those relationships up and then also now you can kind of put them to work. Is there a go-to game? Go-to game. Yeah, I don’t really play video games as much anymore because I’m, you know, I got the the wife and dog and we’re really busy schedule, but I would say, you know, back in the day it used to be Fortnite, but really there’s not much. I I think it’s making a run back. But, uh, I think for the main thing is I I’ve actually been doing the the VR stuff has actually been pretty fun to to do. We’ve been um we have that here. So, that’s that was been a a good asset to kind of whenever I wasn’t getting a lot of reps to kind of just plug through that. Was that your first opportunity to work with VR in that way? Yeah. Yeah, there was a couple different versions that I’ve seen in the past, but uh that it’s been working pretty good just visualizing stuff and um cuz you you know this is really the first day I’ve actually gotten to throw to CO and she and and Vle and some of those guys. So, um trying to visualize it and and then go from there. how important you can maybe to your development just having those guys to work with. I think having a receive like that I mean it’s huge just because of their dynamic ability you know I think their playm you know how how good at they are at routes their their big play ability their their precision I think um they obviously have done it at a high level this thus far and you know my job is to get it to them and and kind of uplift everybody and do everything that we can to make sure that that communication and all that stuff is great um and what they need from me. So it’s when I I remember watching last year um just from afar and you know really admiring it and then kind of seeing at this level there is a there is a an uptick for sure when you’re throwing to them reports coming out of the draft at the Rams Ohio were they part of your draft process at all is there organization um they do the draft process a little bit differently as far as not super involved with like Senior Bowl and stuff like that but um I got to develop a really good relationship with Les and um and and all those guys over there. And I think they they do such a phenomenal job at, you know, drafting, producing talent just coaching wise. You know, I have a lot of respect for them and um and who they are as an organization. So, um but but like I said, what a great opportunity to go out there and um be in LA and and play a really good football team and and to kind of go out there and cut your teeth and let it rip. My mindset is just elevate this offense any way I can and go win. You know what that may come out, you know that I’m going to be I’m going to compete my butt off. So, um, whatever it takes to do that. A couple deeps in the game that seemed like really close but just a little off. Is that a rep thing? Is that something over time? Yeah. Yeah. I mean the the one to sheed it was knew exactly what it was cover zero was trying to buy a little time. Um we had a little double move and um I just got to put like a touch more air on it. You know it sucks cuz it was right there. Um threw it like kind of more of an regular go route but with the double move he slows down a little bit and just give him a little bit more air. It’s kind of a feel thing. Um which you know we’ve been repping and we’ll we’ll hit those for sure. And then but yeah, I think as as you continue to get more reps and just giving them giving those guys more of a chance, we’ll be good. and the one to CO as well was really close. But um yeah, I think it’s part of it. Ago, I inferred that um and I inferred maybe incorrectly you had some doubts during college as to whether this week or Sunday would would ever come. Is that right? No, I’ve always I was joking. I was I’ve always believed that I feel like I’ve been good enough. But there is a reality as far as the statistically whenever you, you know, you’re not playing and you’re hurt and you’re sitting on your couch and you’re like, man, I wish I could do anything to get out there. So, it kind of gives you that cool perspective when you’re practicing and you get to go play in a game. You know, how what a great opportunity is, so I’m going to go play my ass off. You know, that’s kind of what I was getting at. But, you know, as a kid, you understand that the NFL is is the highest pinnacle. So, it’s it’s obviously you have to do everything you can. you got stuck stuck with the uh tab yet on the line. Stuck with I think my time is coming soon. I was I’ve been uh I’ve been mooching off them for a little bit now. They’ve they’ve extended the invite out. So, we ran up Kelvin’s tab pretty good and then uh week to week it’s been good. But yeah, I told them um you know, I got the next couple ones. We’ll uh we’ll see what we’re going to we’re going to do, but should be a good one. Appreciate it.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough speaks with the media from the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on Wednesday, October 29, 2025 ahead of Week 9 vs. the Los Angeles Rams.
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