TAMPA — All this talk about ball security during a rainy game at Raymond James Stadium, and there was Devin Neal forgetting to secure the ball.
Thankfully for him, this was after a play. He was too caught up in the celebration after he caught the late signal from the referee that he’d scored his first touchdown of his professional career with the New Orleans Saints.
And, doubly thankfully, someone on the Saints equipment staff had the good sense to grab the keepsake for Neal’s collection. In fact, the rookie running back came away from Sunday’s win in Tampa Bay with a pair of mementos.
There was that game ball from his first touchdown — a three-yard plunge to cap an impressive tone-setting touchdown on the game’s opening drive — and there was the game ball he received from coach Kellen Moore after the Saints’ 24-20 win in Tampa Bay.
“Special, special moment for me — and not only for me, but for this team,” Neal said. “I just think it’s a representation of who we are. We can easily just be down and go about it in the wrong way and not focus on getting wins, … but we fight for each other, and I think that represents our culture as a whole. And I’m just excited to keep on building.”
Neal and fellow rookie Tyler Shough were the engines that ran the Saints offense Sunday.
With New Orleans being forced to lean on the ground game in challenging conditions, Neal carried the ball 19 times for 70 tough yards against a Buccaneers unit that had allowed only three players to top 70 yards all season coming into Sunday’s game.
He contributed some big plays as a runner, including a 21-yarder that represented the longest run by any Saints running back this season. But he also added a crucial 14-yard catch on third down to set up the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter, catching a pass in the flat and turning upfield for a big gain.
On the play, Shough was dealing with pressure up the middle and he dumped it off to Neal well shy of the first down marker. Neal did the rest.
“I’m just glad Tyler saw me in time, had enough trust in me,” Neal said. “… He just has a natural feel, like, the pockets collapsing, let me dump it down by running back, and let’s just make a play. Whatever happens, happens.”
A sixth-round pick out of Kansas this year, Neal has started each of the last two games for the Saints while Alvin Kamara has dealt with a knee injury.
Odds and ends
Shough’s 34-yard touchdown run was the longest run by any Saints player since Taysom Hill’s 75-yard touchdown against the Cleveland Browns in November of last year. It was only the Saints’ second run of 30 or more yards since the start of the 2023 season … Right tackle Asim Richards, who filled in for injured starter Taliese Fuaga, left in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s win with an ankle injury. William Sherman replaced Richards in the lineup … Baker Mayfield’s 55.1 passer rating against the Saints was his second-worst single game mark since he took over as the Buccaneers starting quarterback.