Mason Tipton touched the football only once Sunday in the New Orleans Saints’ game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But what he did in those nine seconds he had the ball in his hand set the tone for the Saints’ best win of what has been a trying season.

The speedy Tipton returned the opening kickoff 54 yards, allowing Tyler Shough and the offense to take the first snap at the Bucs’ 45-yard line. The Saints scored six plays later on their way to a surprising 24-20 victory over the NFC South-leading Bucs.

“It’s really just read, see the hole, and hit it with speed and make it happen,” Tipton said. 

It was just the 12th time the undrafted second-year receiver has returned a kickoff. He never did it in high school in Akron, Ohio, and he never did it in college at Yale. He returned punts, but never kickoffs.

It became a bigger role for him when the Saints traded Rashid Shaheed to the Seattle Seahawks in November.

“Sheed was one of my closest homies,” Tipton said. “For what a great dude he is, he is also a good teacher. So seeing what Sheed could do and taking what he did and applying some of what he did to what I can do, just sitting behind him and seeing his examples is what helped me.”

The 54-yard kickoff return was Tipton’s second-longest of the season. He had a 75-yarder two weeks ago against Atlanta to start a drive at the Falcons’ 16.

The goal, of course, is to take one to the house.

“I’m going to keep hearing about it until I do,” Tipton said. “It takes everybody to spring the holes. I’m proud that we are putting it all together.”

Tipton was also a star baseball player in college, so he can appreciate his role as a returner being compared to a leadoff batter.

“That’s a good way to put it,” he said. “If I can start the game with a big return, it kinda ignites the whole team, especially the offense. Great field position and really get the drive going. I definitely look at it that way as a play to get everybody going.”

Tipton received one of the game balls from coach Kellen Moore after the win.

“It was big,” Moore said Monday of Tipton’s return. “Start fast. Obviously (slow starts) was something that we’ve tried to navigate for a number of weeks now and obviously there has been some frustration associated with that. No better way to start the game that way than to have the kick return to put us in the plus-50 category. Then for our offense to play execution football early in that football game and score a touchdown was big for our team.”

It was just the second time the Saints have scored a touchdown in the first quarter all season. The other time was against the Buffalo Bills in the fourth game of the season.

The players on defense appreciated the fast start from the special teams and offense.

“I think momentum is a big part of the game and people underestimate it,” safety Terrell Burgess said. “To open the game like that definitely showed Tampa and their fans that we are coming here to win the game, and we weren’t going to just lay down and let them win.”

For Tipton, the goal is to keep improving at a role that he wasn’t familiar with when he reached the NFL.

“The way I’ve looked at it, I can get the ball in my hands,” Tipton said. “I’ve got speed and I’ve got space, and with that I can make plays. I look forward to getting better at that and mastering that.

“I’m a wideout at heart and that’s what I’ve always done. Being a kick returner is a way to help the team and improve field position and create explosive plays. I have the talent and capabilities to make the returns, and that’s how I’m trying to take it every day.”