By admin 
A week ago, Tyler Shough sat in the middle of the pack among NFL starters. After the New Orleans Saints’ 23-13 loss to Minnesota, Garrett Podell’s weekly quarterback rankings at CBS Sports have him at No. 23, a drop of seven spots from his previous slot at No. 16.
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The reason is not hard to find. Shough went 16 of 25 for 96 yards with two interceptions against the Vikings, the low point of a day we called a problem for the Saints right after it happened. Podell credited him with the seventh-most passing yards in the league but wrote that “he has to fix his turnover problem.” He has eight turnovers in five games, the third-most in the NFL.
Ball security decides where Shough lands next
The volume is real. Shough has completed 66.8% of his passes for 1,299 yards with nine touchdown passes and five interceptions, according to his Pro Football Reference page, and he topped 250 yards in each of the first four games, including 410 at Detroit in Week 1. He has also fumbled five times and been sacked 13 times. PFF still likes the passer more than the box score does, giving him a 74.6 overall grade that ranks 12th among 34 qualifying quarterbacks (page updated Oct. 14). That gap between the tape and the giveaways is exactly where the CBS ranking landed.
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Shough owned part of it after the loss. “I’m guilty of some of those situations, where I’m trying to make a play on that interception,” he said, per the team’s postgame transcript. Kellen Moore took some of the weight too, saying, “We need to protect him better,” and adding that he has to “call it better and put ourselves in situations where we can play more mixed-down football.” With Moore’s own seat getting warmer after another slow start, both men need the same fix.
Sunday’s test is a road trip to MetLife Stadium to face a 3-1-1 Giants team that leads the NFC East, before the Saints head to Paris for the Steelers. Shough called them “two really good opportunities to go on the road,” and a clean game in New Jersey would do more for his standing than another 300-yard afternoon with two giveaways. For a fan base that has watched three straight losses in the Superdome, a turnover-free day against a defense with Brian Burns and Abdul Carter coming off the edge would give Shough his strongest case yet for climbing back toward the middle of the list.
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This story was originally published October 14, 2026 at 9:45 AM.