 Photo By: Stephen Lew Da Boot Sports 11/9/2025 Article Courtesy of Crescent City Sports By: Ken Trahan Despite being thumped in Los Angeles by a Super Bowl contender, New Orleans Saints quarterback Shough showed positive, encouraging signs against the Rams. In his second NFL start Sunday at Charlotte, that carried over in a huge way. Shough was superb. The New Orleans defense was outstanding. Were the Panthers, who came in with a winning record, overlooking the Saints? Carolina was underwhelming. The Saints were overwhelmingly better. The final score did not indicate how much better the Saints were. As a 5.5 point underdog, the Saints won by 10 points. That says enough about what was a beautiful afternoon in Charlotte and a beautiful afternoon in New Orleans. Here are my Quick Takes from the 17-7 win for New Orleans at Carolina: **Inactives for the Saints were Ugo Amadi, Khristian Boyd, Taliese Fuaga, John Ridgeway III, Jack Stoll and Rejzohn Wright. **The Saints won the toss and deferred, giving Carolina the ball first. **Bryan Bresee committed an offside penalty to extend the drive for the Panthers. **Bullard batted down a Bryce Young pass. **Demario Davis intercepted a pass but Justin Reid, who has done little all season, committed a roughing the passer penalty for a high hit on Young. **That allowed Rico Dowdle to finish the drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to give Carolina a 7-0 lead with 7:59 to play in the first quarter. **The drive covered 67 yards in 12 plays, taking 7:01 off the clock. **The Saints went 3-and-out, including a sack of Shough. **Shough, under extreme pressure, made three players miss stepped up on the move and hit Juwan Johnson for 52 yards. It was a brilliant play and a career long catch for Johnson. **Devin Neal ran for 14 yards on the next play, his longest play of the season. **Shough hit Foster Moreau for a first-and-goal to the 2-yard-line but the Saints offensive line failed miserably. Alvin Kamara lost a yard, Taysom Hill gained a half yard and Shough, unable to find anyone, extended a play but had to throw it away on third down. **That resulted in a 20-yard field goal by Blake Grupe to make it 7-3 with 2:52 to play in the first quarter. The drive covered 72 yards in 10 plays, taking 5:07 off the clock. **Davis batted down a pass to force a Carolina punt on its second possession. **On his 300th career punt, Sam Martin punted down to the New Orleans 2-yard-line with a brilliant 51-yard punt. **The Saints went 3-and-out as Shough had to throw the ball away to avoid a safety with an unblocked blitzer in his face. **The first quarter ended with New Orleans totaling 85 yards to 66 for Carolina. **Nate Shepherd beat his man inside for a sack to stop the next Carolina possession. **Shough then made a perfect deep throw to Chris Olave over Jaycee Horn for a 62-yard touchdown to give the Saints a 10-7 lead with 9:21 to play in the half. **It was the second longest touchdown pass by a rookie in franchise history, trailing only Archie Manning’s 63-yard touchdown pass to Danny Abramowicz in 1971. **Martin again punted the Saints deep, to the New Orleans 8-yard-line with 7:43 to play in the half. **Olave limped off early in the second quarter with an ankle issue but he was able to return. **Shough hit Kamara with a swing pass and Kamara ran 26 yards for a first down. **The drive stalled when Hill dropped a third down pass. It was slightly behind him but should have been caught. **Cam Jordan added to his franchise best sack total on the next possession. It was his 125th career sack. **A lousy punt return, compounded by a penalty on the ensuing punt, pinned the Saints back to their own 16-yard-line. **Inexplicably, the Saints had a drive, let the clock run off 10 or 15 seconds and tried to run inside on a third-and-four play from the Carolina 41-yard-line. Kamara made a yard. **Then, they took a timeout out in a dead ball situation and decided to go for it with 27 seconds left in the half. **Luke Fortner committed a snap infraction, costing New Orleans five yards and were forced to punt. **The clock management was poor and once again, a costly penalty cost the Saints a shot at points. **New Orleans finished the half with 136 yards to only 83 for Carolina. Shough was 11 of 18 for 194 yards and a touchdown. **It was only the second time the Saints have led at halftime this season. The other time was the lone win over the Giants. **Shough ran for a first down on a third down conversion play but Dillon Radunz was flagged for holding, killing the opening possession of the second half. **Kai Kroeger punted well, resulting in a fair catch at the Carolina 10-yard-line. **Demario Davis reached 500 tackles for his career in the game. **The Saints blocked a 47-yard field goal attempt by Ryan Fitzgerald and it was Shepherd who came through to get a hand on it. It was simply a low kick by Fitzgerald. **Unbelievably, the ball caromed forward past the line-of-scrimmage. By rule it is a live ball and Carolina recovered after Jordan had a chance to do so and did not. Damien Lewis of LSU did for the Panthers. **Jimmy Horn Jr. then fumbled a handoff on a speed sweep and Pete Werner recovered at the New Orleans 17-yard-line with 4:30 left in the third quarter. It was justice, to a degree. It was seventh fumble recovery of the season for New Orleans. **Kamara ran for 16 yards and a first down through a big hole. He was tripped up or he may have scored. **On a fourth-and-one near midfield, Kellen Moore elected to go for it and Kamara squirted forward with a good effort, showing good balance, to get the first down. **On fourth-and-four at the Carolina 33-yard-line, Moore elected to go for it, passing on a 50-yard field goal attempt. Shough, under pressure, was sacked as Scourton beat Asim Richards. **Alontae Taylor then picked off Young, who was trying to throw an outside route to Tetairoa McMillan at the Carolina 43-yard-line. **Zaire Mitchell-Paden made his first reception as a Saint, a first-down completion from Shough, for 15 yards. **Shough did it again, extending a play, rolling left and finding Johnson wide open for a 30-yard touchdown to give the Saints a 17-7 lead with 10:20 to play in the game. Jaycee Horn fell down on the play, leaving Johnson open. That is what can happen when you extend plays. **The Saints got a stop but again committed a crucial penalty as Davis was flagged for roughing Young after an incomplete pass. It was a questionable call at best. Davis barely contacted Young but got a hand near his neck area. **New Orleans still got the stop as Carolina went for it on fourth-and-two at the New Orleans 42-yard-line but Carl Granderson got a big stop to give the Saints the ball with 7:35 to play. **The Saints rushed for 100 yards for the first time since week four at Buffalo. **Hill closed it out by running the offense for a pair of first downs. There were so many positives. Shough was simply outstanding. It is easy to see what Moore and Doug Nussmeier saw in drafting him at No. 40 overall. The poise is most impressive but his ability to climb the pocket, extend plays and his big arm are undeniable. With all due respect to Spencer Rattler, Shough is different. Shough completed 19 of 27 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers for a Quarterback Rating of 128.9. Shough is the first Saints rookie quarterback to win a game since Dave Wilson in 1981. He also set a franchise rookie record for passing yards with 282. Kamara turned back the clock, rushing 22 times for 83 yards and he caught three passes for 34 yards. Olave, with Rashid Shaheed gone, was a big play receiver that the Saints need. Johnson came up with two big plays and had no drops. Hill closed the game out, leading his team to a pair of first downs, running hard downhill. A week after having the lowest time of possession in franchise history, the Saints kept the ball for 33:21 to just 26:39 for Carolina. The Saints amassed 388 total yards, running the ball 37 times and passing just 28 times. The New Orleans defense was simply outstanding. Davis was terrific, despite the roughing the passer penalty. Werner and Taylor came up with turnovers. The Saints held Rico Dowdle in check, with 18 carries for 53 yards and a score. Carolina would not have scored a point were it not for the roughing the passer penalty on Reid early in the game. The Saints held the Panthers to just 175 yards. The Saints, for a change, did not hurt themselves in the kicking game. It was a good day in Charlotte and elsewhere for suffering Saints fans, who have sat through a miserable season, to date. No one is miserable in New Orleans today, not the fans, not the coaches who prepared the team well and not the players, who played very well. Yes, the Saints left points on the field. No, Carolina is not an elite team and Young is nowhere near a very good NFL quarterback. I’ll take Shough over him right now. Still, it is a win, the second of the season and the losing streak is over. Feel good today. You deserve it. John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior) *John 3;16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 
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