Tyler Shough: I was trying to be too perfect early vs. Lions

At halftime of the Week 1 matchup between the Lions and Saints, New Orleans was down 7-0.

The Saints had moved the ball a bit, but quarterback Tyler Shough was 10-of-22 for 85 yards with an interception.

Then in the third quarter, the Lions got up 21-0 and the game seemed like it might be over.

But that’s when things changed, with New Orleans eventually tying the game at 24 with Shough’s 9-yard touchdown to Juwan Johnson with 1:07 left in regulation.

Then Shough hit Noah Fant with an 8-yard touchdown in overtime. New Orleans could have tied it up again, but instead elected to go for the victory with a two-point conversion. But Shough’s pass to rookie Bryce Lance fell incomplete.

What was the difference after the slow start?

“There was a lot to clean up just as a whole offensive unit, especially myself,” Shough said in his Wednesday press conference. “I wish I would’ve just kind of gone through my operation and had cleaner feet earlier on. My feet were too quick and I was trying to be too perfect. Like I said after the game, they did a good job early on. But I feel like once I settled in — and it’s the first game, I’m not going to be perfect, there’s going to be new stuff. But I just kind of took that pressure off myself and just played football and that’s part of it.

“I’m still pretty early when it comes in to that aspect of it, and I had a lot of fun being able to kind of have some adversity — some of that stuff just happened. So it was good to build off that. And the whole offense, we kind of were not on the same page [in the first half] and we were able to get things going.”

Shough finished the game 35-of-56 for 410 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions and a lost fumble.

While the Saints will again be on the road in Week 2, Shough will try to keep the momentum rolling against the Ravens.