Shough masterful as Saints win fourth straight, a 34-26 comeback at Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WVUE) - Cam Ward couldn’t get the best of Tyler Shough this time.

Ward passed for two touchdowns and Joey Slye made four field goals, but it was Shough who engineered two late scoring drives for a 34-26 comeback Sunday (Dec. 28) at Nissan Stadium that extended the Saints’ winning streak to four games.

The Saints (6-10) won for the fourth time in four December games, while the Titans (3-13) lost for the second time in four games.

Shough completed 22 of 27 passes for 333 yards and two touchdowns, with several deep-strike passes that helped New Orleans outscore Tennessee 14-3 in the fourth quarter and 24-6 in the second half.

The Titans jumped out to a 13-0 lead, but the Saints finally took a one-point lead with 6:22 left in the game and held on with the Titans on the verge of reaching field-goal range on their final drive.

Shough completed eight passes to Chris Olave for 119 yards and a TD. He found Juwan Johnson four times for 95 yards, a career-best yardage day for the tight end. And rookie running back Audric Estime broke loose for a career-high 94 yards for the Saints, including a critical 32-yard scoring run with 3:44 left in the game.

The game matched two of the first three quarterbacks taken in the 2025 NFL draft -- the Giants’ Jaxson Dart was the other -- and saw Shough and Ward resume a budding rivalry.

Shough, the Saints’ second-round pick, left Sunday with the most wins (five) of any quarterback in his draft class. Ward was the first overall pick of the April draft but is 3-13 after 16 starts.

The last time the pair dueled was in October 2024, when each threw for more than 315 yards and four touchdowns but Ward’s University of Miami defeated Shough’s Louisville, 52-45.

The Saints haven’t lost to a rookie quarterback drafted first overall since 2015 (Tampa Bay’s Jameis Winston), having beaten the Rams’ Jared Goff in 2016, the Cardinals’ Kyler Murray in 2019, the Panthers’ Bryce Young in 2023, and now Ward in 2025.

Playing their fifth straight game without Alvin Kamara, the Saints’ run game was virtually non-existent in the first half, as they mustered just 16 yards on the ground.

That changed in the second half, when New Orleans made a greater emphasis on handing the ball to Estime, in the absence of the injured Kamara, Kendre Miller and Devin Neal.

Shough is now 5-3 as a starter since supplanting Spencer Rattler (1-13 as a starter over two seasons) as the Saints’ QB1.

The Titans took an early 3-0 lead on a 50-yard field goal by Joey Slye with 9:10 left in the first quarter. The Saints had a chance to tie two minutes later, but rookie kicker Charlie Smyth missed a 43-yard field goal try wide to the left.

A 38-yard field goal by Slye put Tennessee ahead 6-0 with 4:31 left in the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, Ward hit a wide-open Chig Okonkwo cutting across the middle and the Titans’ tight end bowled over Saints cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry en route to a 43-yard touchdown. Slye’s extra point put Tennessee up 13-0 with 12:57 left in the first half.

The Saints finally got on the board with 5:53 left before halftime, as Smyth connected on a 56-yard field goal that matched the longest (at the time) in his short career. New Orleans trailed, 13-3.

About two minutes later, Chase Young brought the Saints closer with a brilliant athletic play. The defensive end stripped the ball from Ward’s hand in the Titans’ backfield and ran it in 33 yards for the second touchdown of his career. Smyth’s extra point left the Saints trailing 13-10 with 3:51 left in the first half.

Young now has a career-best eight sacks in 2025 (in only 11 games), including five in the last six weeks. Young also has three fumble recoveries in 2025, tying his career-high that he posted as a rookie in 2020, when he earned AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

A 50-yard pass interference call on Saints safety Justin Reid gave the Titans a first-and-goal at the New Orleans 7. Two plays later, Ward found Elic Ayomanor alone in the end zone for a 7-yard TD strike and 20-10 halftime lead.

Coming out of the break, the Saints appeared newly determined to establish the run.

They fed rookie running back Estime four handoffs to power a nine-play, 74-yard drive that ended when Shough dropped a perfectly placed pass in the hands of Olave for a 19-yard touchdown in the right corner of the end zone. The extra point pulled the Saints back within three points at 20-17.

A 34-yard pass from Ward to Mason Kinsey on the next drive gave the Titans a first-and-goal at the New Orleans 6. But the Saints’ defense held, leaving Tennessee to add only a 28-yard Slye field goal for a 23-17 edge.

Smyth cut the deficit to 23-20 with 1:51 left in the third quarter, driving a new personal-best, 57-yard kick through the uprights. But with 12:50 to play, Slye hit his fourth field goal of the game -- this one from 58 yards out -- for a 26-20 lead.

With 11:22 left in the game, Shough hit Dante Pettis with a short pass and the Saints receiver spun and bounced off several tacklers en route to what nearly was a 32-yard touchdown that would have tied the game. But Pettis fumbled just before crossing the goal line and the Titans’ Kaiir Elam recovered in the end zone for a touchback.

Shough remained unfazed. On the Saints’ next possession, he connected on a 60-yard pass to Olave down the left sideline to set up a first-and-goal at the Tennessee 8.

Two plays later, Shough found Kevin Austin in the end zone for a 10-yard TD, and Smyth’s extra point gave New Orleans its first lead at 27-26.

The Saints close their season next Sunday in Atlanta, taking on the Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium at noon on Fox 8.

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