The New Orleans Saints not only beat the Bucs on a rain-soaked day in Tampa, they did it with two things they've been lacking all season.
Those things were a fast start and a run game. The Saints scored a touchdown on their opening possession for just the second time this season, and they eclipsed 100 yards rushing for just the second time in the last nine games, the other being the Week 10 win over the Panthers. Saints head coach Kellen Moore broke down exactly that with Bobby Hebert and Mike Hoss on WWL Radio.
"This game obviously the run game came alive and that was a really important aspect. Tampa, Todd [Bowles] does a phenomenal job of running that defense, he always makes it hard to run the football against them, every single year, it’s always been that way," Kellen Moore said. "I think an important aspect of it is, you know, start fast. We were playing and right there in the thick of it the entire time, which allowed us to create the rush attempts, allowed us to play efficient on first and second down so we could have more run followed by run, so you can create that momentum."
Hear the full, exclusive interview with Saints head coach Kellen Moore in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
The run game was highlighted by two rookies, with Devin Neal rolling up a career-high 70 yards and a touchdown on his 19 carries, but the biggest highlights came from QB Tyler Shough, who ran for a 34-yard touchdown on a QB keeper and another 13-yard touchdown on a scramble.
“Just a really impressive play by Tyler, phenomenal play, the effort, the finish, it was really special," Moore said of the go-ahead TD. "Obviously we took the lead and we were able to hold on from there, so a big-time play by him.”
The rookie QB has opened some eyes around the NFL of late. He's now 2-3 in his first five starts in the league and with a comeback from 16-0 down against the Dolphins that fell just short a week ago. But don't lose sight of Neal, a 6th round rookie who has been forced into a bellcow role due to injuries and hasn't missed a beat.
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Moore highlighted the young RB's ability in pass protection as a key element to why he's been so easy to keep on the field the last two weeks.
"I love Devin," Moore said. "I think he's been awesome. Just the way he prepares and the way he's been ready to play. ... I think one of the most impressive aspects of being a young guy is how prepared he is."
The Saints will look to keep their momentum going in Week 15 when they welcome the Carolina Panthers to the Caesars Superdome. Catch all the action on WWL and Audacy.
More from Moore
On all the 4th down stops vs Bucs
“I think, credit to our guys. You know, [DC Brandon Staley] does an awesome job and the coaching staff just did an awesome job with the gameplan portion of this, and then our players with the execution. I think it’s shown up a lot throughout the course of this season, the short yardage and the goal-line stands, it’s just a really impressive job. We did a good job against the run a couple times and put them in a passing situation as a result of that in many ways and so obviously it had a huge impact on this game.”
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On Tyler Shough's leadership ability
“I think the last couple weeks have been great examples of his leadership, his resiliency, again, leadership is an important aspect of this, you always want your best leaders to be your hardest workers, the lead-by-example guys. His leadership and resiliency the last two weeks, we’re down at Miami, rally back, give ourself at least an opportunity to win the game, we’re right there at the end. This week, again, great start to the game, we have a little … adversity through that second quarter and then that second half responded really, really well, and so credit to him staying in there, hanging in there and battling, just like all these guys.”
On rematch with Panthers
“Carolina has done a lot of good things this year, and so Dave has done an awesome job building that program, you know, they’ve battled, they’ve won some games against some of the best teams in this entire league and so it’s going to be a fun battle at the dome. … You play these division games twice and they’re always challenging the second time and it’ll certainly play out with some different flavor and some different opportunities there and it’ll be fun to attack it.”