By Ross Jackson
NEW ORLEANS, La. – It was the final audition for New Orleans Saints young quarterbacks Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shough on Saturday against the Denver Broncos.
Rattler received his first opportunity of the preseason with a slew of starters on offense including his first career snaps, preseason or regular season, with wide receivers Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed and center Erik McCoy on the field at the same time.
Shough was in position, going second, to respond after seeing what Rattler’s production looked like.
In essence, each had some upper hand of which to take advantage. However, four field goals and a touchdown later, neither seemed to grab the proverbial bull by its horns.
“I thought there was a lot of good by the quarterbacks,” head coach Kellen Moore said after the game. “There’s a couple missed opportunities, but I thought they were going through the right process. Both guys I think had some opportunities in there. Tyler had an awesome run down in the red zone. I thought he used his feet pretty well in this game, and there was some good stuff.”
Moore saw some of the good things he was hoping for, but it never truly felt like either quarterback was achieving anything that would convincingly sway him one way or another. To Shough’s credit, he led the one touchdown drive of the game including a play where he danced in the pocket to extend a play, tossed a perfect ball that was dropped and then ran in on a zone read keeper for the score.
Read option? KEEP IT AND RUN
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— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) August 23, 2025
But that also took four drives to get going.
Rattler’s day might have been a little different had one of two things happened on the same play. Had Shaheed been able to corral a pass that came in behind him on a deep shot or Rattler had placed that pass in a better spot.
“I want that one back,” said Rattler in his post-game media availability. “It was cover zero. They brought the pressure. We got in the right check, and (I was) drifting left, trying to throw back across with the play fake. Just got to hit that one. I probably threw it a little early, but I’ve just got to lead him because that’s a big play.”
So, with Shough taking a while to convert on his opportunity and Rattler just barely missing his, it’s hard to say that either quarterback really separated in this contest.
Instead, the Saints will have to take into account the entire catalog of the offseason. Which, to an extent, would have been done anyway. But either passer had a chance to make the team’s decision for them on Saturday and might have come up just short.
Now, the Saints will go back to the drawing table and look over this game, two other preseason matchups and camp and make a decision based on which quarterback will give them the most opportunity to win. At least, for week one.
The deciding factor could come down to what the team simply values most, experience or potential. If that answer is experience, then Rattler is the easy choice. If potential stands out, Shough might have an edge.
So far this offseason, a lot of these kinds of conversations have leaned toward experience. The Saints quickly turned their open safety role over to Julian Blackmon, who came in with five years of NFL experience and performed very well in camp immediately. Cornerback Isaac Yiadom is likely to hold on to the starting cornerback role despite rookie Quincy Riley having two interceptions in camp and adding another in-game on Saturday, and third-year running back Kendre Miller looks to have kept a decent distance from rookie Devin Neal even before the rookie’s hamstring injury was a factor.
If the Saints keep with that pattern, Rattler seems likely to get the nod. However, if the Saints want to immediately see what Shough has and can grow into, he’s ready despite some tough games to open the season.
“It’s about continual growth, and you’re not going to come in and be a Super Bowl team week one,” Shough said when asked about handling the team’s tough opening schedule. “You have to believe that, and you have to operate it that way, but you’re going to continue to climb and see what happens throughout the season. Like you said, there’s going to be ebbs and flows, and I feel like mentally and physically I’m equipped for it.”
Rattler finished the preseason going 30/43 (69.8%) for 295 passing yards, a passing touchdown, an interception and a sack-fumble. His final passer rating was 86.9.
Meanwhile, Shough finished 36/54 (66.7%) for 333 passing yards, a passing touchdown, interception, sack-fumble and a rushing touchdown. His preseason passer rating was 81.8.
Both players are effectively knotted up from a statistics standpoint. Therefore context, consistency and the intangibles will be the deciding factors of this exciting battle between two young talents.
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