The season has only just started, and hefty fines are already being slapped on players. Two of those early birds are from the Baltimore Ravens, who have been fined for targeting New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough. One of those fouls stirred more controversy towards the end, with Shough having a game-winning moment.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“Ravens OLB Trey Hendrickson was fined $17,911 for his hit on Tyler Shough just outside the 2-minute mark of 4th quarter. He was flagged for hit,” Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic reported on X. “Ravens MLB Roquan Smith was fined $11,941 for his facemask on Shough that wasn’t flagged.”
A 24-17 loss for the Ravens got worse after Hendrickson was hit with a larger penalty for having his whole body weight involved in the foul. But nothing gets more interesting than the foul by Smith, categorized as unnecessary roughness, which wasn’t even flagged during the game and happened at a moment when Shough snatched the victory for the Saints.
“Yeah, that one hurt a little bit,” Shough said, according to Katherine Terrell of ESPN. “Yeah, I got kind of folded a couple times, but I was able to get in there. So we’d like to not make it as close. … I was going to reach for it, but getting your head pulled off, it’s tough.”
What broke the internet was the controversial touchdown that Shough scored against the Ravens to win the game. The score was 17-17, with 1:32 left in the fourth quarter. The Saints were standing on the Ravens’ one-yard line for a 4th-and-goal play attempt. Shough, instead of relying on others, took the matter in his own hands and lunged forward to break the plane of the goal line.
What is always a difficult decision for the referees to make put the NFL in a rather tough situation, as the referees signaled a touchdown. But what was more intriguing was the replay review, in which Shough appeared to have missed the goal line, but the touchdown stood anyway. Smith’s foul was reviewed after the game, and he was fined.
Fans were nonetheless outraged by the decision, and the NFL’s response also didn’t give the justice the moment actually needed. The call was a touchdown for a totally opposite reason, which further proved how difficult it is to judge these close moments where players are crowded within a yard of the goal.
“The key here is the ruling on the field is a touchdown. So, we need clear and obvious video evidence that he didn’t score in order to reverse the on-field ruling,” NFL Vice President of Instant Replay Mark Butterworth told Jamison Hensley of ESPN. “We stopped the game; it’s a high-leverage play, and we wanted to make sure to either find clear and obvious video evidence that he didn’t score or to confirm the call on the field. We exhausted all available angles and could not prove clear and obvious that he did not break the plane of the goal line.”
Butterworth further told Hansley that there was no clear evidence found due to the “mass of players” there, that Shough lost the ball and hence didn’t break the plane of the goal line- yet another reason the touchdown stood.
“You know, those are so subjective and so hard to tell,” Ravens head coach Jesse Minter said of the call. “It is what it is, honestly.”
This moment was indeed the limelight moment for Shough, who is still trying to prove himself on the field.
Tyler Shough can come back from the trenches
Shough has been the key for the Saints to come back from games that look unwinnable at one time for the team. Shough recorded 27 of 34 passes for 252 yards, including a touchdown, for the Saints. That’s great accuracy with a completion percentage of 79.4%, with the Saints coming back from an eight-point fourth-quarter deficit. But the final touchdown wasn’t the only moment Shough performed in. He also helped the Saints bounce back from a 21-point deficit against the Detroit Lions in Week 1, though they lost in overtime (31-30).
“He’s a really special player, but his willingness to hang in there and play the really hard downs- I think the rest of the team sees that, recognizes that. There’s a lot of respect for what he’s doing right now,” Saints head coach Kellen Moore said.
Although Shough is a clutch quarterback for his team, it’s his slow start that really puts him in a situation to pick up the pace in the final quarter. According to The Athletic, his first-quarter off-target rate is 9.1%, which drops to 5.1% for the other quarters combined. Moreover, he isn’t gelling with the running backs, as in the first three quarters, he targets his running backs on 32.1% of his passes. And this isn’t entirely his fault, as the Saints’ running backs aren’t breaking tackles, ranking 26th in average yards after contact (2.29).
These stats indicate that while Shough has the accuracy to alter the result of the game, he needs to be upbeat from the start, and the Saints’ running game needs to support him.
Nonetheless, Shough has for sure shown toughness, taking those two fouls on him and winning the game for the team. The Saints will now play the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, with the Ravens flying all the way to Brazil for their game against the Dallas Cowboys.