If Kellen Moore needed a reason to pivot the Saints toward a path defined by rookie quarterback, he received a few over the last two weeks.
Spencer Rattler's recent penchant for turnovers opened the door for New Orleans to move to the 40th-overall pick of the 2025 draft, Tyler Shough, whom Moore named the Saints' starter this week. The 26-year-old rookie will make his debut as New Orleans' top quarterback in Los Angeles, where the Saints (1-7) will face the 5-2 Rams on Sunday.
Moore expects the change to prove permanent.
"Tyler's starting. We're not looking back on that," Moore said on Wednesday, via the team's official website. "Obviously, the goal is to let Tyler play and get going.
"Spencer knows that his role is to be the backup and he's there to help Tyler in any possible way. He did an excellent job today running the scout team, preparing just like he would be as the starter any other week. The good thing we've got going is that (quarterbacks) room is a bunch of A-plus people, and they handle it awesome."
Rattler began the season on a promising note and displayed command of the position, completing 68.4 percent of his passes for 1,217 yards and a 6-1 TD-INT ratio in his first six starts in 2025. He finally earned his previously elusive first win in Week 5 and seemed to be trending upward as New Orleans progressed through October.
When the giveaways started piling up in Weeks 7 and 8, though, Moore realized it was time to make a change, replacing Rattler with Shough after the second-year passer accounted for six turnovers (four interceptions, two lost fumbles) in his final two starts.
Naturally, Moore sold the change as the result of Shough's development over the first eight weeks of the season. While that might be accurate, it's also clearly a decision made with winning in mind. At 1-7, the Saints have proved they don't have a wide enough margin to afford giving away possession in bunches.
"Spencer has done some really, really good things," Moore said. "I think if anything, Spencer has proven that he can win games in this league, he can play at a really high level. He's done a lot of good things. This will be an exciting time for Tyler, but Spencer will be ready and he'll continue to grow as well. These are two young quarterbacks that we feel really good about.
"I felt like Tyler was ready. I felt like at the end of the day, one of the more important aspects of this is offensively, we've got to find a little bit more success, a little bit more consistency. I think Tyler's ready to go. He's prepared really well through this whole process. Patience, sometimes you've got to play that game a little bit, and he's ready to go."
In Shough's first appearance, he completed 17 of 30 passes for 128 yards and an interception, firing throw after throw in the final minutes of a lopsided loss to the Buccaneers that almost felt like televised practice for the rookie.
When he takes the field in Los Angeles as the top signal-caller, it will no longer be practice. Moore understands there will likely be bumps in the road for Shough, yet he will not waver in his decision to insert the Louisville product.
"We're not doing this back-and-forth thing," Moore said. "That (Shough starting the rest of the season) is the goal.
"That's the whole objective and plan of this thing, is let Tyler go and let him have a ton of success and navigate the things he has to navigate."
Shough takes the wheel for the first time Sunday. Moore will bring the map and call out directions. It will be up to the rookie to handle the rest.