Tyler Shough’s odd-looking slides against the Cleveland Browns turned plenty of heads last Sunday, and the New Orleans Saints quarterback says the explanation starts with his left hand.
Shough has been dealing with broken bones in that hand for several weeks, and even though he is no longer listed on the injury report, there are still some things he simply can’t do the way he normally would. One of them is using his left hand to brace himself when he goes into a slide.
That showed up on two scrambles against Cleveland, one for 11 yards and another for 14. Both ended with Shough trying to give himself up in a way that looked, as he put it, a little off.
“Honestly, I was caught between an S-word and a fart there,” Shough said. “… Normally, you slide like a baseball (player), you brace, and I was like, ‘Oh, can’t do that.’
I told (referee) Shawn Hochuli my bad, I can’t just fall like that, I’ll either dive or slide. It’s something to learn from.”
He said the reaction was immediate once he got back to the locker room. Shough estimated “20 guys in the locker room” asked him what he was doing. Even quarterback coach Scott Tolzien’s 6-year old son got in on the critique, telling his father that the Saints have to “teach Tyler how to baseball slide.”
“If he’s seeing that, then it’s pretty clear,” Shough said with a grin about his coach’s son. “I know how to slide, I’ve just got to be mentally conscious of it.”
The glove on Shough’s non-throwing hand has been part of the picture since the Saints’ Week 5 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. He said it serves two purposes: it helps with his grip, which took a hit right after the injury, and it also covers the protective padding on his left hand.
For now, it’s not clear how long he’ll keep wearing it, or how long he’ll keep handing off almost entirely with his right hand. Still, Shough has consistently brushed off the idea that the injury has changed much about how he plays.
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