The finer details matter in quarterback play, so when goes back to watch his film from a practice or a game, he makes a small annotation in his personal notes next to specific plays.
BP+ is where he wants to be. BP- is where the New Orleans Saints quarterback learns.
The BP stands for ball placement, and it can be a true separator for the quarterback and the offense as a whole. If the Saints can upset the Detroit Lions in their season opener on Sunday, Shough’s notebook will probably have a handful of BP+ markings.
A ball thrown to the right spot against a certain coverage with the defender in a specific leverage can turn into a game-changing play. That same ball thrown a little too far to the inside when a cornerback is shaded that way, or without enough touch on it to clear a lurking flat defender, could change the game in a negative way.
“You have to practice the intentionality of ball placement versus certain leverages, certain coverage,” Shough said. “Obviously it’s easier said than done in some ways; some guys have a really good feel for it.”
Throwing the ball really hard or really far looks cool at the NFL scouting combine, but it rarely matters on a down-to-down basis in the NFL. Shough can rip it when he needs to, but his ball placement and ability to layer throws between coverages last year mattered more than the velocity readings on his fastball.
Shough will make his notes, and then will spend extra time after practice with his receivers, with everyone understanding of what to expect from the quarterback in specific situations. They’ll run through down-and-distance scenarios, field-position scenarios and the types of routes run.
“That’s the whole name of the game,” Shough said. “If we’re trying to protect them over the middle, if we’re trying to maybe lead them outside up and away, on the goal line — that’s the fun part of the game, trying to be super detailed in that aspect.”
When it comes to game time, Shough’s trust in himself and in his teammates — and in the work they’ve put in — can show.
Take one play from his rookie season. Trailing the Miami Dolphins by eight points in the fourth quarter, Shough extended the play by rolling right away from pressure and fired a pass toward Devaughn Vele in the end zone.
At first glance, Vele was not open. In fact, when Shough threw the ball, cornerback Jack Jones was plastered up against Vele in coverage. But Shough understood a few things: 1, Jones was face-guarding Vele, with nobody supporting over the top; and 2, the 6-foot-5 Vele had a size advantage against the 5-11 Jones.
Shough lofted the ball toward Vele and let him get it with a toe-tapping catch in the back of the end zone, cutting the lead to two.
“There’s some guys who, if they see their guy covered, they’re not going to give him a shot unless he’s wide open,” Vele said. “But Shough is one of those guys who will put the ball somewhere where he believes his guy is going to make the play outside of the defender.
“As receivers, we appreciate that, because that means he has a lot of trust in us. We just have to make sure we reciprocate that back to him by making those plays.”
On the next play after that touchdown, Shough let a throw leak a too far inside as Vele was running a shallow cross on the ensuing two-point conversion. Minkah Fitzpatrick jumped the off-target throw and took it back for a two-point score the other way — a likely BP- in Shough’s notes.
“I’ve had decent ball placement, but I’ve also felt I’ve had really bad ball placement in certain coverages,” Shough said. “So that’s an everyday thing: How can I be perfect on that?”
The Saints got a glimpse early on how much thought Shough puts into the way he’s throwing the ball. Quarterbacks coach Scott Tolzien worked Shough out at his last spring and was immediately impressed by the simple fact that Shough wasn’t trying to “throw everything through a wall.”
Tolzien played the position at Wisconsin and then in the NFL. He knows from experience that if the quarterback is trying to throw laser beams in every situation, it’s not going to work out. The same concept is true for downfield throws, when underneath defenders can suddenly find an opportunity because the pass had a flattened arc.
“He’s very fundamentally sound, where we can have conversations about which shoulder he’s aiming through or throwing away from the color of the defender,” Tolzien said. “He was far from a fundamental project when he came in, and he’s very in tune with his stroke and his fundamentals.”
Even the guys who just spent the last month or so trying to make Shough’s life hell in practice have picked up on this.
Safety Justin Reid has played with some talented quarterbacks as teammates — Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City and Deshaun Watson in Houston. Trying to defend them in practice, he’s gained an appreciation for the way a ball flies out of certain quarterbacks’ throwing hand.
There are some who throw everything hard and see their completion percentage suffer because of it. There are others who can’t put enough on the ball, and those are the ones he likes to go against, because those are the ones that serve up interceptions.
And then there are the quarterbacks like Shough.
“(The ball) isn't floating — it's a tight spiral, so it's still piercing,” Reid said. “It doesn't hover in the air, but itjust comes down gently, to where it just makes it feel like the wide receiver has time to nestle it into a cradle rather than feels like you're trying to stop a bullet from hitting you in the face.”
It might seem like a little thing, but it could make all the difference.