METAIRIE, La. -- New Orleans Saints rookies Tyler Shough and Devin Neal made a pact during Sunday's Week 14 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The quarterback and the running back were going to find a way to get the team a win together.
"We were talking to each other the whole game, 'Hey, we're going to win this thing. Me and you. Let's put [the team] on our backs, go out there and win it,'" Shough said.
Shough and Neal walked off a waterlogged field in Tampa, Florida, a few hours later after the Saints won, 24-20, in the pouring rain. Both players were cheered on by their teammates in the postgame locker room as Saints coach Kellen Moore handed out game balls to Neal, Shough and a few other players.
"I just think we kind of play off each other, in a weird way. We have that connection, especially off the field, I think that helps on the field as well," Neal said. "I remember saying to him and a bunch of the other offensive guys, 'It starts and ends with us.'"
The emergence of Neal and Shough might be one of the brightest spots for the Saints (3-10) this season after they were officially eliminated from the playoffs last week. It's a glimpse of what the future could look like on offense in 2026.
Carrying the team was something Neal did in college, leaving the Kansas Jayhawks as the school's all-time leading rusher and former team captain. But Neal had a quiet start in the NFL as a sixth-round draft pick who began his tenure with the Saints behind veterans Alvin Kamara and Kendre Miller on the depth chart.
Miller is out for the season with an ACL tear and Kamara has missed two games with a knee injury, and because of those injuries, Neal has found opportunities to step up. Kamara's injury opened the door for Neal to play most of the past three games and to start the past two, and he has increased his yards from scrimmage in all three weeks.
Neal had his best game against the Buccaneers, rushing for 70 yards and his first career touchdown and catching one pass for 14 yards.
If Kamara doesn't return from his knee injury this season, it will be Neal leading the way for the Saints' remaining four games, starting with Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers (4:25 p.m. ET, Fox).
For Neal and Shough, their recent play has been a continuation of what they've tried to build since the day they met. Shough, 26, spent the early part of the season backing up Spencer Rattler while Neal was the third running back, so they worked together on the scout team and away from football. Shough said the two have houses near each other, and their significant others have become friends as well.
"Coming in and doing all the rookie events together, you spent so much time around each other. We live two or three minutes away from each other. We bonded over so many random things, just baseball, movies, just hanging out," Shough said. " ... It's been just a fun process, with the scout team as well. I mean, I don't remember how many weeks we're working with each other every single day and just communicating and then you kind of have that come up together. It's just been a lot of fun."
It's been steady progress for both players to find their footing this season. Neal worked through a hamstring injury in the preseason, and playing behind two veterans he had only five offensive snaps in the season's first six weeks.
But Neal, 22, took whatever opportunities he could get. He had one carry in a Week 7 game against the Chicago Bears and gained a yard, but he came out of that game drawing attention for his blocking skills. He even threw his body in front of Rattler to pick up a blitz.
"Yeah, it came last second and looked kind of crazy, but whatever you have to do is kind of my mindset," Neal said earlier in the season, noting he took immense pride in blocking.
Miller tore his ACL in the Bears game, leaving Neal to step into the backup role behind Kamara the following week in the Saints' first game against the Buccaneers, which also was the game that Rattler was benched at halftime for Shough.
"I love his energy; I love his juice," said Moore, who is nearing the end of his first season as an NFL head coach. "I think one of the most impressive aspects of being a young guy is how prepared he is. ... Protection is usually the thing that keeps all these young guys off the field early in their careers as running backs and that's the least of our problems with him. He is ready to roll in protections, and so it allows him to play a ton more snaps if he's prepared to handle all three downs every single time."
The duo has four more games to prove they can put the team on their shoulders in 2026. But Shough has already seen enough to know what Neal is capable of doing on the field.
"He's one of the best running backs I've ever played with, just from a mindset standpoint, his knowledge of the game. Protections, running the football, getting north and south," Shough said. "He's such a great pass catcher as well. He's just an all-down back. Obviously, I'm really close with him off the field, so I have complete trust in him."