They say the best friend of a young quarterback is a good defense and a sound running game.

Tyler Shough has half of the formula working for him right now.

You might not have noticed amid the hype surrounding Shough’s recent play, but the New Orleans Saints defense is playing excellent football right now. Winning football.

For the past month, they’ve been one of the stingiest units in the league. In that span, they have held opponents to an average of 18 points a game and ranked among the stingiest defenses in nearly every major statistical category.

Since Week 10, the defense has ranked in the top five in the league in EPA per play, an advanced metric that measures performance while taking into consideration such factors as down and distance, field position, home-field advantage an

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