If the performance on crucial downs and distances by New Orleans Saints rookie Tyler Shough against the Carolina Panthers felt extraordinary in the moment, the numbers are there to say that feeling was correct.

Start with the basics: Making his second career start , Shough completed seven of his 10 throws on third downs against the Panthers. Those passes went for 201 yards and two touchdowns, good for a 152.1 passer rating. Put another way, Shough’s 201 passing yards on third down were more than 14 other NFL teams had in their entire game last week.

But the numbers are especially eye-popping when you drill in a little deeper.

Next Gen Stats is one of several services that calculates Expected Points Added (EPA), which attempts to quantify how many points a given play will add or subt

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