Tyler Shough and Chris Olave have quickly turned into one of the Saints’ most dangerous duos, and the formula is simple: give Olave a shot and let him go get it.
That showed up in a huge way against the Detroit Lions, when New Orleans badly needed a spark. Olave saw Shough under pressure and immediately raced upfield.
Shough slipped away from the rush, rolled right and spotted his receiver ahead of Lions defensive back D.J. Reed.
Still on the move, Shough launched a throw that covered roughly 50 yards in the air, and Olave hauled it in deep for a 47-yard gain.
The play helped fuel a comeback the Saints nearly completed, but it also fit the bigger pattern that has emerged since Shough became the starter midway through last season. Olave isn’t being used like a short-area safety valve anymore. He’s being pushed downfield, and the results have been explosive.
Last week, Olave averaged 18.1 air yards per target, good for fifth in the league among receivers with at least five targets in Week 1. That’s a major shift from the early part of last season, when the Saints treated him almost like an extension of the run game.
Through the first eight games, he was averaging 10.2 air yards per target. Once Shough took over and closed out the year, that number jumped to 13.3 - a pace that would have put Olave comfortably inside the top 20 league-wide over a full season.
The deep-ball connection has already shown up in the box score. Olave posted a career-high 182 receiving yards against Detroit and finished with an NFL-best four catches of 20 or more yards in that game. In Shough’s eight starts last season, the pair connected on six plays of 20-plus yards, including two completions of more than 60 yards.
“There’s definitely a trust factor with him, putting it out there and he’s going to go make a play or at least knock it down - it’s him or nobody,” Shough said. “... That’s the best part about it; we have that chemistry, and we’re going to take some shots and stretch the field and be able to change different layers of it.
“That’s a credit to him for being a playmaker that he is and trusting him in those moments, because he’s going to go get it.”
In Other News...
Saints Already Face A Draft Decision Fans Wont Love
With Week 1 in the books, the Saints already find themselves looking ahead to the next draft board, and the early projections are not exactly flattering for a team that still has work to do on the roster. At No. 19 overall, New Orleans is in a range where the obvious top-end talent is often gone, which makes the evaluation more complicated and the margin for error a little thinner. That is why names like Alabama EDGE Yhonzae Pierre and LSU tight end TreyDez Green are getting early attention, since both could speak directly to areas where the Saints still need help.
The biggest question remains the outside pass rush, a spot that has been a sore point and will likely shape how the front office thinks about the first round. Cam Jordans return could change the feel of that group, but it does not erase the need for more impact off the edge or close the book on how the Saints want to build around him. For now, the draft picture is only a projection, but it already hints at a decision New Orleans may not enjoy having to make when the board starts to come into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Suddenly Have A Week 1 QB Issue And A Bijan Dilemma
Tyler Shoughs first real introduction to the Saints came long before he ever took a snap, and the rookie quarterback said the draft process in New Orleans offered its own little test of how he handled the moment. He described a delayed flight and the kind of communication wrinkle that can make a long night feel even longer, while the Saints kept him in the loop as they worked through the selection process. It was the sort of behind-the-scenes detail that says plenty about how a team evaluates a quarterback before it ever gets to the film.
For New Orleans, that matters because Shough is still trying to establish himself in a room where every rep and every decision gets watched closely. The Saints have made a point of building a clear draft communication strategy, and Shoughs recollection shows how much of the evaluation can happen away from the field, in the way a player responds when plans change and the clock keeps moving. It is an early reminder that his path with the Saints is about more than just arm talent, and that the organization was looking for signs of leadership from the start. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Enter Week 2 With Tyler Shough Suddenly Under The Spotlight
The Saints left their opener with the kind of result that can sting and encourage at the same time, a narrow overtime loss to the Lions that still showed a team willing to fight through a long afternoon. Tyler Shoughs debut had its rough patches, but it also had real flashes, and the bigger takeaway for New Orleans was that the offense had enough juice to keep answering after a rocky start.
Shoughs 400-yard day has already pushed him into a brighter spotlight, especially with several media outlets nudging the Saints upward in their power rankings after seeing how competitive they were. The question now is less about whether New Orleans can be frisky and more about how quickly Shough can turn the good stretches into a more complete performance as the season moves into Week 2. [Read more 🡒]