The New Orleans Saints open up the season against the Arizona Cardinals in 45 days. To continue our countdown to kickoff with a look back at Chris Olave's 45-yard catch and run against the Tennessee Titans.
It wasn't a touchdown, but when it was all said and done, Olave's catch was a pivotal moment. The matchup didn't feature many points, ending in a final score of 16-15. The Saints narrowly came out victorious, so every point mattered.
The Saints were backed up in their own territory, and it was third down. A punt may have given Tennessee advantageous field position. Not only did Olave's catch flip the field, it put the Saints in position to just need a few more yards for a field goal. in an one-point game, those three points make a difference.
Olave has campaigned for more deep shots a couple of times this offseason. Most recently, he revealed, on the first day of training camp, he's had "a lot of conversations" with coaches about being used vertically more. The wide receiver is eager to become a three-level threat.
You do what you can with what you get though. This reception showed Olave doesn’t need to be streaking down the field for an explosive play. You can get it done with a catch and run as well. It’s the way Olave has had to rack up most of his big plays since the deep shots have predominantly been handed out to Shaheed.
Olave ran a crossing route and was about 20 yards downfield when he caught the pass from Derek Carr. Olave did the work himself from that point. One thing that helped was spacing. There wasn’t a defender close to the then second-year receiver. This gave Olave the space to run after the catch
This hasn’t been the case frequently in New Orleans for some years. One cause of this could be Olave running the intermediate routes. Defenses focus in on stopping the top receiver, which causes the safety to stay shallow. In turn, there’s more room over the top. This 45-yard reception was one of the few times that Olave caught the ball with room to run.