Chris Olave just showed Saints fans how much Tyler Shough means to him

New Orleans Saints fans have been singing the praises of Chris Olave for years, and one of the common things said was, "what if he had a quarterback?" Tyler Shough entered the starting lineup, and answered that question. After beating the Baltimore Ravens, Olave spoke for all Saints fans when he said Shough is, "what I have been wanting my whole career."

The pair couldn't have asked for a better start to their first year together as starters. Shough leads the league in yards, and Olave has the second most yards through two games. They've delivered multiple big moments in "gotta have it" situations and have been prolific in a raw yardage sense as well.

Chris Olave hit his stride once Tyler Shough became quarterback

Olave has been a talented receiver, and it looks like Shough was the missing piece of the puzzle to propel the receiver to the next level. It’s well documented that he had a career last year, and Shough was only the starter for half of the season. Olave was having a solid year, but he wasn’t on pace to become a second team All Pro prior to the change at quarterback. 

Sometimes receivers need that quarterback to unlock their full potential, and vice versa. It appears that’s what we’re seeing with Olave and Shough. 

One metric to represent how Olave and Shough's chemistry has given Olave a nudge over the hump is the amount of 100 yard games he's had since Shough took over. He didn't have any without Shough last year, and he's since had 4 of them. Olave had consecutive games with 98 yards then got over that hump shortly after the quarterback change.

That's a small example, but it represents the little thing that was missing. Since the shift, Olave has set a career high in yardage twice and recorded his first two multi-touchdown games. It's easy to see why he talks about Shough like that.

I thought some of the late jump in yards was out of pure necessity due to lack of weapons at the skill positions. Everyone’s healthy, and nothing has changed for Olave. He's still producing like he was late last season.

Olave is making improvements of his own as well. He’s become a better runner with the ball in his hands over the last two years. It was an area of the game where he didn’t provide much, and now he’s making game changing plays there. 

On a critical third down, Olave fought through Marlon Humphrey’s physicality at the line to make the catch short of the first down. He then had to make a play against Humphrey after the catch en route to eventually stretching for the first. These are plays that don’t even feel surprising now because he’s routinely shown improved YAC. 

Olave is making his individual improvements while Shough is doing the same. Simultaneously, their chemistry continues to improve and those three factors are the reason they have a chance to be one of the best QB-WR duos in the league. 

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