Well, the New Orleans Saints finally did it. For the first time in the Kellen Moore era, the Saints have won a game, however, there was still one dull spot in the afternoon for the black and gold. In the 26-14 victory, Spencer Rattler and the Saints offense struggled to punch it in in the red zone.
On three occasions, the offense would get about as close as they could get to the end zone without actually crossing the plane and would settle for a field goal each time. Instead of a possible 21 more points on the scoreboard, the Saints would only come away with nine.
The woes of the red-zone offense are unfortunately nothing new for the Saints. Heading into the game against the Giants, they were scoring touchdowns in the red zone about half the time, 50%, which put them at 22nd in the National Football League. Following their first W, the black and gold's red zone is now even lower at 41.18%, 29th in the league. Only the Los Angeles Chargers (38.46%), the Las Vegas Raiders (35.71%), and the New York Giants (31.58%) have it worse.
Saints QB Spencer Rattler skips the endzone on his longest TD pass of his career
The Saints still managed to win the game despite the contuned struggles at the end of the field. A lot of that is in part to huge 87-yard touchdown pass from Spencer Rattler to wide receiver Rashid Shaheed. "We had that play dialed up. We knew what we were going to call going into that series." Rattler said postgame. "I told Shid, 'Just make that safety turn,' and he had him spin, and that corner bit down. Just great protection; I put the ball up, and he took it to the house."
For Rattler, that's by far the longest touchdown pass of his career, and for Rashid Shaheed, it would be the longest touchdown reception of his career. In the play, Shaheed would be clocked at 21.72 mph, the fastest anybody has run so far in 2025. After the game, Shaheed didn't even know how fast he was running, asking the media what he was clocked at. "I'll take it, I'll take it," he responded when he found out his speed.
The two will get a chance to strengthen their bond even further next Sunday, when the New England Patriots come to town. The game against the Pats is also another opportunity to work out the kinds of red zone offense, as New England has the third-worst red zone defense in the league so far this year.