The New Orleans Saints took a week off after Tyler Shough, Chris Olave and the Saints offense’s most inspiring game of season. The timing could be a blessing or a curse, and it’s on Kellen Moore to ensure it’s the former.
Offensively, the Saints only scored 17 points. That makes it the third highest point total of the season, but it was more impressive than the two highest scoring games because there were no glaring mistakes. It felt like the smoothest game of the season.
On top of that, it was Shough’s second career start. That's where the gift and the curse come in. As a young player, the bye week gives a lot of time to go over his film, but you also want him to get right back on the field while he's hot.
The week off gave Kellen Moore a chance to hone in on what worked for the Saints
The bye week should be spent studying and building a game plan around what worked in Week 10, specifically offensively. There was a change at quarterback not long ago, and this is a moment to exhale. You had a week off to fully tailor a game plan around Shough’s strengths.
Self scouting is the theme of bye weeks. It applies all around the team, but it's more important on offense. Brandon Staley has had his talent pretty much all season. Teams don't wait until the bye to self scout, so the ceiling for adjustments there is a little lower. Shough, on the other hand, can build and refresh chemistry with his teammates. Moore can fine tune an offense that massively changed in the last month.
Additionally, there’s a chance the Saints get healthier. Taliese Fuaga missed the Panthers game with an ankle injury. The bye week gave him a chance to sit for another week without missing a game. Getting a healthy Fuaga will definitely benefit Shough and the Saints offense.
Tyler Shough’s momentum could have been stalled
We mentioned it was Olave’s best game of the season, but he’s a vet at this point. He’s used to the rhythm of the season, so you’d think bye week would have no real bearing on him. The man throwing him the ball on the other hand is another story.
Shough is a rookie who has played 2.5 games. Coming off his best game, playing the next week would have been the next recipe for him to sustain momentum. That's not how the cards played out though, so now the question becomes how does he follow up that game.
A week off won't make the rookie rusty, but the chance to ride momentum into the following week is gone. The same could be said for the team, as they look to replicate their last effort. The break won't be a huge obstacle. It just takes away the aspect of getting right on the field that may be overblown anyway.