51 YARDS ON THE 💰#Saints | 📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/gIu8MTDMjK
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 29, 2023
We’re now at 51 days until the New Orleans Saints season opener, which makes Rashid Shaheed’s 51-yard game sealing reception against the Indianapolis Colts our Saints Play of the Day. Shaheed solidified a career day with his third and final catch, ultimately hauling in three passes (all of which went over 40 yards) for 151 yards and a touchdown. A little reminiscent of Randy Moss’s Thanksgiving Day performance back in 1998.
At the time of this play, the Saints were up by eight points, facing a critical 3rd-and-13 with less than three minutes to go in regulation.
Shaheed came through with a got-to-have-it play for the team.
The Colts defense played Cover 1 on the backfield with a six-man pressure, forcing Derek Carr to get the ball out quickly on a third and long. Not a bad strategy against a team like the Saints who had struggled to gel as a unit to that point. But what the Colts should’ve remembered is that Shaheed had already torched their secondary twice earlier in the game. As soon as Carr saw this look, he knew exactly who he was going to… And the rest is history. A big conversion, a couple of futile Indianapolis timeouts, and the Saints returned to New Orleans with a win.
Shaheed should have all the opportunity to make plays just like this once again this year, and possibly even more with the addition of Klint Kubiak. Kubiak should be able to utilize Shaheed’s unique abilities in a variety of ways similar to how the 49ers use Deebo Samuel. Although the two differ in body type, they each possess game-breaking traits that can’t be coached. There’s no reason to doubt that Shaheed could reach new heights in 2024.
