“Watch out, media. Rashid Shaheed’s coming through!”
Foster Moreau couldn’t help but crack a joke in Wednesday’s practice when Rashid Shaheed’s momentum barreled the New Orleans Saints wide receiver toward a pack of reporters following a tight catch on the sideline.
Shaheed smiled and shook his head.
“Don’t listen to him, media,” he said.
But, as the saying goes, there’s a grain of truth behind every joke. Case in point: Look at Shaheed’s performance from Sunday’s win over the New York Giants. In his best outing of the year, Shaheed torched New York’s secondary for an 87-yard touchdown and recorded the fastest speed — 21.72 miles per hour — on an offensive touchdown this season. He also made a crucial 8-yard catch on fourth-and-5 to help the Saints drain the clock late in the win, in addition to topping 100 yards for the first time this season.
Watch out, defense. Rashid Shaheed’s coming through!
The Saints hope the outing marks the start of an actual breakthrough for the 27-year-old. Before facing the Giants, Shaheed had a quiet start to the season. His targets were down. His yards per catch were at a career low. It was hardly the start that neither he nor the Saints expected in a contract year.
The tide turned Sunday, so much so that Shaheed tweeted that EA Sports should “fix” his speed in their annual “Madden” video game.
The video game franchise ranks Shaheed’s speed at 93.
“He’s as fast as I’ve ever seen,” coach Kellen Moore said.
Days earlier, Shaheed said he wasn’t worried about his production. The deep passing attack had yet to take off, but the wide receiver — who now leads the Saints in receiving yards with 228 — said he had to stay patient because he knew the opportunities would come.
Defenses were also plenty aware of the threat Shaheed possessed after last year. Despite being limited to only six games due to a season-ending knee injury, Shaheed’s speed changed games early on. He hauled in touchdowns of 59 and 70 yards in back-to-back contests to begin the year, and before the injury, he had six catches of at least 20 yards.
Shaheed said he saw subtle ways in which opponents adjusted. Safeties played even farther back, making it more difficult for Shaheed to race behind them. Teams, too, rarely gave the Saints single-high looks since Chris Olave and Brandin Cooks also posed as speed threats.
But the Saints knew they still needed to get Shaheed involved.
With the lack of explosives, the coaching staff tried to feature Shaheed in other ways. In Week 4 against the Buffalo Bills, for example, Shaheed had two rushing attempts on jet sweeps. He also saw an uptick in slant routes and hitches. Still, through the first four games, Shaheed (25 targets) was targeted less often than Olave (43) and tight end Juwan Johnson (31).
“You’ve got to find ways to get him touches,” Saints offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier said last week. “Obviously, people are going to play shell (coverage) and keep a roof on it. You can’t force the ball downfield. … It’s important to find ways to get Shaheed the ball underneath coverage in different ways, whether it be options, slants or quick outs, whatever it may be.”
Sometimes, though, sticking to what worked works.
On the 87-yard bomb, the Saints got a favorable look when they fooled the Giants’ defense by deploying a formation that featured three tight ends and Shaheed as the lone receiver. With Johnson motioning to Shaheed’s side pre-snap, the movement caused Giants cornerback Paulson Adebo to stay with the tight end — leaving Shaheed one-on-one with a safety.
Shaheed ran straight down the field, faked as if he was going to break into a crossing route and then opened his hips to cut outside and break free. Touchdown.
“No, definitely not,” Shaheed said with a smile when asked if anybody could catch him in that scenario.
Funny enough, after the win, Shaheed admitted he was initially nervous that he was going to be tripped up when running. He joked he was worried he’d “lose respect” in the locker room, that teammates would question his speed.
But then he had a question of his own. Did anyone happen to have the exact speed on his route?
21.72.
He nodded his head a few times.
“I’ll take it,” Shaheed said. “I’ll take it. I’m happy about that.”