With a chance to lead a go-ahead drive late in the fourth quarter, New Orleans Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler felt pressure to his left, rolled to his right and saw his top receiver come free downfield.
On the run, Rattler fired a strike that hit Chris Olave in the hands near the midfield line. But it did not stay in his hands. The ball dropped to the turf incomplete, a drop in a critical moment.
Had the play been made, the Saints would have had a new set of downs pushing into New England territory with about four minutes left to play, trailing 25-19.
But the Saints experienced the other end of the what-if scenario. Rattler’s ensuing third-down pass sailed incomplete, New Orleans punted the ball away and never got it back.
There were plenty of dirty hands in the Saints’ 25-19 loss Sunday. Tight end Juwan Johnson fumbled the ball near midfield on the possession before Olave’s drop. New Orleans converted just three of its nine third downs. The Saints defense couldn’t get off the field in the closing minutes and generally had no answer for Patriots rising star quarterback Drake Maye. All of those things, not one play, added up to a loss.
“It’s the NFL; the margins are really, really small, really tight,” said coach Kellen Moore. “They have good players; we have good players. It’s a matter of taking advantage of the opportunities that are presented.
"We’re not getting it done. We’re not getting it done in those situations when we have opportunities. For myself, I have to figure out a way to get us there.”
But Olave’s missed opportunities stood out because he is supposed to be the guy making the big plays when it matters.
Olave was not in the locker room for comment after the game, but his quarterback said the drops won't affect whether the Saints go his way with the game on the line in the future.
“I'm not worried about him,” Rattler said. “He's one of our best guys. Our top guy. And we're going to keep getting him the ball. We rely on him, and our confidence is high in him.”
Statistically, Sunday’s game against the Patriots was the best of Olave’s season by a significant margin. He finished with six catches for 98 yards, and he got off to a great start.
The Patriots sent a corner blitz on the first play from scrimmage, sending Carlton Davis from the far left flank of the New England defense. New Orleans had the perfect play ready for the blitz.
Davis had been lined up over Olave, and with nobody in front of him, Olave ran deep and raced past Patriots safety Kyle Dugger, hauling in a 53-yard pass from Rattler on the Saints’ first play of the day.
The catch matched Olave’s career long, which he’d set in his 2022 rookie season against the Los Angeles Rams.
It was a welcome beginning for Olave, who was averaging just 7.4 yards per catch coming into the game, well below his career average (12.5). Before he hauled in that bomb to start the game, his season long was 17 yards.
He followed that up with some nice catches that moved the Saints into scoring range late in the first half. After a failed Patriots fourth-down conversion, the Saints took over at New England’s 47, and Rattler peppered Olave with quick passes, hitting him for 9, 5, and 8 yards to push New Orleans to the Patriots 20. On third-and-4, the Saints dialed Olave’s number again on a play they’d been working on in the week leading up to the game.
Olave started in the slot and ran under a pair of in-breaking routes from his teammates, effectively running a wheel route to the pylon. As intended, Patriots corner Marcus Jones was slowed down by the traffic presented by the Saints receivers, and Olave flashed open.
Rattler lofted a pass toward the pylon, Olave ran under it and he could not quite haul it in, with the ball glancing off his fingertips at the goal line. The Saints ultimately settled for a field goal.
“I thought it was a well-executed play,” Rattler said. “It's a tough one. We worked that all week and felt great about it. It was the right look, and almost made the play.”
Moore did not comment on Olave specifically after the game, choosing instead to take a more global approach when asked about Olave’s drops.
“Obviously, we’ll look at the film to evaluate all the details of it, but we had some opportunities in the passing game,” Moore said. “We didn’t get it done. Those are challenging plays. I get it. We just have to find a way collectively as a group to come up with more success.”