The Saints threw it 56 times and scored 30 points, and that is exactly why they're 0-1.
Tyler Shough went 35-of-56 for 410 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, took five sacks for 32 yards, and fumbled twice, losing one. Detroit won 31-30 in overtime. The raw line reads like a quarterback who nearly stole a road game. The 51.1 QBR sitting under an 87.6 passer rating says he did the volume and not the job.
New Orleans handed off 25 times: nine for Travis Etienne Jr., nine for Kendre Miller, four for Shough, two for CJ Donaldson, one for Barion Brown. That's 56 dropbacks against 25 runs. Ask a quarterback to carry that ratio and you don't get to act surprised when the two picks and the lost fumble arrive on schedule. Miller scored the only rushing touchdown, which is its own quiet indictment of how the Saints chose to play.
Detroit won the boring way. (Shotgun) J. Goff pass short left to A. St. Brown for 4 yards, touchdown, at 5:04 of the fifth quarter. J. Bates' extra point good, H. Hatten snapping, J. Fox holding. One play, four yards, ballgame. Jared Goff led the Detroit passing game, Jahmyr Gibbs led the rushing, Amon-Ra St. Brown led the receiving, which is the depth chart doing what it's paid to do. Sione Vaki showing up among Detroit's rushing leaders is the one wrinkle worth tracking going forward.
Chris Olave is the fantasy takeaway here. Ten catches on 13 targets for 182 yards and zero touchdowns. The volume is real and it's coming again next week in this offense. The scoring is not his: Devaughn Vele caught 7 of 9 targets for 69 yards and a score, Juwan Johnson turned 7 targets into 3 catches for 54 and a score, Noah Fant caught 4 of 8 for 33 and a score, and Miller handled the rushing touchdown. Olave is a target monster and a red-zone afterthought, which makes him a weekly PPR start and a headache in any format that pays a premium for touchdowns.
Etienne is the other read. Nine carries for 46 yards at 5.1 a pop, plus 7 receptions on 9 targets for 32 yards. He's tied for second on the team in targets behind Olave, and he still isn't the goal-line back. That's a receiving back who lines up at running back. Flex him in PPR and stop waiting for a 15-carry day that this staff has no interest in giving him.
New Orleans got pressure, for what it's worth. Vernon Broughton logged three tackles, two quarterback hits and a fumble recovery, and Jonas Sanker made 10 tackles with one for loss. They funneled Detroit into a one-score game and still lost it, because the offense kept trading efficiency for volume.
I'll take the volume and bet against the wins. Olave is an every-week start off 13 targets. Etienne is a flex and nothing more. Shough is a GPP dart whose floor is a five-sack afternoon, and the Saints are going to keep throwing like this and keep losing like this. Detroit is 1-0 on a four-yard pass, which says more about surviving a shootout than about owning one.
