Chris Olave — Week 3: Thirteen Targets, Nine Catches
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
Olave caught 9 of 13 targets for 107 yards and seven first downs, converting all three third-down targets, including a 12-yard catch on third and eleven to the Raiders 6 that set up the Saints' first touchdown. His 13 targets led the team for the third straight game and his targets were worth 7.7 expected points, the most of any Saint, in a 35–27 loss to the Raiders.
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Three to nothing, Raiders, two 45 left in the first quarter, third and 11 at the Las Vegas 18. Tyler Shough threw short left to Chris Olave, 10 yards in the air, and he was tackled at the six after 12. +2.3 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — the highest figure on any Saints pass or run of the day, and 8.5 points of win probability, the change in the chance of winning from before the play to after it. Three snaps later Juwan Johnson caught the touchdown that put New Orleans ahead.
The line: 13 targets, nine catches, a hundred seven yards, seven first downs, no touchdown, +7.7 expected points on the targets, the most of any Saint. After the 12 came 13 16 on back-to-back snaps late in the second quarter, on the drive that ended in Noah Fant's first touchdown; six to the Raiders one with seven 21 left in the third, setting up Johnson's one-yard touchdown; 12 on second and five, and 11 on third and five with 53 seconds left in the third, converted; nine on third and nine on the second snap of the fourth quarter, converted, three snaps before Shough was sacked and fumbled at the Las Vegas 39 with the Saints up five; nine to the 20 with three 38 left, down eight; and 19 deep right with a minute eight left, the snap before the fumble that ended it. Three third-down targets, all caught, all converted. The four incompletions: two deep throws of 28 air yards, one in the first quarter and one in the third; second and three from the Raiders three, the snap before Fant's touchdown; and second and five late in the third, the snap before the conversion. Five targets before halftime, eight after.
13 of Shough's 42 throws went to Olave, the most on the team for the third straight game; Johnson had eight, Devaughn Vele six, Fant four. His hundred seven yards led the Saints and were second in the game to Brock Bowers's hundred 16.
Back in June the preview's read on Olave was a top-10 receiver season built on target volume as the clear first option, with availability the recurring question — the role and the health had rarely arrived together. Week 1 was 13 targets, 10 catches and a hundred 82 yards, with an injury note and a return. Week 2 was 10 targets, eight catches, 86 yards and a touchdown. Sunday was 13 more. Three games, 36 targets, 27 catches, 375 yards. The volume half of the read has held every week; the availability half is a 17-game question, and three games answer only three of them. New Orleans is home to the Falcons on Monday the fifth.
_Data via nflverse._
When Chris Olave's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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