Saints’ Rashid Shaheed hands Falcons a TD with inexcusable blunder

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Rashid Shaheed made an inexcusable blunder early in Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons.

Shaheed was back deep to receive a punt after the Falcons’ opening drive stalled out at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. Shaheed was initially standing at about the 6-yard line, and he decided to call for a fair catch despite the punt taking him a few yards backward.

As he tried to make a difficult over-the-shoulder catch at the 3-yard line, Shaheed muffed the punt. The ball bounced into the end zone and was recovered by the Falcons for a touchdown.

A muffed punt is a big enough mistake, but Shaheed had no business even trying to field a punt inside the 5-yard line. He may have been afraid that the ball was going to go out of bounds and pin the Saints deep, but players are coached to let the ball go and hope for a touchback in that situation.

Shaheed committed one of the cardinal sins of special teams, and the result was costly for New Orleans.

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