With a little help from their friends, (Phillip Rivers and the Indianapolis Colts who knocked off Green Bay), the Saints moved into the top spot in the NFC @ 8-2. The Saints punished the Atlanta Falcons 24-9 Sunday.
The spotlight before, during, and after the game was on Taysom Hill, selected to start at quarterback over Jameis Winston, due to the Drew Brees injuries, plural. Hill turned in a solid B+ performance in his audition for the franchise quarterback spot that might be available next year.
But focusing on Taysom Hill would miss the point of this
game.
What everyone should be spotlighting is the Saints defense. It is generally assumed that Drew Brees will
be retiring this year. By the end of
this game, Matt Ryan had to be considering retirement. Ryan is a quarterback in the statuesque
tradition of Drew Bledsoe. Ryan’s only
chance is to get the ball off, because footwork is not in his DNA, much less scrambling. The Saints sacked the statue like
protestors after a fiery speech. Eight times they bulldozed
Ryan in the backfield. You almost had to
feel sorry for him. Almost
At this point the Saints are loaded at every position. The front four is dominant, and no one can run on them. Demario Davis is everywhere, and it looks like newly acquired linebacker Kwon Alexander has displaced Alex Anzalone in the starting lineup. CJ Chauncey Gardner is becoming a star, and the defensive backfield is taking advantage of the pass rush. The Saints defense is simply playing lights out and had complete control of the game.
Back to Taysom Hill. The good was that his passing was excellent for the most part. He was smart enough to seek out Michael Thomas to the tune of about 104 yards. He ran the ball effectively although in those situations that he was obviously going to run, I don’t understand why they don’t just hand it to Latavius Murray, who is tremendously effective running the ball straight ahead. Hill fumbled once, and he has shown the propensity to fumble a little too much. Other than that issue, which can be coached up (as coaches would say), the Saints have put themselves into the driver’s seat for the #1 seed in the NFC and home dome advantage. There is a long way to go yet, but the Saints are on a steamroll.
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