Taysom Hill leads Saints to shootout win over Seahawks

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Taysom Hill
(Photo: Parker Waters)

It was an afternoon and game of desperation for the New Orleans Saints.

Staring at a 1-4 start against a less than formidable slate of opponents, the Saints needed a win and badly against Seattle Sunday.

When you give up six plays of 32 yards or more in a game, you are in deep trouble. When you add a 27-yard pass interference penalty, it puts you in even deeper trouble.

When you have key players out going into a game and lose other key players during the game, you are in the deepest of trouble.

Fortunately for the mistake-prone New Orleans Saints, the Seattle Seahawks were quite mistake-prone as well.

Even more fortunate for the Saints, they had a player wearing No. 7 who put on his Superman cape in a simply super performance.

Taysom Hill has taken criticism for his starting quarterback play and his hefty contract with the Saints. He’s also a very good football player who was worth every penny against Seattle.

The BYU product was simply great Sunday, stealing the show, He simply would not let the Saints lose. What a game it was. Hill returned three kicks for 69 yards, rushed nine times for 112 yards and three touchdowns and threw a 22-yard touchdown pass. He finished with 203 total yards and the three touchdowns.

But wait, there’s more. Hill pressured a punter enough to help draw a holding call. For good measure, he recovered a loose football on a fourth-down play by Seattle.

The Saints also got Alvin Kamara back. They usually lose without Kamara playing. They win more often than not when their RB1 plays.

Though he committed a big mistake with a huge fumble, Kamara came up huge.

So, too, did Cam Jordan, who came up with two sacks, the second on Seattle’s final possession of the game with the outcome still in doubt. With the sack, Jordan moved into 24th all-time in NFL history in sacks.

The Saints battled their way to a crucial win, beating Seattle 38-32 at the Caesars Superdome.


Here are my quick takes on the win:

**Inactives for the Saints were Jameis Winston, Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry, Payton Turner, Nick Vannett, Marcus Maye and Calvin Throckmorton.

**The Saints too the opening kickoff and drove 41 yards in 10 plays, taking 5:26 off the clock with Wil Lutz drilling a 56-yard field goal to give the Saints a 3-0 lead with 9:34 to play in the first quarter.

**On the drive, Kamara carried four times for 18 yards.

**It did not take long for Seattle to take the lead. The Seahawks drove 75 yards in five plays with Geno Smith connecting with DK Metcalf on a 50-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-3 with 6:41 to play in the opening quarter.

**On the play, Smith broke containment, rolled left and found Metcalf wide open, beating Paulson badly for the score.

**The Seahawks got a second explosive play on a 32-yard run by Rashad Penny to set up a 56-yard field goal by Jason Myers to make it 10-3 Seattle with 1:13 to play in the first quarter.

**Deonte Harty fumbled a kickoff, then injured his foot and left the game. Hill replaced him as the deep man on kickoff returns.

**Hill proceeded to fumble the ensuing kickoff but the Saints fortunately recovered to avert another turnover.

**New Orleans got even early in the second quarter, driving 69 yards in 10 plays, taking 5:19 off the clock with Hill scoring on an eight-yard run to tie the game at 10-10.

**On the drive, Hill rushed twice for 23 yards and the score.

**Jordan, who played well in the loss to Minnesota in London, sacked Smith to get the first stop of the game for the New Orleans defense midway through the second quarter.

**New Orleans then came up with a big play on special teams, although it was more opportunistic than anything else. Seattle punter Michael Dickson, rolled right on a punt attempt, ate the ball, was hit by Dwayne Washington, fumbled and Hill recovered at the Seattle 13-yard line. Though not credited as a turnover, it was another game-changing moment involving Hill.

**It took just two plays for Hill to get his second touchdown on a counter play left, behind the block of Washington, to give the Saints a 17-10 lead with 3:34 to play in the half. James Hurst had a good seal block on the play.

**Seattle pulled within 17-13 with 1:42 to play in the half, driving 62 yards in nine plays, with Myers kicking a 31-yard field goal. The big play of the drive was a 32-yard completion from Smith to Noah Fant.

**The Saints drove into field goal range but Kamara then committed a huge mistake, fumbling after a pass completion from Andy Dalton when hit by Coby Bryant with Tariq Woolen recovering at midfield.

**Seattle took full advantage and it took just three plays with Smith hitting Tyler Lockett with a 35-yard touchdown pass to give the Seahawks a 19-17 lead at the half after a missed extra point.

**On the score, Adebo was beaten deep again and safety J.T. Gray was late in helping.

**On the first play from scrimmage in the second half, Smith hit Metcalf for eight yards but Metcalf was hit by Pete Werner who helped create a fumble. David Onyamata recovered at the Seattle 31-yard line. Upon replay review, the call was allowed to stand.

**The Saints took full advantage, driving 31 yards in six plays with Dalton hitting Chris Olave with a 16-yard touchdown pass to give the Saints a 24-19 lead with 12:03 to play in the third quarter.

**On the play, Olave was slammed to the turf, hitting his head, and was shaken up. On the play, Olave was deemed to have controlled the ball to the ground long enough and upon instant replay review, the original call of an incomplete pass was overturned and ruled a touchdown.

**Unfortunately, Olave suffered a concussion and missed the rest of the game, leaving just Tre’Quan Smith, Marcus Callaway and newly signed Keith Kirkwood at wide receiver.

**Penny left the game with an ankle injury for Seattle and would not return, a loss for the Seahawks.

**Dalton then made a huge mistake, throwing late and behind Tre’Quan Smith on an out-route, who was well covered and it was intercepted by Woolen at the New Orleans 48-yard line.

**The defense held up strong and forced a punt and the offense responded.

**New Orleans drove 79 yards in four plays, taking 2:10 off the clock with Hill fooling the Seahawks by throwing a pass, a 22-yard strike to an open Adam Trautman for a touchdown to give the Saints a 31-19 lead with 36 seconds to play in the third quarter.

**The biggest play of the drive was a perfectly executed 56-yard screen pass from Dalton to Kamara.

**Seattle responded, using just three plays to go 75 yards with Smith connecting on a perfectly thrown deep ball to Tyer Lockett for a 40-yard touchdown to cut the New Orleans lead to 31-25 with 14:08 to play in the game. Adebo was on the coverage yet again, but it was a very, very well thrown ball.

**The touchdown came after a 27-yard pass interference penalty on Marshon Lattimore, who would leave the game with an abdomen injury.

**Then, Seattle took the lead on a Kenneth Walker III 69-yard touchdown run, a run which he was untouched on, to give Seattle a 32-31 lead with 6:54 to play in the game.

**Then, the amazing afternoon for Hill continued. On third-and-one from the New Orleans 40-yard line. Hill ran left, broke a tackle and outraced the defense 60 yards for a touchdown to give the Saints another lead. After Mark Ingram ran in the two-point conversion with 5:22 to play in the game, New Orleans was up 39-32.

**Jordan then got his second sack of the game, getting Smith for a huge 14-yard loss and forcing a punt.

**The offense was then able to successfully run out the clock on four runs by Kamara and a key completion from Dalton to Smith for a first down.

Just how good was Hill?

He became just one of three players in the NFL since 1950 with three or more rushing touchdowns, 100 or more rushing yards and a passing touchdown in a single game, joining Ronnie Brown (2008) and LaDainian Tomlinson (2005).

The last player for the Saints to have three rushing touchdowns and a passing touchdown in a game was Archie Manning back in 1977.

Kamara finished with 23 carries for 103 yards and caught six passes for 91 yards, accounting for 204 total yards.

Dalton did commit a turnover but the Saints got a stop and did not allow points off the turnover.

Otherwise, with a very depleted receiving corps, Dalton did a good enough job, completing 16-of-24 passes for 187 yards with a touchdown and the interception.

The Saints dominated the football to the tune of 37:35 while Seattle had the ball for just 22:25. That was largely due to New Orleans gashing the Seahawks for 235 yards rushing.

Still, the defense gave up way too many big plays and the offense committed two more turnovers. There was another key pass interference penalty.

There is so much to clean up.

These were not two good football teams on this day but there were great individual performances which provided a victory.

Now, the attention shifts an intriguing contest against the Bengals in New Orleans next Sunday at noon as former LSU Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow returns to the site of a national championship, as does hometown hero Ja’Marr Chase of Archbishop Rummel and LSU.

It is a chance for the Saints to get back to even on the season.

To do so, the Saints will need to improve substantially in some areas.

Still, it was good feeling for the team and its fans to leave with a win to snap a three-game losing streak, thanks to Hill, Kamara and Jordan.

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Ken Trahan

CEO/Owner

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Born and raised in the New Orleans area, CCSE CEO Ken Trahan has been a sports media fixture in the community for nearly four decades. Ken started NewOrleans.com/Sports with Bill Hammack and Don Jones in 2008. In 2011, the site became SportsNOLA.com. On August 1, 2017, Ken helped launch CrescentCitySports.com. Having accumulated national awards/recognition (National Sports Media Association, National Football…

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