The New Orleans Saints broke their losing skid, and now they're officially on a winning streak.
Even more importantly, the Saints are back to being a team that fans should be excited to watch, demonstrated throughout their 35-14 win over the Browns that included an epix, three-touchdown performance from Taysom Hill.
“I thought it was very entertaining," the Cajun Cannon Bobby Hebert said in his postgame rant. "It wasn’t 3 yards and a cloud of dust, a lot of explosive chunk plays for you and against you."
Listen to Bobby Hebert's full postgame rant in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
The numbers certainly back that up, even if the scoreboard didn't completely agree with both teams tied 14-14 entering the 4th quarter with several squandered scoring chances. A quick look at some of the biggest plays:
- Q1, 2:07 remaining, 1st & 10: Jameis Winston 89 yard TD pass to Jerry Jeudy
- Q2, 12:53 remaining, 3rd & 1: Derek Carr 71-yard TD pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling
- Q3, 8:53 remaining, 1st & 10: Jameis Winston 30-yard TD pass to Elijah Moore
- Q4, 13:29 remaining, 4th & 1: Taysom Hill 33-yard TD run
- Q4, 2:38 remaining, 2nd & 7: Taysom Hill 75-yard TD run
In the end it's another two-game winning streak, the second of the season, but this one feels a bit different under interim head coach Darren Rizzi. It wasn't always pretty. Taysom Hill rolled up 138 rushing yards, 18 passing yards and 50 receiving yards. He even had a 42-yard kick return. There was also an interception thrown and a red zone fumble that kept the Browns in touch. Still, a win is a win. So far, so good.
"Any time you win a game by 21 points in the NFL," Hebert continued, "I don’t care if you were playing the Jaguars today, you know, whoever you might perceive as a weak team in the NFL, and Cleveland is one of those teams. … Any time you win by 21 points, that’s impressive.”
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More on Taysom Hill
“I have two or three bootleg shirts about Taysom Hill, I’m definitely wearing one of those two the Slipper. You know, Swiss Army Knife, jack of all trades, I have it all, so I’m gonna be toting that. Taysom Hill, the bottom line, he’s just a football player. I don’t understand how, maybe the media is too young, but that’s maybe some older media members there, you know, and coach Rizzi is referring to Red Grange, do they know Red Grange is the galloping ghost? Probably not, Red Grange, but that’s not who he should be compared to. I wish I was there, I’d raise my hand, not Kathy Lee Gifford, but her husband, Frank Gifford. You ever hear of Frank Gifford, New York Giants? That’s who Taysom Hill is. … Whether it’s running, throwing or catching, that you look at Frank Gifford, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
On the tight ends
“I thought Foster Moreau, him and Juwan Johnson, that combination, they got targeted, if you combine them both, they got targeted 7 times, 6 catches. I thought Juwan Johnson’s touchdown, so they combined for 80 yards. Foster Moreau was right under a 17-yard average, which is outstanding, and again, Valdez-Scantling, explosive, big chunk play, 71 yards. He goes 2 catches 87 yards. No, it was a lot to write home about."
On the pass rush
“We’ve still got to get a better pass rush. To me the pass rush is still too inconsistent. At times I know Jameis Winston felt very comfortable back there, now we still ended up with three sacks, but a lot of times we wasn’t really hitting him. You can’t really hit the quarterback, but I’m talking about making him a little shaky or happy feet, so to speak, that was definitely not the case and you know, it was out — when I said how are we gonna finish about, I know it’s 14-14 going into the 4th quarter. Bryan Bresee, when he develops, he needs to still get better against the run. I think he will, but he can rush the passer. Bryan Bresee had a sack and a half and he now has 5.5 sacks for the season.”