The fans were back. They brought the juice. Unfortunately they felt the same sting as the last time they were in the house.
Despite an impressive defensive performance to start the game, the Giants hit on just enough big plays to keep the game close, ultimately closing it out with a touchdown on the opening drive of overtime. The Giants improve to 1-3, while the Saints fall to 2-2.
The final drive was eerily similar to the last time the Saints got in the dome in front of a packed house. That was a loss to the Minnesota Vikings in the 2019 playoffs, finished off by a Kyle Rudolph TD that appeared to be a missed call for a push-off. It was Saquon Barkley powering the ball across the goal line this time, but Rudolph -- now with the Giants -- came up with a huge fumble recovery earlier in the drive to keep it going.
One word: Ouch.
With that in mind, scroll below for my top 3 takeaways from yet another hard-fought -- and offensively challenged -- Saints win.
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1. THE TAYSOM HILL VISION IS GETTING CLEARER
It took a few weeks for the Saints to truly implement a Taysom Hill attack into a Jameis Winston-led offense, but the loser of the offseason QB battle has arguably been the team's most effective weapon in a pair of hard-fought wins the last two weeks.
Hill saw the first expansion of his role in a Week 3 win over the Patriots, taking over at QB in the red zone of a putaway drive, plowing for a touchdown that sealed the result after picking up a first down on a scramble.
Hill's impact was more wide-reaching against the Giants, making an impact as a runner, passer and receiver. He also gave away a possession with an ill-fated deep ball to Deonte Harris that was picked off by James Bradberry. Hill powered in for two touchdown runs and 28 yards on 6 carries, completed 2 passes for 9 yards and caught 2 passes for 26 yards.
The Saints offense finally got back a bit of its mojo, even without a huge number on the scoreboard, against a solid Giants defense. Don't expect the Taysom Hill experience to leave any time soon. The Swiss Army Knife is back.
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2. THE RUNNING GAME IS THIN
The Saints have an all-world running back in Alvin Kamara, but suddenly they're looking dangerously thin at a position where they've often taken advantage of a duo approach. Tony Jones Jr. was carted off the field with an ankle injury, leaving only Dwayne Washington, wide receiver Ty Montgomery and fullback Alex Armah to carry the load behind Kamara in Week 4.
The Saints cut veteran Latavius Murray in favor of Jones before the season, and they might have to bring in some help there if the second-year back's injury is significant. There's no concern over Kamara's abilities, even if he's yet to truly break out for a monster performance yet this season. He rolled up 115 yards on 25 carries and the Saints controlled the ball much of the game, but he bizarrely went without a catch and has had a limited role in the passing game over the first quarter of the season. You also do have to consider his workload, though, with 13 more games left to play.
Despite working full-time at WR this season, Montgomery logged a pair of carries in the second half. He was also one of the more productive pass-catchers, twice hauling in critical third-down passes to extend drives.
Taysom Hill is technically a QB, but he's obviously a big part of the run game. Still, it's difficult to salt away games without an effective run game -- OL injuries are also a factor -- and the Saints gave the Giants a chance to burn them in this one. New Orleans punted the ball back to the Giants, leading by just 3, with a little over 3 minutes remaining.
Even at a disappointing 2-2, this Saints team has very real playoff aspirations. That's true even with a few issues to iron out and positions to get healthy down the road. They can't afford to burn out Kamara early in the season, knowing how important he'll be when the elimination games start.
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3. THE JUICE WAS BACK, SO WAS THE STING
Whatever the attendance figures say, it wasn't quite a full house for Week 4, the first full-capacity game in the Caesars Superdome since a playoff loss in 2019.
But whatever the actual number of butts in seats was for the noon kickoff, the attendance was impressive and the noise was stunning. A noon matchup against a winless team isn't exactly a peak draw, even with the return dynamic. But with 635 days between games with noise, I'd honestly forgotten just how loud it could get in there. The Giants dealt with it, and clearly had issues communicating at points.
Can you imagine what will happen when, for example, Tom Brady's Bucs roll into town? The defense has adopted the moniker of "The Juice Boys." But even if they don't bring the juice, it's clear the Superdome crowd will the rest of the way in the 2021 season.
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Follow Jeff Nowak on Twitter @Jeff_Nowak or contact him by email at jeffrey.nowak@audacy.com