Alvin Kamara is no stranger to long runs, but he had the opposite kind of advice for his quarterback on what turned into a 44-yard touchdown run late in a 30-9 victory over the Jets.
Taysom Hill shouldn't have run that far at all, the star back said, laughing after the game.
"I told his dumb ass to slide," Kamara said, smiling. "He said he thought about it, but he got the the touchdown. I guess he wanted the stats.”
It was a lighthearted moment that didn't offer any true criticism, given the fact that the touchdown pushed the Saints' lead to 30-9 and essentially secured the win. In a closer game, though, it'd have been a major gaffe. If Hill had slid after picking up the first down, the Saints could've run out the clock. By scoring he set up the Jets with a final possession but without nearly enough time necessary to complete a rally.
Kamara also had criticism for guard Calvin Throckmorton, who mistakenly threw a block on Kamara during a screen.
"He needs to make it on [SportsCenter's] Not Top 10. ... I’m gonna push for the OL to fine him, he needs a fine for that,” Kamara joked.
Saints coach Sean Payton also expressed mild exasperation at both of those plays, particularly the failed screen that he believed was set up for a big gain if not for the blocking errors. Linebackers Kwon Alexander and Demario Davis smiled and joked that there was "no Miller Time" after the score, which meant the defense had to return to the field. The Jets drove all the way to the 1-yard line but was stopped just short as time expired to officially keep the Jets out of the end zone all day.
“We’ll be ready whenever. … If we’ve got to go back out there we’ve got to go back out there," Alexander said. "We did our thing. We didn’t let him score. And then we was off the field.”
For the record, Hill himself agreed with his running back, but in the end there were mildly interesting footnotes on a get-right victory for the Saints that snaps a five-game losing skid and sets the team at 6-7 and squarely in the thick of the playoff hunt.
Related
Kamara had missed the final four games of that losing streak with knee and hamstring injuries, but looked fresh, fast and strong in a dominating performance against the Jets. Kamara ran for 120 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries, and addd another 25 receiving yards on 4 catches.
“It felt good. We expect to win every week. Obviously we’ve been unfortunate to have a couple losses in a row, but even in the locker room before the game it felt, even all week we felt like we had a good week of practice," Kamara said. We felt like the energy was there. A couple guys said it, I said it before the game: We’re gonna win because we’re going to have more fun than them, we’re gonna have more energy than them and, I mean, we’re just gonna get it done. So we went out there and got it done.”
Related
LISTEN NOW on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram