Zach Strief, the Voice of the Saints, was thrilled with the way the New Orleans Saints defense played in a 24-9 beat down of the Atlanta Falcons.
“The defense has been about as good as you could possibly ask for the last three games. They've been outstanding defensively. The secondary has been absolutely phenomenal. The pass rush has been fantastic. They're really coming together.”
The Saints secondary limited Matt Ryan to 232 yards passing and nabbed two interceptions (though one was on a last second Hail Mary at the end of the first half). The pass rush sacked Ryan eight times and registered 11 total QB hits. New Orleans also shut down the run game, holding Atlanta to just 52 rushing yards on 14 carries.
“It is dominant defensive football, the likes of which we have not seen here since the Dome Patrol, really,” Strief said. “You see it three weeks in a row, and you start saying this is who you are...at some point, it becomes who you are.”
Strief's praise didn't end there.
“It will not matter who is playing quarterback if our defense continues to play that way.”
There was a fairly big question surrounding the quarterback position going into the game. Taysom Hill made his first NFL start at quarterback with Drew Brees on injured reserve, and Strief liked what he saw from the offense.
“Complimentary football, right? You had an offense that kept the football,” Strief said. “They ran the football efficiently, finished with over 160 yards on the ground.
Taysom Hill, which was the big story going into that game, I don't think you could have asked for him to play much better.
“There's no crowning anybody as the future or the franchise,” Strief continued. “[But] for the life of me, I can't understand where anyone's negativity comes from after that game. Sean Payton talked all week [how] he needed to win that game; they needed to beat the Atlanta Falcons yesterday. They felt Taysom gave them the best opportunity to do that, and Taysom did absolutely nothing but prove Sean Payton right on that.”
Hill was solid in the pass game, completing 18 of his 23 attempts (78.3%) for 233 yards with no touchdowns but also no interceptions, good for a 108.9 passer rating.
He also led the way for the Saints on the ground, gaining 51 yards on 10 carries with 2 touchdowns.
The next challenge for Hill is building on this performance with a road trip against the Denver Broncos coming up this Sunday at 3:05pm CT.