Saints’ Taysom Hill shockingly outperformed Falcons’ Matt Ryan
Taysom Hill has had three starts for the Saints this season, and in two of them, he’s led the offense that’s absolutely abused Matt Ryan’s Falcons.
The New Orleans Saints traveled to Atlanta and came away with their ninth straight victory. Now 10-2, the Saints have locked up a spot in the postseason, the only NFC team that has officially clinched a berth.
The Saints were able to dominate before terrific performances from Taysom Hill and Alvin Kamara. Hill, who went for over 200 yards for the second time in his three starts, threw his first career passing touchdown against the Falcons.
He didn’t have just one though; Hill went for two touchdowns, one to Tre’Quan Smith and the other to Jared Cook. Kamara’s 11-yard run in the third quarter was the team’s third and last touchdown of the day.
The Saints, who had almost a 99 percent to win the game in the third quarter, were close to allowing an Atlanta comeback. However, Matt Ryan, who had just one touchdown, couldn’t finish for the Falcons.
Ryan’s lone touchdown was to Russell Gage. To go along with that, he ended the game with 273 yards and no rushing yards, completing 19 of 39 attempts. He also was sacked three times and finished with a 28.3 QBR.
Ryan’s numbers weren’t awful, but for a quarterback that’s led a team to a Super Bowl, they were far from acceptable.
For Hill, he ended with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Hill had 232 passing yards and chipped in 83 more on the ground. Completing 27 of 37 attempts, Hill’s QBR was 59.1. He was just better on Sunday afternoon.
To be fair, Ryan and his Falcons were also playing against the Saints’ league-best defense. It’s not a good excuse for missing on over half of your attempts though. Ryan needed to do better, and the third-year Hill made him look like the inexperienced one.
In the second half of games this season, Hill has completed 25 of his 32 attempts. When the Saints have needed him to be great late in the game, he’s delivered. Now, Hill’s game on Sunday did have flaws. He had three fumbles, losing one. That’s inexcusable.
Fix that, and you could have a quarterback that has the potential to lead the team for quite awhile. For the second straight time, Hill has outperformed what many consider to be a future Hall of Famer in Ryan.
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He’s continuing to prove he belongs, despite many, even us, doubting what he could do in the pocket.