Don’t let anyone tell you Taysom Hill isn’t an important part of the New Orleans Saints’ success. After Sunday’s defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles, they have lost 5 of their last 6 games without him, putting up just 15.3 points per game. Hill has missed just 8 regular season matchups since he became a regular piece of the offense back in 2018, and the Saints are 3-5 in those matchups.
The numbers don’t lie, but they can be manipulated. And we should consider all angles here. After all, we’re comparing the 94 regular season games the Saints have played with Hill in the lineup to 8 games he’s had to watch from the sideline. And a couple of those happened during the team’s disastrous 2021 COVID outbreak that put dozens of players out of commission. That context matters.
Still, here’s what we found. With Hill active and taking snaps on offense (he only played special teams as a rookie in 2017), the Saints averaged 26.6 points per game across 94 matchups. That number falls to 17.6 points per game in the eight kickoffs he’s had to miss, including Sunday’s loss to the Eagles. That’s a major swing. You can take away outliers like their 2021 losses to the Miami Dolphins (20-3) and Buffalo Bills (31-6), and they’re still averaging 4 fewer points per game without Hill.
And it matches what we’ve seen in these games. The offense lacks an element of physicality when Hill isn’t out there. They don’t have many players who are willing to bowl over a defender in the open field and set the tone. Hill’s versatility is missed, too; Alvin Kamara’s doomed wildcat rushing attempt against Philly was a textbook short-yardage play for Hill that he typically converts.
Just having Hill out there as a chess piece who can help keep the defense honest and dictate coverage matchups is valuable. Dennis Allen isn’t alone in hoping Hill can play next week. The Saints need him. We didn’t count playoff games for this exercise, but the Saints lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 without Hill on the field, too (30-20). He led the team in rushing yards a year earlier in their playoff exit against the Minnesota Vikings. They missed him then too.
But they have to learn to win without him someday. They’ve been lucky to get as much mileage out of Hill as they have. He just turned 34. He suffered season-ending injuries three times in four years at BYU, including a knee injury, a broken leg, and a fracture in his foot. His last game of college football ended with an elbow injury before he turned pro. He’d probably be the first to tell you he’s grateful for dressing out in 99 games with the Saints (and counting). Other players need to step up and fill his niche on offense as tone-setters who can fight for tough yardage. Until that happens, every absence is going to continue to make an outsized impact on the scoreboard.
