What We Learned from each Sunday game

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Nick Shook’s takeaways:

1. Taysom carries the day. We’d seen Taysom Hill‘s role in New Orleans evolve since the departure of Sean Payton, so much that he wasn’t attempting passes anymore and was used more as a runner and/or blocker than anything else. That meant Sunday was the perfect situation for the Saints to deploy Hill in a number of roles against a notoriously aggressive Jim Schwartz-directed defense and watch Hill work. The Swiss Army knife did a little bit of everything, piling up a career-high 138 rushing yards on seven carries and scoring on the ground three times. He chipped in eight catches for 50 yards, marking the first time he’s broken 100 yards rushing and 50 yards receiving in a game in his career. And he even threw an interception, which didn’t end up mattering to anything other than the full Taysom Hill Experience. Have a day, vet.
2. Browns’ defense disintegrates. Yes, the Browns broke 400 yards of offense and only managed to score 14 points. Yes, Dustin Hopkins missed two field goals (three, if you count the miss nullified by a defensive holding penalty). But the ugliest part of Cleveland’s latest loss came on the defensive side, where Browns defenders could be seen flailing all over the field in vain Sunday (or in the case of Juan Thornhilltrailing a long touchdown pass by jogging his way to the end zone). The Browns led the NFL in arm tackles Sunday, becoming nothing more than Hill’s roadkill on his three rushing scores. Despite forcing two turnovers, Cleveland crumbled in the fourth quarter, allowing Derek Carr to lead three touchdown drives, including two of 77 or more yards. It was disheartening to say the least amid a massively disappointing campaign, and while this game alone won’t prompt any changes, it certainly isn’t a good example in this staff’s case to retain its jobs entering 2025.
3. Saints’ offense rediscovers its rhythm. It truly began with the return of Carr two weeks ago, but Sunday marked the first time in which New Orleans got back to basics to establish a foundation, then mixed in all kinds of wrinkles to get the job done consistently over four quarters. Hill obviously played a big part, but so too did an early outburst on the ground from Alvin Kamaraas well as a catch-and-run touchdown scored by Marquez Valdes-Scantling (his third in two games). Carr was sharp and avoided taking significant risks while completing 21 of 27 passes for 248 yards and two touchdowns. The Saints ran the ball well, remained unpredictable and utilized a bevy of pass catchers, creating a very strong unit that helped New Orleans put together their best performance since way back in Week 2. Because of their 4-7 record, it doesn’t mean much in the long run, but it was nice to see the team that calls the Big Easy home have a fun Sunday.

Next Gen Stats Insight for Browns-Saints (via NFL Pro): Derek Carr carved up the Browns on Sunday, going a perfect 5 for 5 for 117 yards and two touchdowns against the blitz, and a perfect 8 for 8 on attempts against man coverage for 58 yards, a touchdown and a +22.9 completion percentage over expected.

NFL Research: With Sunday’s victory, Darren Rizzi became the first Saints interim coach to win two games in a season, and also became the second coach in franchise history to win his first two games at the helm, joining Sean Payton, who started 3-0 in 2006.