Sunday afternoon inside the Caesars Superdome, the New Orleans Saints picked up their second straight win as they defeated the Cleveland Browns 35-14.
The defense made a ton of highlight plays, Derek Carr looked sharp, but the biggest storyline came from the 35-year-old tight end/wide receiver/running back.
Taysom Hill finished the contest with 138 rushing yards, 50 receiving yards, 18 yards passing, 42 yards of kick return, and three touchdowns. He even threw an interception and lost a fumble to put a blemish on that stat line.
Hill made NFL history as the first player to have 100 yards rushing, 50 yards receiving, 10 yards passing, and three touchdowns in the same game. He is also the first non-running back to have 125+ yards rushing and 3 touchdowns in a single game.
"Yeah, he's kind of an ageless guy," Saints interim coach Darren Rizzi said following the win. "I mean, he keeps himself in phenomenal physical shape with the way it takes care of his body. You know what he puts in his body, all those things, how he prepares himself off the field in the off-season, all those things. He doesn't certainly look 34, he looked more like a 24-year-old today, that's for sure. And like I said, I'm glad now we got to be smart with the usage and play counts and all that stuff. We can't just sweep it under the rug, his age. But man, I think the reason he has success is because of what he has done for the whole calendar year. His preparation, his nutrition, all those things. And so the off-the-field stuff is really impressive for them. There's, there's, like, the earned competency he has having them, but to stick with them."
Now, the Black and Gold will head into their bye week with confidence and energy as they look to get some key players healthy and rested. From there, the final six games of the 2024 season including some winnable contests.
I'm not here to say the Saints are going to make a playoff run, but with guys like Taysom having big games, I wouldn't rule it out.