All season, the Saints have tinkered with ways to get the ball into Taysom Hill’s hands.
Sunday, that meant him taking it off the foot of Bryan Anger.
The Saints’ backup quarterback/offensive gadget player got back to his special teams roots, and made the play that turned things for the Saints during a comeback win over the Buccaneers.
Trailing 14-3 in the third quarter, he blocked Anger’s punt, and that led to 25 unanswered points.
“That ranks right up there for me,” Hill said, via Jeff Duncan of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “Blocked punts are pretty rare in this league. To have a game-changing play like that, it will definitely be a memorable moment for me.”
The Saints identified his speed as a potential difference-maker on special teams before they started broadening his role on offense. And he’s grateful for all of it (along with his team, since it helped them clinch the NFC South).
“I’m a quarterback, and I want to play quarterback,” Hill said. “At the end of the day, though, I don’t want to sit on the bench. That’s not fun for me. I’m grateful that Coach [Sean Payton] and [special teams coach (Mike Westhoff] saw something in me and try to utilize me in different ways. Like I’ve told them before, whatever I can do to get on the field and help our team win, I’m all for it.”
As it keeps working, they’re likely to continue to give him more to do.