Saints quarterback Taysom Hill was listed as a full participant in practice all week and he didn’t have an injury designation for Thursday night’s game against the Bills, but he never saw the field during a 31-6 loss that featured a dismal offensive performance across the board.
Given how poorly the offense looked with Trevor Siemian at the helm for a fourth-straight loss, the reason why Hill didn’t play was the subject of early questions for Saints head coach Sean Payton after the game. Hill, who signed a four-year contract extension this week, was listed on the injury report with a foot issue that Payton said would keep him from playing quarterback during the game.
“He was still going through the week. We knew he wasn’t going to be able to play quarterback this week, but he’s listed as full relative to being up. That was his foot,” Payton said.
Going without a quarterback option other than Siemian on a night when they were also down their top two running backs seems a curious decision. The Saints do have rookie Ian Book on the 53-man roster, but he was inactive despite the team’s feeling that Hill wasn’t well enough to actually play.
At 5-6, the Saints are starting to run short on time to right the ship. Payton said they’ll “look at everything” when asked about Hill’s role once healthy, but it’s clear something has to change for the team to get where it wants to go this season.