The New Orleans Saints entered their bye week in style, with a 35-14 victory over Cleveland on Sunday in the Caesars Superdome. There was something to like in every phase, and someone who supplied it.
OFFENSE: Undoubtedly, this will be the first time the most impressive player on offense in a victory also is the one that threw an interception and lost a fumble inside the opponent's 10-yard line, essentially wiping points off the board. But then, not everyone is tight end/running back/quarterback/receiver Taysom Hill , who left fingerprints all over this one. Hill ran for 138 yards and three touchdowns on seven carries, caught a career-high eight passes for 50 yards, completed a pass for 18 yards and even returned a kickoff 42 yards. Two touchdown runs – a 33-yarder and 75-yarder – came in the fourth quarter and were glaring signs that defensively, the Browns had seen as much of Hill as they wanted to see. It took that kind of performance for Hill to top quarterback Derek Carr, because Carr completed 21 of 27 passes for 248 yards and two touchdowns.
DEFENSE: When a defense allows 443 yards, 377 of it passing, there generally aren't many people to celebrate. But New Orleans gave up just 14 points and linebacker Demario Davis (13 tackles, a tackle for loss, two passes defended) led a unit that performed in situations when it needed to. Davis probably dropped a pick-six (he joked that he needed to order some hands on Amazon), but he led a serious defense that held Cleveland to 66 rushing yards on 20 carries. Do that and produce stops on 10 of 13 third-down attempts, and almost everything else can be withstood.
SPECIAL TEAMS: New Orleans waived returner Jermaine Jackson on Saturday, installed Dante Pettis as the punt returner Sunday and were rewarded with Pettis' career-long 53-yard return in the fourth quarter. Pettis would've had an 88-yard touchdown return, but he stepped out of bounds at the 35. Pettis could be what the Saints have been missing at punt return since Rashid Shaheed went on injured reserve.
