Category: 2024 season

Darren Rizzi offers scant details in postgame injury report

The Saints suffered some significant injury issues over the weekend, but Darren Rizzi offered scant details in his postgame injury report:

The Saints suffered some injury issues during Sunday’s 21-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Two of the most notable ones were to offensive lineman Nick Saldiveri and Swiss army knife Taysom Hill.

Saldiveri suffered a knee injury in the third quarter of the game and was carted off of the field. This really hurt the Saints up front, considering the team had already lost Erik McCoy and Lucas Patrick, who Saldiveri was specifically filling in for.

No updates have been provided on his condition to this point, outside of the fact that he was set to go for further imaging after the game. Interim head coach Darren Rizzi said he didn’t want to speculate about either of them.

Hill was also carted off of the field during the game after he took a helmet to the knee.

At the time, he led the team with 5 catches for 37 yards and carried the ball five times for 10 yards. It is the third time this season in which Hill has had to leave the game with an injury. Previously, he had suffered cracked ribs and a bruised lung.

He is one of the most loved players by the fan base, with many questions prompted after he had to exit the game.

The update provided on him most recently was not an optimistic one, coming from a report from NFL insider Ian Rapoport that indicated he thought Hill would be out for the remainder of the season, which was confirmed after imaging on Monday morning.

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Taysom Hill is out for the year after Week 13 knee injury

Breaking: Taysom Hill is out for the year after a Week 13 injury, which included damage to his ACL and other parts of his knee:

Testing on Taysom Hill’s injured knee confirmed the New Orleans Saints’ fears: ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that imaging revealed a season-ending injury for the star playmaker, which NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill clarified meant damage to his ACL and other parts of his knee.

It’s the latest in a series of lower-body injuries dating back to Hill’s college career. The 34-year old has suffered everything from broken bones to sprained tendons and planter fasciitis, on top of this new ligament issue. Hill could be forgiven for choosing to call it a career at this point, but we shouldn’t speculate too much about his future.

For now the Saints are going to have to find out ways to win without him. They’re 4-4 in games he’s dressed for this season and 0-4 in games he’s missed. Hill was one of the first players offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak sat down with when he accepted the job, and the positionless playmaker was a key part of his plans for 2024. We’ll just have to wait and see what’s next for both of them.

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Week 13 loss didn’t help Saints’ draft pick, but MNF’s outcome could

Losing to the Rams didn’t help the Saints’ draft pick, but Monday night’s result could. Be sure to cheer against Sean Payton and the Broncos:

Well this stings. The New Orleans Saints’ loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 13 didn’t even help their position in the 2025 NFL draft order. But they aren’t out of the woods yet. The Denver Broncos’ game with the Cleveland Browns on “Monday Night Football” could do a lot to help them out. All Saints fans need to do is root against Sean Payton (or for Jameis Winston).

The Saints went into their matchup with the Rams projected to pick at No. 9 overall, per Tankathon. They’re still at No. 9 after losing to LA, which put their record at 4-8. The Browns are slotted ahead of them at 3-8, and a loss to the Broncos on Monday night could keep them there.

But a win would tie Cleveland with New Orleans, both at 4-8. Their head-to-head result wouldn’t put the Saints ahead, but their lower strength of schedule (.495, at the moment) would help them against the Browns (whose SOS is .512 before this Broncos game). So if the Browns win, they would drop down behind the Saints, who would move up to the eighth overall pick.

For now. There are five more weeks left in the regular season to determine who picks where at the top of the NFL draft. The Saints aren’t mathematically eliminated from the playoffs and they showed plenty of fight in that loss to the Rams; don’t expect them to go in the tank and hope for a better draft pick. We’ll keep tracking where they rank through the weeks ahead, but know this is a fluid process.

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Derek Carr reacts to Taysom Hill’s injury: ‘It’s bigger than football’

Derek Carr was upset to see Taysom Hill go down with an injury against the Rams: ‘It’s bigger than football in that moment’

Disaster hit the New Orleans Saints late in Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams when star playmaker Taysom Hill left the field with what’s believed to be a significant knee injury. Hill, the reigning NFC Offensive Player of the Week, took a helmet to the knee when running for a first down and was down for several minutes being attended to by the medical staff.

Many of his fans were upset to see him hurt; Hill’s physical style of play and skills as a chess piece who can line up anywhere have endeared him to a lot of supporters. One of those was Derek Carr. The Saints quarterback shared his reaction to Hill’s reaction after the game.

“It’s the worst,” Carr told reporters, adding that he hadn’t yet heard details about Hill’s status. He continued, “Just as a brother, as a friend. It’s bigger than football at that moment.”

Carr has gone on the record to call Hill one of the best football players he’s ever shared a field with, so he was right there with many Saints fans watching worriedly when No. 7 went down. And he appreciated the cheers of support for Hill as he was carted off to the locker room.

“I love how our fans treated him. I expected nothing less from our fans. The way they treated him,” Carr reflected. “It was not not a good time for him but that was really cool.”

Here’s hoping Hill’s injury isn’t as severe as it looked, but the Saints are bracing for the worst. Stay tuned for updates.

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Tyrann Mathieu not expected to miss time due to shoulder injury

Tyrann Mathieu left the Rams game with a shoulder injury, but the Saints expect him to return against the Giants next week:

After making a tackle on Kyren Williams, Tyrann Mathieu exited the New Orleans Saints Week 13 showdown against the Los Angeles Rams with a shoulder injury. The injury occurred in the third quarter and the safety never returned to the game.

Mathieu was seen on the sideline with a brace on his arm with his helmet on. That was a good sign, and there’s more good news on the way. Per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill, the Saints do not view the shoulder injury as a serious injury. The expectation is for Mathieu to return to the lineup next week against the New York Giants.

Mathieu has had to deal with a litany of injuries this season. He’s maintained a frequent presence on the injury report, but he has yet to miss a game. That trend isn’t expected to change this week. Expect Mathieu to appear on the injury report during the practice week and hope for limited participation instead of DNP.

The secondary’s communication is led by Mathieu. If he isn’t able to go on Sunday, New Orleans will have to replace his play on the field and his leadership. Neither is an easy task.

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Two Reasons: Cowboys only have selves to blame for disappointing 2024

The Dallas Cowboys haven’t met expectations in 2024, and the team only has themselves to blame for their issues. | From @cdpiglet

Coming off of their third 12-5 season in a row and a second seed in the playoffs, the Dallas Cowboys have fallen far from contention in 2024. That began well before the loss of starting quarterback Dak Prescott to a season-ending injury. If the team is upset by these results, it has only itself to blame.

The issues began with inactivity. The decision not to extend Prescott or star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb earlier in the offseason instead of right before September  was a two-fold error. Not only did it put them behind on the field, as it caused Lamb to miss training camp, but those extensions would’ve freed up cap space for Dallas to sign free agents to replace the nine players who signed elsewhere.

The only outside free agent the Cowboys signed before training camp began was Eric Kendricks, who was a direct replacement for a cut/retired player, Leighton Vander Esch.

That doesn’t negate the poor performance of the head coach and play-caller, Mike McCarthy.

Only recently did he make Rico Dowdle the primary running back, instead choosing a committee approach instead of featuring one of the top 10 running backs (success rate) on the season. In games Dowdle had at least 20 touches the Cowboys are 3-0, but only 2-6 in games when he gets under 20. After rushing 20 times for 87 yards against the Steelers’ top-three rush defense, Dowdle should’ve been the clear top back on the team.

McCarthy instead fed Ezekiel Elliott as the back with the most attempts the next game.

Beyond that, McCarthy hasn’t done a good job opening up the offense, failing to get the team’s playmakers the ball in spots where they can make plays. Speedster Kavontae Turpin has never had more than four receptions in a game all season and had more than five targets only once.

Against the Houston Texans, Turpin caught all three of his targets for 86 yards and a touchdown but had only one target the next game. In their last contest, the team targeted Turpin four straight plays on the opening drive and had him wide open on a slot corner route Cooper Rush missed in the end zone. Fans will have to wait and see if there were any lessons learned.

Dallas was due to regress, but the drop didn’t have to be this drastic if the front office and head coach had done their jobs more effectively. Now, they are trying to make a surge towards an unlikely playoff berth while many fans are already doing 2025 mock drafts, but the projections could’ve been much more positive if the people in charge had done their jobs earlier.

You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or YouTube on the Across the Cowboys Podcast.

Darren Rizzi says Saints would have played for the win late vs. Rams

Aggression was the order of the day for the Saints, and Darren Rizzi says the plan was to go for two, not hope for overtime, had they scored a late touchdown:

Darren Rizzi’s undefeated two-game run as the New Orleans Saints’ interim head coach has officially come to an end after Sunday’s 21-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

And even after all of the praise Rizzi has received, there were a lot of questions surrounding some of the decisions he made. One of those had to do with the offense’s late-game strategy.

Rizzi said after the game that he would have gone for the two-point conversion if the team would have scored a touchdown late in the game. He said in the postgame press conference that the team was going for the victory and that they recognized they were “reeling on defense” after several Los Angeles possessions drained the clock in the second half.

Nevertheless, that did not come to pass at all because the Saints never did get that late-game touchdown. Derek Carr was under pressure on the final play and no receivers got open against the Rams’ coverage before the pass rush got to him.

Trailing 21-14, they needed a bit more with seven more points there toward the end to tie, and eight, which would have derived from a touchdown and a two-point conversion, to get a victory. Rizzi planned to go out on his terms rather than ask his gassed defense to win the day in overtime, but it never got to that point.

The Saints will look to get back on the right track when they hit the road to face the New York Giants next Sunday.

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Report: Saints fear grim news on Taysom Hill’s knee injury

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports the New Orleans Saints are bracing for bad news on Taysom Hill’s knee injury after an upcoming MRI:

Taysom Hill’s knee injury late in Sunday’s New Orleans Saints loss to the Los Angeles Rams may have been just as bad as it looked. Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Saints fear it’s a significant knee injury that will end Hill’s season. Rapoport adds that while Hill is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Monday “to determine the severity of the injury,” the team is bracing for the worst.

It’s a tough blow for one of the toughest players on the team. Hill missed four games earlier this season but played through pain while dealing with other ailments, and he’s been a great fit in Klint Kubiak’s offense when healthy. Hill was recognized as the NFC Offensive Player of the Week after the Saints’ last game and was averaging the best rushing yards per game (38.3) and receiving yards per game (21.4) of his career this season.

He’s proven to be irreplaceable. We’ll keep an eye out for updates on his status as more information becomes available.

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Darren Rizzi owns up to bizarre timeout decisions from Saints vs. Rams

Darren Rizzi owned up to a couple of bizarre timeout decisions from Saints vs. Rams. He says the team had trouble substituting the right players in the right situations:

Credit where it’s due: Darren Rizzi won’t hesitate to take the blame when he’s at fault. The New Orleans Saints’ interim head coach owned up to a couple of strange timeouts his team called in Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams, explaining that they had trouble substituting the right players into the game for the right situations.

The first timeout occurred just minutes into the game. The issue popped up again later, but this time on defense, not offense. In both instances Rizzi said they had just ten players on the field. That kind of misalignment could lead to disaster.

So what’s to be done? We’ve heard Saints head coaches blame themselves before and accept accountability, but if those words don’t precede actions then nothing changes. That’s what ultimately cost Dennis Allen his job, and if Rizzi is going to be long for New Orleans, he must follow through. Extra time spent in practice and cleaner lines of communication are going to be key through these last five weeks if his team wants to keep competing when the playoffs kick off in January.

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Taysom Hill carted off after big hit vs. Rams

Taysom Hill was carted off after a big hit against the Los Angeles Rams. The New Orleans Saints star is a huge loss:

This isn’t what you want to see. New Orleans Saints do-it-all tight end Taysom Hill went down with an injury late in Week 13’s game with the Los Angeles Rams, leaving the game on a medical cart after initially being evaluated on the field.

Hill had taken a direct snap out of shotgun and ran to the left, picking up just enough yards to convert a fresh set of downs in Los Angeles territory. But he collided with several players on his way to the turf. Hill’s helmet collided with his teammate Cesar Ruiz’s shoulder pad, but the more serious injury appeared to be his left leg getting trapped between a couple of Rams defenders as it hit a helmet.

His return was officially announced as doubtful. Hill raised a fist to the crowd chanting his name as players from both teams wished him well. Hopefully he makes a clean recovery and this wasn’t as bad as it looked.

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