The New Orleans Saints were stunned by the Minnesota Vikings in Sunday’s wild-card round game, and it’s because their star talent failed to show up. The biggest names on the team — a roster stocked with Pro Bowlers and first-team All-Pro talent — largely didn’t show up, playing small in the most important game of the year. It’s disquieting, because this is pretty much the same squad the Saints will try to bounce back with next season.
But it wasn’t all bad. Some players fought hard and put the team on their back to try and find a spark. Here are the studs and duds from the final Saints game of the 2019-2020 season:
Stud: Taysom Hill, quarterback
Hill became the first player in NFL history to throw for 50 yards, rush for 50 yards, catch 25 or more yards, and record a tackle. There were times in the game when he was the only player on offense making a play, highlighted by his 28-yard run down the sideline late in the fourth quarter. Hill played the best football of his career on Sunday, and it’s a shame that the Saints couldn’t reward him for his efforts.
It's Taysom's world and we're all just livin' in it.
Drew and Hill hit paydirt đź’° #SAINTS pic.twitter.com/CVeBmJerxq
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) January 5, 2020
Dud: Marshon Lattimore, cornerback
Lattimore picked a bad time to have his worst game of the year. He was charged with manning up against Vikings wideout Adam Thielen, who had missed a lot of time with a hamstring injury, and wasn’t up to the task. Lattimore was too often beaten by Thielen’s routes and frequently found himself a step too slow to compete at the catch point, which has been his forte early in his NFL career. Thielen led the Vikings with 129 receiving yards, having caught 7-of-9 targets, largely with Lattimore shadowing him.