Riddle me this: how is Taysom Hill’s foot too badly injured for him to start ahead of the very bad Trevor Siemian, but he’s also well enough to be ready to play a full game at a moment’s notice as Siemian’s backup in case the starter gets injured? Make it make sense.
Sean Payton offered a brief explanation after the game, which was total nonsense: “We knew he wasn’t going to be able to play quarterback this week (because of his foot injury).”
Hill was listed as a full participant in practice every day on the injury report. If his foot injury is this severe he needs to be resting up on injured reserve and rookie draft pick Ian Book needs to be preparing to go into games as the backup. How can they say Hill is fully participating in practice on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and then after a loss on Thursday say that they knew all along he wasn’t healthy enough to play? It doesn’t track.
Siemian has been terrible. He was competent enough early on to fill in for the injured Jameis Winston, but once his supporting cast took a couple losses his limitations were exposed to every other team in the league. He went 17-of-29 against Buffalo for a meager 163 passing yards, 5.6 yards per attempt, taking a pair of bad sacks and lobbing a foolish interception. Hill could rest his injured foot on a motorized scooter and at least match that.
Maybe things will be different next week. The Saints have a full seven days to rest up and prepare for their next home game with the Dallas Cowboys. But right now we’ve got a frustrating situation with more than just a wasted Thanksgiving on the line — this entire season is about to go down the drain if Payton can’t get his team trending in a positive direction. There’s only six games left to figure out their flaws.
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