Taysom Hill’s 30-yard touchdown is the Saints Play of Day 30

There are 30 days left until the New Orleans Saints kick off their 2024 season, and Taysom Hill’s 30-yard touchdown is our Saints Play of the Day:

There are 30 days left until the New Orleans Saints kick off their 2024 season, and Taysom Hill’s 30-yard touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons in 2019 is our Saints Play of the Day. All of America was watching with this rivalry game capping the Thanksgiving Day slate.

Holding onto a 10-6 lead at the two-minute warning, Hill helped extend the Saints’ margins by barreling into the end zone for another score before halftime. He took the direct snap out of shotgun and followed his blockers as they opened a lane in the middle of the Atlanta defense. Then it became a footrace as Hill outran multiple Falcons defenders for the 30-yard touchdown.

This ended up being a big game for Hill. He also caught Drew Brees’ lone touchdown pass on the evening, accounting for 12 of the team’s 26 points on his own. Wil Lutz scored the other 14 on each of the point-after attempts and four field goals from distances of 22, 42, 45, and 47 yards.

But the real story lies with the Saints defense. They had the Falcons offense locked up all throughout the game. Matt Ryan was sacked nine times, including the first play from scrimmage. He was sacked four times on Atlanta’s final possession though one of them was wiped out by a New Orleans penalty (but Ryan still felt it, and was sacked again on the next play). Defensive tackle Shy Tuttle intercepted Ryan and threw him into the turf on the return, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson gained 28 yards after picking Ryan off on third down later on. The Falcons’ longest play from scrimmage gained just 23 yards.

This 26-18 victory in Atlanta went down as another memorable holiday game for the Saints, and another entry in their long-running rivalry with the dirty birds. And it wouldn’t have happened without Hill.

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