Usually, it’s pretty easy to choose three players this season who had disappointing performances for the New Orleans Saints, but today is different. The Saints were able to go into Tampa Bay, play a first-place division rival, and make play after play to pull off the 24-20 upset victory.
As is often the case in the NFL, perfection is elusive. For New Orleans, some players performed below expectations, even if their efforts were not poor overall. Here are three of them.
TE/FB Taysom Hill
Over the course of the game, one player who clearly struggled was Taysom Hill. Once a reliable offensive weapon, Hill nearly fumbled on his only rushing attempt and dropped two passes. While the rainy conditions provided some challenge, other players were able to execute consistently.
His blocking was still good, but as a playmaker, the Saints had to get away from relying on Hill quickly.
OT Asim Richards
With OT Taliese Fuaga out with an injury, the Saints had to rely on fellow OT Asim Richards in his spot. Already, the offensive line is ranked 28th in PFSN’s Team OL Impact Metric, but it was even worse against Tampa Bay with Richards at RT. Before going out with his own injury later in the game, Richards was struggling and put QB Tyler Shough in challenging situations.
When William Sherman went in after Richards’ injury, the offensive line seemed to block better against the pass rush.
CB Quincy Riley
New Orleans’ defense really played a great game against the Buccaneers, and many players stepped up in key moments. For CB Quincy Riley, he played pretty well for most of the day, but two mistakes stand out.
The first was on third down with four minutes left in the first quarter. Tampa Bay QB Baker Mayfield threw a pass to WR Sterling Shepard, and Riley got there to knock the ball up, resulting in an interception. Instead of that holding up, Riley actually got to the WR too early and was called for pass interference, which was very close to being a great play. It was a very close play, but still a mistake in a tied 7-7 game at that moment.
The other play, which — thank goodness for the Saints — ended in an incompletion, could have been much worse.
Leading 24-17, the Saints needed a stop with a little under six minutes left in the game, but that nearly didn’t happen. Buccaneers WR Emeka Egbuka left Riley in the dust and was wide open in the end zone. Instead of it being a touchdown, the rookie dropped the ball. It was excellent that it ended in an incompletion, but it was an extremely lucky drop for the Saints.