Skip to main content
New Orleans Saints
Advertising

Saints News | New Orleans Saints | NewOrleansSaints.com

Darren Rizzi talks Cleveland Browns win, Taysom Hill, Los Angeles Rams game

Recapping the top five takeaways from the Saints Coaches Show on WWL 

New Orleans Saints interim head coach Darren Rizzi joined Voice of the Saints Mike Hoss and Saints legend Bobby Hebert on the Saints Coaches Show on WWL on Monday, Nov. 18 to talk about the win over the Cleveland Browns, the upcoming game against the Los Angeles Rams and more.

Here are the top five takeaway's from Rizzi's appearance:

1. Win over Cleveland

The Saints secured a 35-14 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, Nov. 17 in the Caesars Superdome. One key advantage the Saints had that led to the win was their success in the line of scrimmage and in the ground game. The Saints outrushed the Browns 214-66, helping to secure a victory.

"We had three things as a team going into the game that we focused on, how we really felt that we could win the game against the Browns and that was one of them, win the line of scrimmage," Rizzi said. "Because, as we talked about I think last week, that's been something that we hadn't done well, just a little bit inconsistent with it. And so, if you had told me they were going to come into the game and they were going to rush the ball for 66 yards, and we were going to have 200-plus, I would have told you we were going to win the game."

The Saints did trail in a different key metric losing two turnovers to the Browns none.

"I think one of the big things we did early was get that fourth-down stop," Rizzi said. "That's no different than a turnover. It doesn't go down as a turnover, but it is a turnover and so that was a big one. Plus, we had another fourth-down stop later in the game and so I think that kind of neutralized our two turnovers, if you will. But, really when you look at that game yesterday, the game was probably a lot closer there. In the third quarter it was tied up obviously, because I felt like we had it we had the big hand in that. We gave up explosive plays and we turned the ball over twice down in the red zone and that was really the difference at that point. We've been playing fairly well, minus a few plays. So, we got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. But I agree, we got to make sure we can run the football and stop the run. It all starts there."

2. Taysom Hill: one of one

Tight end and football player Taysom Hill put together another unique performance completing a pass for 18 yards, carrying the ball seven times for 138 yards and three touchdowns, hauling in a career-high eight receptions for 50 yards and returning a kick for 42 yards.

"(I'm) running out of things to say about Taysom and they're all positive," Rizzi said. "Just again, people talk about, what position is this guy? And really, he's just a really, really outstanding football player. That's what he is. He's an old school, throwback type of guy. And listen, there's nothing he can't do. I mean, if you had to go out there in a pinch he could kick off, he could long snap, he's our backup holder. And, one of the things that gets lost, he rushes punts really well, blocked punts in his career. I mean, this guy is just a great guy to have on the team. I'm glad we have him and not surprised whatsoever by the success he had (against Cleveland)."

His performance against the Browns made him the first player since Ed Podolak in 1971 to have three rushing TDs, 50 receiving yards and one pass completion in a game. Rizzi compared him to Pro Football Hall of Famer Red Grange in the postgame press conference.

"It's one of those things where I think, you may not appreciate it until — and I hope Taysom plays for a lot longer — but people may not appreciate it until he's done," Rizzi said

3. Finish, finish, finish

The Saints closed out the last two games with victories including notching a victory in a one-score game against the Atlanta Falcons, their first victory in one-score contests after losing their previous three games decided by fewer than seven points on the season.

"When you look at the stats at the end of the year, the teams that are playing in the playoffs, in the tournament at the end of the year, are going to be the teams that usually have the best records in one-score games and that's something we didn't do well," Rizzi said. "Again, when I took over, I tried to look at what are the things that are tangible things that we need to get better at that are just obvious. We brought up a few of them, but, as a team, we just weren't finishing games off during that stretch."

Rizzi said his solution to correct it is building the habit.

"I think finishing, like anything else, is a habit. So how do you finish off your practices? How do you finish off the drills we're doing? How do you finish off the team period? How do you finish off your day when you're in the building? Are you watching film? How do you finish off your week? So, finishing becomes a habit and what I've tried to instill these last couple of weeks and with the rest of the coaches is just finishing everything and making that become a habit. ... And I think the guys have bought into that and you hear the guys on the sideline in the fourth quarter, finish, finish, finish, but it starts with finishing a drive and it starts with finishing out the half and that's really, really important."

4. Marquez Valdes-Scantling bringing the sauce

Wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling had two receptions for 87 yards including a 71-yard touchdown grab. That performance comes on the heels of a similarly explosive performance against the Falcons (three receptions for 109 yards and two touchdowns).

"When your opponent has explosive plays, the only way to neutralize that is you got to have some yourself. And listen, MVS, he's done a phenomenal job coming in here midstream, learning the offense, providing the spark, as you like to call it, a little sauce. He likes to call it the sauce. Him and I always joke around about that. I always call it the juice. He likes to call it the sauce, but he's provided a lot of sauce for us in this."

Rizzi said with teams looking to contain Valdes-Scantling down the field, it can open up the rest of the offense.

"Now that he's become a weapon, a deep threat, a big-play threat, it changes the offense, and I think Klint (Kubiak) and the offensive staff have done a really nice job the last two weeks of utilizing him and putting him in positions where even a couple of those balls that we didn't connect on down the field, those are those are plays that the defense and the opponent has to has to be leery of and make sure they defend. And so, that opens up a lot of other things and when (Chris) Olave and obviously (Rashid) Shaheed went down, you're worried about we really don't have that take-the-top off-the-coverage kind of guy, that speed element, whatever you want to call it and he's provided that the last couple of weeks. And what you're seeing is, it opens up a lot of other facets of the offense and we've got a lot of guys get their hands on the ball here the last couple weeks and that's great. The more we can do that, the better. Derek's done a great job distributing the ball. But, you got to give a lot of credit to (Valdes-Scantling). He's done a really nice job and hopefully continues to do that, stay healthy and continue to do that and provide that for us."

5. On to the Rams

The Saints take on the Los Angeles Rams in Week 13 on Dec. 1 in the Caesars Superdome after their bye week. The Saints will look to rebound following a 30-22 defeat to the Rams in the 2023 season.

"No. 1, they're definitely a challenging group. They got a really good quarterback, excellent receivers and a really good play-caller in their head coach," Rizzi said. "And so, any time you play those guys from a defensive perspective, they're definitely going to challenge you. And the second thing I agree with you on is no, we didn't play well last year. And we didn't play well as a team, to be honest with you, when you look back at that game. I know a lot was made about the defense. Certainly, they had a bunch of yards, but we didn't play a great game overall. Our offense could have done a better job of controlling the ball a little bit, keeping those guys off the field."

The Rams controlled the game in 2023 scoring first and building a 30-7 lead with 12:44 remaining in the contest before the Saints were able to narrow the deficit. Wide receiver Puka Nacua proved particularly effective tallying nine receptions for 164 yards and a touchdown, while wide receivers Demarcus Robinson added six receptions for 82 yards and a touchdown and Cooper Kupp tallied six receptions for 52 yards.

"We have to play complementary football against them and I think one of a few of the keys to that game are going to be ... No. 1, we got to play better overall as a team for all three phases and then obviously, we're going to have to have a great plan going in to affect the quarterback and keep those receivers off balance," Rizzi said.

Check out the game action photos from the New Orleans Saints game against the Cleveland Browns for Week 11 of the 2024 NFL Season on Nov. 17, 2024 at Caesars Superdome.