NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Tayson Hill couldn’t hide his irritation over two early turnovers against the Cleveland Browns, so New Orleans Saints interim coach Darren Rizzi took a moment to address it.
“He was taking it personal and I just told him on the way out at halftime, ‘You’re going to keep getting the ball, so, we’re going to need you here,’” Rizzi recalled. “Fortunately for us, he made some big runs.”
Hill capped a career-best 138-yard, three-touchdown performance on the ground with a 75-yard scoring run, and the Saints improved to 2-0 under Rizzi with a 35-14 victory over the Browns on Sunday.
Hill’s two other touchdowns went for 10 and 33 yards — the second on fourth and short — to more than balance out the deep interception he threw and the fumble he lost.
“It was one of those things where I had to take a step back and say, there’s nothing that I can do about it now,” said Hill, who moved into ninth place in franchise history with 44 total TDs. “So, let’s go do what I can do to help us win this game, and fortunately I continued to get some opportunities.”
The 34-year-old Hill also completed an 18-yard pass and returned a kickoff 42 yards. His 50 yards receiving on eight catches gave him 248 yards combined as a runner, passer, receiver and returner.
“He sure didn’t look 34. He looked more like a 24 year old today,” said Rizzi, comparing the do-it-all versatility of Hill to that of Harold “Red” Grange, a Chicago Bears star nearly a century ago.
“He’s kind of an ageless guy,” Rizzi said in reference to the breakaway speed Hill exhibited on his longer runs. “He keeps himself in phenomenal physical shape.”
Derek Carr passed for 248 yards and two touchdowns for New Orleans (4-7), highlighted by Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s 71-yard catch and run on a short crossing route.
Jameis Winston passed for 395 yards and two TDs for the Browns (2-8) in his return to the city he called home for the previous four NFL seasons.
His scoring throws including a short pass during a scramble that Jerry Jeudy turned into an 89-yard TD. He also hit Elijah Moore in the back of the end zone with a 30-yard pass, and followed that with a completion to tight end David Njoku for 2-point conversion that tied the game at 14 in the third quarter before the Saints pulled away late.
“In this game, you have to play clean on all three sides of the ball, and certainly in the fourth quarter we did not do that,” Browns Kevin Sefanski said. “Anytime you lose like we did by 21, you don’t feel good about anything.”
Jeudy finished with six catches for a game-high 142 yards receiving.
The Saints rushed for 214 yards as a team, with Alvin Kamara contributing 67 yards on 16 carries.
Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak “called a great game,” Hill said. “He created a lot of unique opportunities for me to make plays and I think as you start to look at what we’re doing offensively, the more things we do that way, the harder it is for us to be defended.”
Kicking themselves
Browns kicker Dustin Hopkins pulled field goal attempts of 51 and 27 yards wide left in the second quarter, allowing the Saints to take a 14-6 lead into halftime. Hopkins’ second official miss came a few plays after he’d missed from 32 yards, but got a brief reprieve because of a Saints penalty. Those misses came a week after Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo missed two field goals and had another blocked in the Superdome — a stadium normally viewed as kicker-friendly.
Rookie challenge
Saints rookie left tackle Taliese Fuaga, a first round draft choice out of Oregon State, prevented Myles Garrett from getting a sack — with a little help from a scheme that had various teammates help him block the Browns’ star defensive end.
“What a great challenge for him, right? Because we did leave him out there a couple of times,” Carr said. “What an experience for him to go against one of the more dominant players our league has ever seen and to just grow in confidence.”
Injuries
Browns: Left tackle Dawand Jones, who was getting a spot start for scratched tackle Jedrick Willis Jr., was carted off the field with an air cast on his broken left leg. He was replaced in the lineup by Germain Ifedi.
Saints: In his first game back from a groin injury that sidelined him for eight weeks, center Erik McCoy got up slowly after Valdes-Scantling’s long TD early in the second quarter. He was treated on the sideline, pedaled a stationary bike and briefly returned — but left the game again for good in the second half, replace by Shane Lemieux. Rizzi said McCoy might have been capable of playing more that the staff wanted to be smart about not pushing him too hard, too soon.
Up next
The Browns host Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
The Saints enter their bye week, followed by a home game against the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. 1.
