Analytics show a surprising possible end to the Taysom Hill debate

Taysom Hill may not be a great pure quarterback, but some analytics from Sunday’s game show the debate over his value and impact can be set aside.

With Drew Brees (ribs, lung) out, the New Orleans Saints turned to Taysom Hill as their starting quarterback against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. He was functional as a passer, going 18-for-23 for 233 yards, while adding 10 carries for 51 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

The Saints put together a great defensive effort against Atlanta, holding the Falcons to three field goals and 248 total yards while sacking Matt Ryan eight times. They won the turnover battle (2-1) and won the time of possession balance (33:41 to 26:19) with 168 rushing yards on 36 attempts.

Without Brees, it’s easy to point to the Saints playing “complementary football” rooted in the running game and strong defense. But according to Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders, the Saints were better with Hill under center in Offensive DVOA. The metric adjusts for opponent, which adds to the meaning of it.

From Week 1-10, the Saints were 13.5 percent in Offensive DVOA. Even taking into account a one-game sample, the jump to 19.1 percent on Sunday stands out.

This deep pass to Emmanuel Sanders was ugly to watch live, but as Schatz noted there’s no arguing that the yardage was gained.

An important, and not to be overlooked, element of Sunday’s game was the revival of Saints’ wide receiver Michael Thomas. He finished with nine receptions for 104 yards on 12 targets, accounting for half of Hill’s completions, a 52.2 percent target share and 44.6 percent of Hill’s passing yards.

A simpler game plan as well as the Falcons’ defense having to account for Hill as a runner were surely factors, but feeding Thomas is usually a good idea. That said, running back Alvin Kamara had zero catches on just one target in the game.

Hill won’t often look good as a pure passer. But he had a very positive impact in his first NFL start, which is a credit to him and the game plan put together by the Saints’ offensive staff.