Breaking down all 4 of Taysom Hill’s touchdowns from Sunday

Taysom Hill had what will likely be the game of his career last Sunday against the Seahawks. The former BYU Cougar rushed for 112 yards and 3 touchdowns on 9 carries in addition to throwing a 22-yard touchdown. This netted the New Orleans Saints player NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Hill played a great game, but some questionable Seahawks defense helped lead to the four-touchdown outing. Down below we are going to break down each one of his four touchdowns to see what if anything the Seahawks defense did wrong on the play.

Touchdown #1

This play is a simple QB power with a pulling guard and a lead blocker. New Orleans blocked this play really well near the line of scrimmage but there were two Seahawks who had a chance at preventing the touchdown. Poona Ford was able to disengage from his blocker and get his hands on Hill, but he was unable to bring him down as the do it all QB ran right through his arm tackle.

The other Seahawk who had a shot at preventing the touchdown was Quandre Diggs, who in my opinion comes down on the run too much. He got wide despite the edge already being set which made it almost impossible to take on Hill before the goal line. If he was to stay patient near the goal line, he likely would have been able to come up and make a play on Hill around the 3- or 4-yard line. I also have to question Cody Barton’s eye discipline on this play. I understand he is in man coverage and flowing with Kamara who is in motion, although he does not recognize Kamara is not getting the ball until Hill is already past the line of scrimmage.

Touchdown #2

This is another QB power where the Seahawks lose edge contain. Seattle flows with the motion going away from the designed run which gives Hill an easy touchdown. Dwayne Washington did a great job of taking on Ryan Neal head on and sealing him from the edge. Outside of that there is not a whole lot to discuss on this play, it is a good offensive play design with poor eye discipline from the defense.

Touchdown #3

This is honestly just a great throw by Taysom Hill and there is not a whole lot the Seattle defenders could have done about it. They appear to be in a Cover 2 zone as Artie Burns gets wide off of the snap and looks to be playing in a deep half. One of the weaknesses of cover 2 zone is right down the seam which is where the ball goes from Hill to Trautman who is running just a straight seam route. If you had to nitpick maybe, you can argue one of the hook zone defenders should have carried Trautman a little bit deeper due to their proximity to the goal line but frankly I just think it was a great play call and throw. It certainly had the Seahawks defense in a tizzy because there was an easier touchdown pass available.

Touchdown #4

Credit to Hill for breaking the tackle, but Quandre Diggs has to make this play without question. He reads the run right as he doesn’t get too close to the line of scrimmage, which allows him to shuffle parallel to the line and meet Hill once he goes through the hole. However, he just bounces right off Hill as he went low on the tackle. On the positive side this play showed how great of an athlete Tariq Woolen is as he hit 22.95 MPH trying to run down Hill. Unfortunately, he couldn’t force the fumble and the Saints took the lead for good here.

Hill’s career day means that for the second time this season, the Seahawks defense has allowed an opposition player to win an NFC Offensive Player of the Week award. The previous one was Atlanta’s Cordarrelle Patterson, who rushed for a career high 140 yards and a touchdown.