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By Jordan Fiegel | WWL Radio

Zach Strief, the Voice of the Saints, was thrilled with the way the New Orleans Saints defense played in a 24-9 beat down of the Atlanta Falcons.

“The defense has been about as good as you could possibly ask for the last three games. They've been outstanding defensively. The secondary has been absolutely phenomenal. The pass rush has been fantastic. They're really coming together.”

The Saints' secondary limited Matt Ryan to 232 yards passing and nabbed two interceptions (though one was on a last-second Hail Mary at the end of the first half). The pass rush sacked Ryan eight times and registered 11 total QB hits. New Orleans also shut down the run game, holding Atlanta to just 52 rushing yards on 14 carries.

“It is dominant defensive football, the likes of which we have not seen here since the Dome Patrol, really,” Strief said. “You see it three weeks in a row, and you start saying this is who you are...at some point, it becomes who you are.”

Strief's praise didn't end there.

Full Story - WWL Radio

By Bob Rose | SI

For the first time since 2005, the New Orleans Saints would face their archenemy, the Atlanta Falcons, without Drew Brees behind center. Saints head coach Sean Payton shocked most of the football world at mid-week when he announced that Taysom Hill would get the start for the injured Brees over the more experienced Jameis Winston.

Amid reports of a divided locker room over their preference at quarterback, the Saints responded with a dominant defensive and offensive performance in pummeling the Falcons 24-9.

Atlanta began this contest with a 65-Yd march, bolstered by a 45-Yd completion to WR Calvin Ridley, which ended with a short field goal. New Orleans would go three-and-out on their first possession, with Hill taking a sack on 3rd and short. The Saints defense took control of the game after that.

After that opening drive, New Orleans allowed just 183 yards through the rest of the game and held a potent Atlanta offense to only three field goals. The Falcons were just 2 of 14 on 3rd downs and had negative yardage in the third quarter. New Orleans sacked Atlanta QB Matt Ryan 8 times and intercepted him twice, putting a stranglehold on the game.

Full Story - SI

By John Sigler | Saints Wire

While Taysom Hill was the talk of the town in his first start for the New Orleans Saints, several teammates turned in great tape for their efforts against the Atlanta Falcons — and a few others left something to be desired. Here are our picks for standouts from Week 11:

STUD | Kwon Alexander

The most impressive plays may have been the ones Alexander didn’t make. He correctly read two passes into the flat and broke on the ball near-perfectly, coming within inches of an interception and likely running it back for a touchdown both times. He just couldn’t seal the deal. If he keeps his head up when crashing down on the receiver to better track the pass, he might have two turnovers to his credit. But Alexander has added so much athleticism and improved eye discipline to the Saints defense while patrolling the middle of the field that it’s easy to see why the team traded for him.

DUD | Erik McCoy

McCoy didn’t have a bad game, but an offensive lineman is going to catch some flak if his holding foul wipes out a 57-yard touchdown pass. He was also dinged for allowing pressure in pass protection, but on the whole, there isn’t much to complain about for McCoy. The Saints had success running behind him and he mostly played clean football whenever Hill was looking to throw. It’s just a shame that his penalty took such a great play (and the points that came with it) off the board.

Full Story - Saints Wire - USA Today

NewOrleansSaints.com

New Orleans Saints franchise quarterback Drew Brees joined CST's Mike Nabors on Sunday afternoon to discuss Taysom Hill's performance in the team's Week 11 win over the Atlanta Falcons and how Brees is recovering from injury.

"I thought he played great," Brees said about Hill, "I thought he managed everything about this week, about the preparation and then obviously, the way he played today, I thought it was magnificent. I felt like he was great in and out of the huddle. All-in-all, I felt like our offense had great tempo and great rhythm, and obviously, that starts at the quarterback position."

Hill, in his fourth season out of BYU, completed 18 of 23 passes for 233 yards and rushed 10 times for 51 yards and two touchdowns in the Saints' 24-9 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. It was his first NFL start at quarterback and he led the Saints (8-2) to their seventh consecutive victory.

Full Story - NewOrleansSaints.com

By Martin Rogers | FOX Sports

It is supposed to be a major problem in pro football when your quarterback goes down. It just is. There is a reason why the men under center get the big bucks, bigger with each passing year, to the point where “pretty good” can now get you close to $30 million a season.

By extension, the common logic holds ... the better the quarterback is, the greater the hole that needs to be filled, and the larger the corresponding headache when he is absent. Makes sense, right?

Absolutely, except for in the case of the New Orleans Saints, where a recent injury to Drew Brees hasn’t slowed down the team’s flow. At 8-2, the Saints have the best record in the NFC following their victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, and by the time they play next, it will be more than two months since they tasted defeat.

QB crisis? What crisis?

“It is the process we go through every week,” head coach Sean Payton said when asked what alterations had been required for the installation of Taysom Hill in place of Brees last weekend. “This happens a lot to other positions and I understand when it happens to the QB there is more attention drawn to it. But these guys handled it well, we’ve been playing well, and good to get another win.”

Full Story - FOX

By Jeff Kerr | CBS Sports

Taysom Hill made his highly anticipated first career start Sunday, which netted a familiar result for the New Orleans Saints -- another win. Hill certainly wasn't Drew Brees in New Orleans' 24-9 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, but he was efficient.

Hill finished 18 of 23 for 233 yards and recorded a 108.9 passer rating, with no touchdown passes and no interceptions. Hill is just the seventh quarterback in the NFL since 1950 to have completed over 78% of his passes in his first career start (minimum 20 attempts). Of those seven quarterbacks in that category, he joins Stan Humphries as the only quarterback to average over 10 yards per pass attempt (Hill averaged 10.1 yards per attempt Sunday).

Hill also rushed for 51 yards and two touchdowns (and a lost fumble), leading the Saints in both categories. He joined Daunte Culpepper as the only players in the Super Bowl era with at least 40 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in their first start at quarterback (Culpepper accomplished the feat in Week 1 of the 2000 season).

"I thought that he played well," said Saints head coach Sean Payton, evaluating Hill's performance. "He had the one turnover late in the game. ... We had a big touchdown pass called back. It's a good team win.

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