Can the Saints stop the red-hot Titans in week 10?
Yahoo Sports' Scott Pianowski and Frank Schwab discuss this week's matchup between New Orleans and Tennessee, including why the Saints should start Taysom Hill over Trevor Siemian.
Video Transcript
SCOTT PIANOWSKI: Tennessee Titans, hottest team in football. They're beaten everybody. Buffalo. Kansas City. They took the Rams down. they took the Colts down in overtime. Couldn't beat the Jets. But heck of a football team. Why are they only spotting 3 points at home to the Saints? I know the Saints are a good team. They didn't really play well last week. They made a nice comeback and briefly were ahead of Atlanta before losing in the end.
But Trevor Siemian, week to week-- he had some moments late in that game. I don't trust him long term. I'm kind of surprised that Taysom Hill wasn't the starter. And I wonder at what point is Taysom Hill gonna get a shot here. Again, the Titans are spotting 3 points at home. If you bet at BetMGM, the total is 45. This is like-- what's going on here? My first thought is I have to take the Titans. Well, how can I not take the Titans? Talk me out of it.
FRANK SCHWAB: No, I probably won't. I'll probably be on the same side. But let me give-- this is why the line is minus 3, I guess. The Saints play really good defense. I know they didn't play great last week at the Falcons, but overall this is a pretty good defensive team. And the Titans, when we really dissect what they did against the Rams-- and I know you can't just say, well, take out the two pick-sixes because those did happen. There were huge plays. But if you do take out the two pick-sixes, they didn't move the ball. I mean, they weren't really going up and down the field on the Rams. They just kind of got two gift touchdowns and kind of rode that to a win.
You know, from play to play, I wasn't really impressed with the Titans. They made the two big, huge plays. They got a great win. All that kind of stuff. That's all true. Jeffrey Simmons played out of his mind. The defense was really good. But I didn't think, play to play, the Titans were dominant in that game. They just swung the game when Matthew Stafford lost his mind for a minute. But at the end of the day, I still am probably gonna be on the Titans.
And I will say this, it all depends on the quarterback for me. Because I think it's a huge mistake for them to start Trevor Siemian. Maybe it's just because I'm based in Denver and I've heard all the negative stuff about Trevor Siemian from years ago, but I think he's just a limited quarterback. And of all people, I didn't think Sean Payton would be falling for quarterback wins, right? They beat the Bucs, and I was like, OK, you stole that win against the Bucs with your backup quarterback. He played fine. He made some plays. But now you get Taysom healthy, you play him.
And, by the way, so it's like-- if it was a Taysom health issue, he shouldn't have been playing at all. Either he's healthy, or he's not. If he's healthy enough to be on the field active, throw two passes, he should be your starting quarterback in my mind. It shouldn't have been a health issue there. So I think with Taysom, I think the Saints are a better team. Because, yeah, it's unconventional, but I think they bring more to the table.
I just think Trevor is just-- yeah, he rallied him at the end. But going into that fourth quarter, I think they had 3 points. They just looked terrible on offense. He couldn't hit anything. And I just think that's kind of who he is. They don't have enough weapons around him to boost him up. You need a little more juice out of your quarterback position, and Taysom could give you that. Just his running ability, dual threat, he could really throw a defense off.
So if Taysom starts in this game, I won't be on the Titans. I'll say that. If Siemian starts, I'll be on the Titans. I just think they're a better team. And I think the Saints are really gonna be kind of limited until Sean Payton gets-- I don't know what's going on. Sean Payton loved Taysom Hill all these years. He would go in in the weirdest spots, replacing one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Even when Alvin Kamara had six touchdowns, Sean Payton couldn't get Kamara seven because he had to get Taysom Hill a touchdown at the end. Yeah, you can't get Alvin Kamara a seventh touchdown, set some NFL records here. No, you have to get Taysom one.
And now when it comes time to, OK, the rest of our season, we need a new quarterback, he's like, I'm gonna go Trevor Siemian. I don't get what's going on. I don't get why he made that decision.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI: Yeah, I almost wonder if just Payton likes being contrarian sometimes for the sake of being contrarian. And for the longest time, the hill he was going to die on was Taysom Hill. And we made all the jokes. And why are you rushing a Hall of Famer off the field? But Hill was a better passer than I wanted to give him credit for, and he played a lot better as a starter last year than I expected. I'll admit I got that wrong.
FRANK SCHWAB: And that's the thing, he played well as a starter last year. It's not like you're like, well, we don't know what we're getting out of Taysom. We kind of do. He played pretty well in four games last year.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI: Yeah, my prediction is that Siemian starts this game, throws up all over himself, and Taysom Hill is the starter going forward. And Andy Behrens, my fantasy colleague, when we did the pickups a day ago, he was sharing some of your Trey Lance optimism. And I said that I would apply that optimism to Taysom Hill. If I were in a league, a superflex league, a deeper format, I think Taysom Hill's the quarterback who right now maybe doesn't hold value but is gonna hold a lot of value in maybe the second half of the year or the final third of the season. He's somebody I'd be looking to stash right now if I could.