3 Takeaways from Saints' Week 12 Win

The New Orleans Saints picked up their ninth win of the 2020 season Sunday during a rout of the quarterback-less Denver Broncos.

With all of their signal-callers on the reserve/COVID-19 list, the Broncos were forced to start reserve receiver Kendall Hinton at the position. While it's hard to get a good handle on New Orleans' performance against a team essentially playing without a quarterback—Hinton finished with just one completion for 13 yards with two interceptions—there are a few points we can take away.

Here are three things we learned during Sunday's win.

We'll start with the negative, and that's the passing performance from New Orleans quarterback Taysom Hill. While Hinton was forced into an impossible situation for the Broncos—and unsurprisingly struggled—Hill was making his second start with a week's preparation and didn't look a whole lot better out there as a passer.

Hill finished 9-of-18 for 76 yards and an interception. He essentially ignored Alvin Kamara in the passing game (two catches, minus-one yard) and picked up just four first downs through the air. According to head coach Sean Payton, though, Hill did everything he was supposed to do.

"Taysom played this thing just how I wanted him to play it," Payton told reporters after the game.

It's worth noting that Hill had 44 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. He is part of the reason why New Orleans left Week 12 victorious. However, his underwhelming passing performance should give pause to anyone eager for the Saints to move on from longtime starter Drew Brees.

Part of the reasons New Orleans is going with Hill instead of Jameis Winston while Brees is on injured reserve is to gauge Hill's potential as a long-term quarterback solution. It's obvious that he is still a work in progress, and at 30, it's fair to wonder how much room Hill has for growth.

This isn't to say that Hill can't be the heir to Brees in New Orleans. However, he still has a way to go before becoming the league's next great dual-threat signal-caller.

The New Orleans defense, which surrendered just 112 yards of offense, deserves some credit. As previously mentioned, however, it's hard to read too much into such an outing against an offense hamstrung at the quarterback position.

Instead, we will stay on the offensive side of the ball for our first positive takeaway from Sunday. Michael Thomas is back to being the focal point of the passing attack.

Thomas was injured in Week 1 and didn't return until Week 9. In his first two games back, he was merely a piece of the passing attack, catching eight passes for 77 yards. In two games with Hill as the starter, though, Thomas has been targeted 18 times and has 13 catches for 154 yards.

While four catches for 50 yards isn't an overly impressive stat line, it represents the majority of Hill's passing production Sunday. That it came against the league's eighth-ranked pass defense is also noteworthy.

Thomas is back to being a No. 1 receiver for the Saints, and that's huge heading into the final stretch of the season. Yes, New Orleans managed to go 4-2 without him, but they are also 5-0 in games in which he has played this season.

With just a one-game lead over the Green Bay Packers for the NFC's No. 1 seed, going 5-0 over the remainder of the regular season would be ideal. Having Thomas on the field and close to 100 percent should go a long way toward doing exactly that.

With Hill doing little through the air and Alvin Kamara logging just 13 offensive touches, the Saints could have struggled to put up points in this one. They didn't, though, because they were extremely effective running the ball.

Kamara amassed 54 yards on 11 carries, while Hill chipped in 44 yards on 10. However, the star of the rushing show was No. 2 back Latavius Murray. He carried the ball a season-high 19 times for 124 yards and two touchdowns.

This is significant because it should let the Saints know they can lean on Murray and the ground game when necessary. It could be necessary later this year or in the postseason, even if Brees is healthy.

Murray now has 551 rushing yards on the season and has averaged 4.6 yards per carry. While Kamara is the headliner in New Orleans' backfield—and rightfully so given his pass-catching prowess—Murray is a dangerous runner who brings a level of balance to the offense.

In Murray, the Saints also have a closer. He put the game out of reach with touchdown runs in the third and fourth quarters and can be called upon to put away games when it matters most in December and January.