BYU football: Taysom Hill, New Orleans advance in NFL playoffs

BYU football’s own Taysom Hill and the New Orleans Saints defeated the Carolina Panthers in a thriller on Sunday night to advance in the playoffs.

Former BYU football quarterback Taysom Hill had a busy weekend.

The new special teams sensation in New Orleans helped the Saints defeat the Carolina Panthers 31-26 on Saturday night in the NFL playoffs.

Hill and the Saints will travel to Minnesota to take on the Vikings this weekend.

While Hill didn’t record a tackle against Carolina, he was the subject of a number of stories leading up to the game. Saints head coach Sean Payton alluded to the fact the team was trying to get him on the field in different ways and the boys on NFL Network’s ‘Good Morning Football’ took that to heart.

On Friday, the morning show hosts said that the ‘Thorterback’ himself might be the X-factor. Obviously, it didn’t end up that way, but it was a cool segment nonetheless.

Not to be a nitpicker, but there were some… errors in that segment, too.

“From Bring-em Young University.” Ah yes, my favorite school. The Bring-em Young University Stormin’ Mormons, right?

“The Packers drafted him.” Uh oh. Taysom Hill was signed as an undrafted free agent by Green Bay, reuniting him with fellow BYU football players Colby Pearson and Jamaal Williams.

“No. 7 could be the jackknife, Swiss Army knife, jack of all trades player.” This didn’t end up being right, but my word is that awesome to see Taysom get that kind of positive publicity. I haven’t heard any review that glowing since he was fully healthy with BYU. Awesome stuff.

Still, just because Taysom’s moment didn’t come against the Panthers, it doesn’t mean he won’t have one against Minnesota. Besides, the Saints had a pretty comfortable lead for most of the game, so there was no need for trickeration. By the time Carolina had closed the gap, it was too late to be cute with playcalling.