What Saints had to say after Falcons win: On Taysom Hill's 'fastball', Brees' role, more

Michael Thomas had just finished off his best game of the season with nine catches in the Saints' win over the Falcons, but it was a ball he didn't catch that he was quick to elaborate on.

The Saints' star receiver was asked a question about a play later in the game, but he backtracked to the uncharacteristic, "terrible drop" from the first half that was still on his mind.

Thomas was standing by himself as Taysom Hill fired a ball to him across the middle of the field. But instead of a big gain to continue a promising drive, the ball squirted through Thomas' normally reliable hands.

"I was a little disappointed in myself on that drop," Thomas said. You know, Taysom has a fastball."

The Saints would punt on that drive, but the offense would continue to strike and walk away with a 24-9 victory as the defense locked the Falcons down on the opposite end. Thomas finished with 9 catches for 104 yards on 12 targets from Hill, starting at quarterback for the first time in place of an injured Drew Brees.

"That was a great ball. All of his passes today were great -- on point. I could've caught them all, that was 100% on me," Thomas said. "But we executed, moved on, and I felt like I got better throughout the game."

See Michael Thomas' full post-game comments below. Can't see the video? Click here.

The Saints' future hall-of-famer couldn't be on the field to take snaps in Week 11, but he still impacted the game.

Just ask Taysom Hill, who leaned on Drew Brees in the week leading up to the first career start at quarterback for the Saints backup.

"Man, Drew is the best," Hill said. "If I'm being honest, I didn't fully understand what it took to be a starter in the NFL until I got here, and I had the opportunity to learn from Drew. And Drew was with me every step of the way this week."

Hill described Brees as a "comfort to have around," and Hill certainly looked comfortable on the field as he completed 18 of 23 passes for 233 yards and ran 10 times for 51 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

"Man, he was so critical," Hill said. "He was such a comfort for me to have around. I look up to him so much. He's one of my best friends."

With Brees now on injured reserve following 11 broken ribs and a collapsed lung suffered on hits across Weeks 9 and 10, he can't return until Week 14 at the earliest. But with a 6-0 record behind backup quarterbacks over the past two seasons, there's reason for confidence as Brees, Hill and the Saints look to their road matchup with the Broncos in Week 12.

See Taysom Hill's full post-game comments below. Can't see the video? Click here.

AN ALVIN KAMARA PASS? 'it might be comin'

Alvin Kamara wasn't worried about going without a catch in a game for the first time in his NFL career, but he might be getting ready to throw one himself one of these weeks.

Kamara lined up and took direct snaps a couple times against the Falcons. Both of those plays were runs, but he joked about how he was warming up his arm in the locker room just to make sure he was ready.

"It might be coming, you know, I don't want to give away -- I don't want to show my hand too much," Kamara said. "I might've been warming up in the locker room and throwing a couple passes. You know, that's not a lot of space, I was just making sure my arm was good."

Then Kamara paused and looked down before completing his thought and walking off-camera: "I might throw one, I don't know."

Kamara finished the game with the lowest yardage output of his season to date, with 13 carries for 45 yards -- but he did work his way into the endzone for one of the Saints' three touchdowns in the game.

See Alvin Kamara's full post-game comments below. Can't see video? Click here.

CHECK OUT POST-GAME PRESS CONFERENCES IN THE PLAYLIST BELOW from Sean Payton, Trey Hendrickson, Cam Jordan and Demario Davis.