Saints TE Taysom Hill, LB Willie Gay leave loss with injuries

ATLANTA — New Orleans Saints tight end Taysom Hill injured his ribs in a 26-24 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, according to coach Dennis Allen.

Allen said the rib injury was on the opposite side of Hill’s previous injury, which was listed as a chest injury on the injury report. Fox Sports reported Hill bruised his lung in a Week 2 game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Hill left that game early to be evaluated at a local hospital and did not return, nor did he play in a Week 3 game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Hill scored two rushing touchdowns against the Falcons in the first half but appeared to feel the effects of the new injury in the second quarter.

Hill appeared to be clutching at his chest/ribs and left the game to briefly go inside the medical tent before quickly leaving for the locker room.

Allen said Hill’s absence changed things for the running game in the second half. Running back Alvin Kamara (hip/ribs) who has at least one broken rib, was relied on heavily with Hill out.

“I think when you get into the game and he’s on a roll, like he is, it’s kind of hard not to try to get him some touches,” Allen said. “I think that’s where probably with Taysom being out, that changed the plan just a little bit, but we’ve got to have some other guys that can step up and make some plays other than just Alvin.”

Kamara rushed for 77 yards, caught seven passes for 42 yards and scored a rushing touchdown with a minute left.

“He’s been awesome. He’s been outstanding. He’s probably been our best offensive player. He’s done a really good job for us and we’re going to need him to continue to do that,” Allen said.

Hill and Kamara are just some on a long list of injured Saints. The team went into the Falcons game without linebacker Demario Davis (hamstring), who sat out the first game of his career because of injury. Backup linebacker Willie Gay injured his hand during the game and was ruled out.

The Saints also did not have center Erik McCoy, who went on injured reserve because of a groin injury, and right guard Cesar Ruiz (knee).

Safety Tyrann Mathieu also briefly left the game with what was listed as a groin injury, but he said he was still feeling the effects of a heel injury that dated to last year and a calf injury from earlier in the season.

Chris Olave played through a hamstring injury that occurred during Friday’s practice and finished with eight catches for 87 yards.

“For him to … come up with that huge catch across the middle to give us a chance to take the lead and possibly win a football game,” quarterback Derek Carr said of Olave. “There were seven catches before that, but for him to gut that out and catch that ball, that is huge for our team.”

Allen said the team felt sure Olave would be OK after imaging tests on his hamstring.

“He tweaked it on Friday … we got the imaging, we really didn’t see anything on the imaging,” Allen said. “This is something that he kind of has dealt with before, so we felt very confident that he was going to be able to go out and play, and I thought he played well today.”