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EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey – The Saints thought they were searching for an identity early in the season when they were winning games.***premium***

Turns out, they already knew who they were. They were a team that lacked some firepower in the passing game but played strong defense and ran the ball well enough to win. New Orleans got away from that formula for a few weeks, in part due to injuries, but found its way back to the formula during Sunday’s 30-9 over the New York Jets.

No one is walking away from this game thinking everything that plagued the Saints during the five-game losing streak got cured and the path to the playoffs is paved in gold. This game cleared some brush from something that might be a path to the playoffs, but no one can be entirely sure where the trail heads until the team walks it. Odds are, since this team needs to win three of its last four games, things won’t work out, but Sunday’s win keeps hope alive.

And it did that by playing ugly football – a brand of football that drove fans used to seeing easy, fluid offense in New Orleans nuts. But you know what? It works against the right opponents. The Saints carried the ball 44 times against 21 passes on Sunday, and the only real criticism about the approach would be that New Orleans didn’t run the ball even more.

At this point, the passing offense is what it is. The Saints aren’t going to suddenly find a skilled receiver who can change the equation for this team. The players are the players, and as enticing as it is to let the imagination wander about the guys on the practice squad no one has ever seen play, there’s a reason we haven’t seen those guys play. This is the depth chart, and the quarterbacks are who they are.

You can win with Taysom Hill. As we saw last week, he probably isn’t the guy you want trying to throw you back into a game after falling behind, but he can keep a team in a game when he isn’t turning the ball over. He managed the passing game well enough and was outstanding as a runner throughout this game. His ability to tuck the ball and run is one of the things that kept this team in the game, though he did add a 44-yard score at the end of the game to his rushing total (73 yards) that shouldn’t have been on his total – at least not entirely.

The game would have ended if Hill had gone down, but he instead scored and gave New York another possession. Hill’s coaches and teammates let him have it after the game.

“I told his dumbass to slide,” Alvin Kamara joked.

Hill added, sheepishly: “I obviously should have slid.”

No harm done. The team got off the field without allowing more points, and New Orleans was able to end its five-game losing streak with a 30-point performance. More importantly, it reinforced how the team should aim to play games down the stretch.

The Saints need to lean on Kamara. The running back missed the last four games while battling knee and hamstring injuries, and he came back and reminded everyone that he is truly a superstar in every sense of the word. The only thing that got in his way on Sunday was Calvin Throckmorton’s block attempts. Otherwise, the Jets had no answers for Kamara (27 carries, 120 yards, one touchdown), and the Saints kept feeding their back because he was the best answer on every play.

Will this formula work against the Bucs next week? Not unless the defense creates some turnovers and creates opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t exist. But why not against Miami, Carolina and Atlanta? None of those teams are running anyone off the field, and New Orleans just might be able to grind out some ugly wins and make the playoffs.

The only thing is, Hill has to keep them out of those spots. He did on Sunday, and the team won, but there were a few moments where he tried to give the ball away. Hill lost his grip on a screen pass, let the ball fly behind him, and then fumbled a snap later in the game. He recovered both times, but maybe he won’t be as lucky next time.

“There’s always a little bit of an adventure with him that we keep working on,” Sean Payton said. “But I think he just lost the grip on that screen, and it came out the back of his hand. That very well may have been finger driven, or it’s just dry up here in the winter, and he needs some lotion.”

There are no questions for this defense to answer. This isn’t the game where you judge them. The defense dominated against a significantly depleted Jets team that isn’t very good when everyone is healthy. New York is a bad team that played like a bad team. But we’ve seen enough of this New Orleans defense in other games that there is no need to gas them up off of this one. When that group is playing well, they’re good enough to beat anyone. The only question is making sure they’re consistently locked in.

If this is the brand of football this team is going to play, getting guys like Cam Jordan and Mark Ingram back from the Covid-19 list will help. Until this team can add players to its offense this offseason, this is what the Saints have and this is the way they have to win.

Three up

Alvin Kamara – The running back is by far the team’s best player. It’s no wonder why the offense struggled the last few weeks without him. He is the only guy they have at the skill positions who can take the ball and make something happen on his own.

Marshon Lattimore – The cornerback forced two incompletions on six targets, continuing a strong run of play that began a couple of weeks ago. When Lattimore is playing his best, the defense is on another level. No coincidence they were winning when he was on early on, and his dip coincided with some of the losses.

Marcus Williams – The safety had a rough game against the Cowboys, but he bounced back against the Jets. Williams showed good range in breaking up a pass and then made a tackle at the end of the game to prevent a touchdown.

Three down

Calvin Throckmorton – The guard had a rough moment when he got in the way of Kamara on a screen and stopped him from potentially getting to the sticks on third down. A little more awareness might have led to the drive remaining alive.

Taysom Hill’s grip – The quarterback can’t let the ball skip out of the back of his hand. Maybe that was due to his injured finger, but he has to find a way to make it work if he’s on the field.

The Jets – Sheesh. That team has a lot of work to do to get back on track.

Blitz report

New Orleans went after Zach Wilson pretty hard. They blitzed the quarterback 13 times, pressuring him four times with one sack. Wilson only completed three of his passes on these plays. The Saints had a good plan to keep the rookie off-balance.

Pressure report

Hill faced pressure on 10 dropbacks. He got sacked twice, ran three times and attempted five passes. He connected on three of those for 21 yards. Terron Armstead appeared to play a clean game in pass protection. Most of the pressure allowed came from Throckmorton and James Hurst.