NEW ORLEANS -- And, oh by the way, the New Orleans Saints converted a fake punt with third-string quarterback Taysom Hill from their own 30-yard line in the second quarter when they were trailing 14-0.

It wasn't exactly an afterthought in the Saints' 20-14 playoff win against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. But it was also far more routine for this team than it would be for most.

Hill has repeatedly been a game-changer for the Saints this season in just about every situation coach Sean Payton could dream up: read-option quarterback, running back, receiver, tight end and special-teams animal. This was actually Hill's third successful fake-punt conversion of the season (two rushing and one passing). And he also blocked a punt at Tampa Bay in December to change the course of a game the Saints were losing 14-3 at the time.

As for Payton, well, everyone knows about his aggression -- which became legendary the last time he reached a Super Bowl nine years ago and started the second half with an onside kick.

"That's a gutsy call for sure. But, you know, that's Coach Payton," Hill said with a wide grin. "That's become the norm with him. And I think he just has such a good feel of what we need as a team and has a lot of trust in us and our preparation. And that was the look that we thought we could get, and we did.

"We're not playing to lose a football game. We're playing to win. And we'll take chances when the odds are in our favor, and that's what we did tonight."

"It's that play-to-win mentality, it's that aggressive mentality," Saints quarterback Drew Brees added. "I've been with Sean long enough to say he's always like that ... just like calling the onside kick in the Super Bowl, 'Ambush.' It's not if, but when."

"That was huge. I would call that the spark," said receiver Michael Thomas -- who helped make that spark count with a 42-yard catch on the very next play as New Orleans went on to finish the drive with a touchdown. "We were looking for something. ... We couldn't quite get a jump on them, and then we got that play, and I think that was the spark."

Hill said Payton, special-teams coordinator Mike Westhoff (who has been an awesome addition to the Saints' staff since midway through last season) and punter Thomas Morstead all had a hand in deciding the timing and the look were right for the fake punt, which came on fourth-and-1. But Hill himself could abort the fake if he didn't like the look he was seeing at the line of scrimmage as the upback.

The Eagles kept both of their starting defensive tackles in the game -- including All-Pro Fletcher Cox -- to prepare for such a possibility. But Hill said he felt like they were "kind of late getting lined up."

"We kind of liked our matchup and guys were fired up and ready to do it, so we ran it," said Hill, who credited linebackers A.J. Klein and Vince Biegel for doing an excellent job of firing off the ball against Cox as the right guard and right tackle on the play.

"It was probably one of our most productive runs that we had up to that point," said Hill, who gained four yards.

Payton has long been known as one of the NFL's great innovators as an offensive planner and playcaller. But he has clearly been inspired to write up whole new pages of his playbook with the athletic 6-foot-2, 221-pound Hill, who was a dual-threat runner and passer at BYU. Brees referred to Hill earlier this season as "Sean's new toy."

Hill almost made an even bigger splash in Sunday's game -- twice -- during the Saints' go-ahead touchdown drive in the third quarter.

First, Brees underthrew Hill on a potential 46-yard touchdown pass. Then on the very next play, Hill lined up at quarterback and completed an apparent 46-yard TD pass to Alvin Kamara before it was nullified by a holding penalty against guard Andrus Peat.

"I'm mad at myself [for missing the throw]. I waited too long to see it before I threw it," Brees said. "But Taysom, he's our Swiss army knife, he can do a little bit of everything. I'm bummed that they took a touchdown [pass] away from him, because that was a great throw to Alvin and really a great designed play.

"And what's even more impressive, he had run that post the play before that. So he sprints 60 yards down the field, sprints back, then throws a 50-yard pass to Alvin that gets called back.

"But, yeah, he's a stud."

The NFL's final four is down to four of the game's great innovators at head coach -- Payton, Bill Belichick, Andy Reid and Sean McVay. But only one of them has a toy quite like Hill.

Chances are, Payton isn't done finding new wrinkles with him.