New Orleans Saints

Tim Hightower has emotional, strong game, and is ready to keep rolling

Published Dec. 13, 2015 10:38 p.m. ET

foxsports

In Tim Hightower's debut as the No. 1 back for the New Orleans Saints, he didn't run wild, but he was solid, and stepped up when his team needed him to. All-in-all, for a running back who's in the process of completing a pretty amazing comeback story, Hightower had to be more than happy, especially since his team won the game.

The Saints pulled off the surprising 24-17 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Hightower ran the ball a whopping 28 times.

As Nick Underhill of The New Orleans Advocate reports, Hightower was overwhelmed with emotion after the game.

“I’m trying to hold it in, because I don’t want these talking about me,” Hightower told The New Orleans Advocate. “But I’m sure when I call my wife and son on FaceTime, they’ll get a couple (tears).”

Hightower did admit that he was a bit rusty, but sounded like a man prepared to help the Saints keep on winning games over the final few weeks of the 2015 season.

“I’m a little rusty, man,” Hightower said. “Some of the looks, the linebackers were playing with me a little bit. I have to be better. I gave up one on Drew. It’s very uncharacteristic; it can’t happen.”

“One thing I know about this league is that there’s no such thing about being a one-hit wonder,” he said. “This league is about consistency. We have three games left. Anyone can have a good game — one game. This team, we lost four, we won four — it’s not about one game.

“I’ll be able to reflect on this when the season is over with. I’ve got to go back to work and finish this season off strong.”

Hightower's three yards per carry weren't incredible, but the fact is, he was obviously the preferred choice in the backfield over C.J. Spiller. In comparison to Hightower's 28 carries, Spiller and Marcus Murphy combined for just four carries for two yards.

Not only are the upcoming games important for the Saints as a team, but they'll be important for Hightower on a personal level as well, to prove that he can play at a high level still.