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Saints Destroy Bills 47-10
Second straight blowout loss screams same old Bills.
by Steve Saslow
The Skinny:
I thought it was impossible for this team to play worse than they did against the Jets but they somehow managed to do so. The Saints ran for 298 yards and six touchdowns on the ground in their 47-10 rout of the Bills. Mark Ingram scored three times while Alvin Kamara, Drew Brees, and someone named Trey Edmunds added touchdown runs as the Saints destoryed the Bills snapping their four game home winning streak. The Bills couldn't get anything going on offense after a 36 yard run by LeSean McCoy during the opening series of the game. That setup a 37 yard field goal by Stephen Hauschka but the Saints got the ball and never looked back. Nate Peterman came in during garbate time and threw a touchdown pass to Nick O'Leary.
The Turning Point:
30 Yard Pass: The Saints were already dominating the game and up 7-3 in the 2nd quarter when on 3rd and 13 he found Brandon Coleman for a 30 yard gain. Brees had all day to throw and waited until a receiver got open. Five plays later Ingram took half the Bills defense into the end zone to make it 14-3 and the game was essentially over at that point with 9 minutes to go in the first half.
The Big Drive:
Saints First Drive: They went right down the field with plays of 13, 9, 14, and 25 yards on the 8 play, 75 yard touchdown drive. The biggest play was the 25 yard run by Mark Ingram on 4th and 1. The Bills tackling on the drive was pathetic.
Stat I Didn't Like:
Rushing yards given up: Since there isn't a stat to like, I'll give you two I didn't like. The team gave up a whopping 298 rusing yards.
Stat I Didn't Like II:
First Downs: The Bills were held to just four first downs in the first three quarters
Scene Setters:
- Former Bills first round pick and RB Antowain Smith was the leader of the charge for this game.
- The Bills wore blue jerseys with salute to service references. They also had a full field covering American Flag and a flyover.
- Kelvin Benjamin made his Bills debut and starter in the game. He showed up wearing a vintage Thurman Thomas jersey.
- The inactives were Cordy Glenn, Zay Jones, E.J. Gaines, Conor McDermott, John Miller, Khari Lee, and Travaris Cadet.
Key Matchup Results:
The winners of the battles highlighted in our preview article:
WR Kelvin Benjamin vs. CB Marshon Lattimore: Winner: Lattimore. They held Benjamin in check after his first reception.
DB Tre'Davious White vs. WR Michael Thomas: Winner: Thomas. He was dominating in the passing game.
DE Jerry Hughes vs. LT Terron Armstead: Winner: Armstead. Hughes was doing nothing before leaving with a shin injury.
RB LeSean McCoy vs. LB A.J. Klein: Winner: Klein. He left with an injury but the defense still stifled McCoy after his success on the first drive.
Keys To The Game Results:
How the keys highlighted in our preview article turned out:
1. Stop Saints Run Game: Failure! You think? The Saints dominated on the ground from the very start of this game.
2. Win The Turnover Battle: Failure! It didn't matter that they forced a fumble in the first quarter to keep the Saints off the board, they dominated anyway. Turnovers were not a factor this week.
3. Take Chances In Passing Game: Failure! They didn't take too many chances when the game was in doubt.
My Take:
Getting beat by the Saints isn't something to be ashamed of but getting beat up by them is. The Saints just dominated the point of attack as the Bills defense got blown off the ball. That is disheartening along with the fact this now seems like every other Bills team that started off 5-3 in the playoff drought. They are crashing back down to earth. I wonder if McDermott knows how to turn this around as the lack of talent has seemed to caught up with them.
What's Ahead:
The Bills head to the West Coast for a game against "former head coach" Anthony Lynn and the San D... er... Los Angeles Chargers in a small soccer stadium that will be half filled and should have a lot of Bills fans in it.
Gameballs
None - terrible effort all around.
Goats
Tyrod Taylor - He wasn't accurate with his passes and never really got the offense moving.
Rick Dennison - He called a horrendous game as the offense was just blah all day long.
Sean McDermott - Two blowout losses in the row. Have they stopped believing in the process?
Entire Defense - They could not tackle as they were beat up physically.
Player Of The Week
None - They just were destroyed in all aspects of this game.
 Positional Breakdown and Grades
NFL.com Gamebook
Saints Game Preview
Gameday Homepage
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