Bills Victory Over Saints Highlighted by Cook and Carousel of Pass-Catchers
The Buffalo Bills advanced to 4-0 after defeating the New Orleans Saints by a score of 31-19. With their victory, the Bills now have a commanding lead over the AFC East at 4-0. On the other hand, the Saints are one of the soon-to-be three remaining winless teams since the 0-3 Jets and Dolphins are playing each other on Monday night. Buffalo will finish their three-game homestand with a battle against the 2-2 New England Patriots next week on Sunday Night Football.
James Keeps Cooking
After a long offseason of contract disputes between the Bills and James Cook, the 26-year-old running back has proved that he’s worth every penny of his $48 million contract. While the passing attack struggled for a portion of the game, Cook stayed consistent, garnering 25 touches for 135 scrimmage yards while rushing for an average of 5.3 yards per carry. With another great performance, Cook remains the second-leading rusher in the NFL with 401 yards for the season. Also, Cook made Bills history with his fifth rushing touchdown of the season, becoming the first Bill ever to score a rush TD in eight consecutive games. The former Georgia Bulldog is proving himself to be one of the best running backs in the league, and he is putting up an All-Pro campaign through four weeks.
Injuries Hampered Buffalo’s Success
The Bills were expected to squash the Saints, considering the fact that they looked unstoppable going into the week, and the Saints struggled to get anything going all year. According to DraftKings, the Bills were favored to win by 15.5 points for this matchup, but had a measly two-point lead until eight minutes left in the fourth quarter. A few contributing factors to Buffalo’s struggles are injuries, in particular to those of right tackle Spencer Brown and defensive tackle Ed Oliver. Ryan Van Demark started in place of Brown and struggled to keep Allen clean all afternoon. Allen was sacked three times for the first time in a full year, getting dropped thrice for 27 yards on September 29th, 2024. On the defensive side of the trenches, the Bills undoubtedly needed another big body to stop the run. Oliver has now missed his third straight game after dominating against the Ravens, and the Bills gave up nearly 200 yards rushing in this most recent game without him.
Everybody’s Still Eating
Though there was certainly a dry spell in throwing the ball, the offense eventually figured itself out. Khalil Shakir remains Josh Allen’s favorite target, catching all five of his targets for 69 yards and the game’s first touchdown. However, he wasn’t the only one who made an impact. Six other players caught a pass from the reigning MVP, showing how versatile Joe Brady’s offense has become. In Jackson Hawes’ lone reception, he broke the game open by hauling in a short pass and taking it 15 yards down to New Orleans’ 10-yard line. Fellow tight end Dalton Kincaid took advantage of his chance too, taking a wide-open reception to the house to extend the lead to 28-19. The Bills now have three players with at least 14 receptions, 175 receiving yards, and one receiving touchdown.
Saints Struggles Continue
While the Saints had some promising moments in this game, the team still just doesn’t come up to snuff with the top teams in the league. At some point, fans of the team have to start turning their interest to the draft and see who the top prospects are. The top three quarterbacks for the draft at this point seem to be Fernando Mendoza, LaNorris Sellers, and Garrett Nussmeier. Though the Saints have other holes to fill, assuming the team has a bottom-three overall finish, they should go after their signal caller of the future.
