Bills Beat Hapless New Orleans Saints
From the start, the injury ravaged New Orleans Saints were undermanned. And by the end, it clearly showed as the visiting Buffalo Bills overcame numerous offensive misfires to still finish with 31 points and a 31-6 victory at the Caesars Superdome.
The win was bittersweet, however, as Bills star cornerback Tre'Davious White was forced to leave the game with a knee injury. White's prognosis is unclear, but he slammed his helmet in disgust as he went to the medical tent on the sideline, perhaps sensing it was serious.
Quarterback Josh Allen completed 23 of 28 attempts for 260 yards and four touchdowns, including two to tight end Dawson Knox, before giving way to backup Mitchell Trubisky.
Allen was intercepted twice in the first half to derail drives, but the shorthanded Saints weren't able to stay with them for the full 60 minutes.
The Bills also changed some personnel before this game, making running back Zack Moss and wide receiver and top returner Isaiah McKenzie healthy scratches and replacing them with Matt Breida and rookie Marquez Stevenson, respectively.
Breida was limited to just 26 yards on nine carries, but when Allen audibled into a screen to counter a two-deep safety look in the fourth quarter, Breida turned it into a 23-yard touchdown to set the final score.
The final rushing numbers for Breida and Devin Singletary (15 carries, 44 yards) did not reflect their effort or their effectiveness.
Singletary, for example, had runs of 11, 15 and 6 yards. When the blocking was there, he always was able to push for more.
"I thought both backs ran well," coach Sean McDermott said. "So we had a couple opportunities in the first half overall as an offense that we didn't come away with points or we should have come away with more points, and so we got to look at that. But overall, we were able to overcome the turnovers in the first half and our defense did a good job with a sudden-change defense there.
"But I thought both backs in the second half in particular ran strong."
Stevenson averaged 9.8 yards on five returns. One of them was a muff that he recovered.
Jordan Poyer added his team-high fifth interception as they limited the Saints to just 190 yards and 12 first downs.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
