Bills at Saints: 3 top Storylines for Thanksgiving Meeting
When the Buffalo Bills visit the New Orleans Saints on Thanksgiving night, they'll have a nation watching mostly in an effort to discover how teams that started the season with such promise have fallen on such hard times so quickly.
The Bills (6-4) have lost three of their last five games, starting with a heartbreaker in Tennessee when they were unable to convert a fourth down in the closing seconds when a short field goal would have forced overtime.
The Saints (5-5) went out to a 5-2 record that was built with wins over Green Bay, New England and Tampa Bay — all first-place teams in their respective divisions heading into this weekend. But they've dropped their last three, the most recent being a 40-29 setback at Philadelphia that exposed their previously outstanding run defense.
So here are the top three storylines heading to this intra-conference clash.
Injuries abound
Although there are no official injury designations for the Bills this week, it doesn't mean they're at full strength. In fact, they're far from it.
Once again, they will be without starting offensive linemen Spencer Brown (Reserve/COVID-19 list) and Jon Feliciano (injured reserve list) and starting defensive tackle Star Lotulelei (Reserve/COVID-19 list).
The Saints have been ravaged with injuries, beginning with quarterback Jameis Winston, who had a 14-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio before going on IR. Top running backs Alvin Kamara (knee) and Mark Ingram (knee), tackle Ryan Ramcyk (knee) and defensive ends Marcus Davenport (shoulder) and Tanoh Kpassagnon (ankle) were unable to practice on Tuesday, the same day tackle Landon Young and tight end Adam Trautman were placed on injured reserve.
At least the Bills will get linebacker Tremaine Edmunds back after he missed the previous two games with a hamstring strain.
Call Thursday's matchup the Attrition Bowl.
Safety Dance
It's getting so Bills safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer, or Micah Jordan for short, should be introduced at home games by the Canadian band Men Without Hats, who in 1982 released smash hit The Safety Dance.
The duo is widely regarded as the top safety tandem in the NFL and each could be having his finest season this year.
Consider the latest Pro Football Focus rankings:
Poyer (89.3) and Hyde (87.6) are ranked second and third, respectively in coverage grades, just behind Tennessee's Kevin Byard (90.7.
Hyde (84.0) is the highest-graded Bill this season. Poyer, who owns team-highs of 56 tackles and four interceptions, is fifth (80.0).
Both have been with coach Sean McDermott from the start of his reign in Buffalo in 2017.
Desperate times
It may be absurd to think that any game played at this stage of the season by a team that's 6-4 can be considered a must-win game.
But we don't think so, and here's why: The toughest portion of Buffalo's schedule unfolds over the next month. It includes two matchups with AFC East leader New England and a trip to Tampa Bay to play the defending Super Bowl champs.
If the Bills can't beat this injury ravaged Saints team that is quarterbacked by Trevor Siemian, there's a good chance they won't repeat as champions of their division and may not even have enough wins in the end to sneak into the playoff picture as a wild card.
The Bills already have lost the first tie-breaking criteria (head-to-head results) when it comes to breaking a tie with Tennessee (8-3) or Pittsburgh (5-4-1) or Indianapolis (6-5).
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.
