Game week thread - Saints at Bills

[Beck Water]

On 9/22/2025 at 10:48 AM, SoCal Deek said:

That Saints / Seahawks game is puzzling. They had virtually the same amount of yards gained both rushing and passing…and identical turnovers, yet somehow the Seahawks crushed them. Anybody see the game? 

 

 

I didn't, but this is actually a pretty great case study in box score reading.  (by the way, the box scores on pro football reference are currently AFU)

Bottom line: ST miscues by NOR, giving up field position, and failing to punch the ball into the endzone when they had the chance.
 

Field position:
1st possession: NOR tried to be Dan Campbell-style aggressive, going for it on 4th down on their first drive.

Result: SEA ball at SEA 45. TD in 6 plays.

ST was big:
2nd possession: punt from their own 29 after 3 and out, SEA returned the punt for a TD

3rd possession: punt from their own 30, SEA blocks and recovers the ball on the 11 yd line, punches it in in 2 plays

At that point it was 21-0 and they weren't out of the 1st Q.  And next possession started with a 60 yd KR.

NOR had 3 nice, long sustained drives in the 1st half: 65, 42, and 69 yds and came away with 6 points total (2 FG and a missed FG)

1st FG was after 1st and 10 from the SEA 15

2nd attempted (NG) FG from SEA 33, so SEA got the ball at the 42 yd line

3rd FG 1st and 10 from the SEA 20, but only 13 seconds in the half.

If they'd have managed to punch those drives in, could have been a much closer game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 24 by Beck Water

[Gregg]

3 minutes ago, MasterStrategist said:

Agree- and sportsbooks telling us neither of those scenarios are likely.

 

I expect a 10-14 point lead at halftime.  But everyone saying our starters will be resting entire 2nd half are nuts....that would be possible but unrealistic.  I expect final 6-10 min to be backups

 

If the Bills have a 10- 14-point lead at half, then it's still a game. But if they are up 28-0 at half then it would be nuts to have Allen and the starters out there for the 2nd half. Trubisky is more than capable of managing the offense picking up first downs to help the Bills kill clock.

[Beck Water]

23 hours ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

No matter how bad this team is, you still have to take them seriously. It’s the nfl. Come ready to play. The last time the saints were here it was one of the most embarrassing days in recent Bills history. The saints are the worst team in the league, i get it. There is zero excuse for it to be close. But taking your foot off the gas is how that happens. Take it serious, line up and send them home with a L

 

A propos of a post I made answering a Q what happened with SEA?  

NO was moving the ball and accumulating a lot of yards.  They got pig-piled by SEA due to a couple of early ST miscues (PR for TD, blocked punt) 

 

So  they're still an NFL team.

[Beck Water]

4 hours ago, TFBillsfan said:

https://x.com/mattparrino/status/1970884973663031590?s=46&t=bXEVrTCmvroFh0jQSK8cKg

 

Not sounding good that Max will be on the field anytime in the forseable future. 

 

"When and IF"??

[zow2]

I don't think this will be the week, but I do think the Bills are going to force the running game so much it will lead to several 3 and outs and cost them a game at some point. Or leave some inferior team in the game too long (like Miami last week).  Sometimes during games they get very ground and pound, let's not risk turnovers, etc...

[GottaRun]

58 minutes ago, zow2 said:

I don't think this will be the week, but I do think the Bills are going to force the running game so much it will lead to several 3 and outs and cost them a game at some point. Or leave some inferior team in the game too long (like Miami last week).  Sometimes during games they get very ground and pound, let's not risk turnovers, etc...

I agree but I think this style serves them well for the most part.  The 1 - 5 play fast TD drives are exciting for us fans but they are tough on the D, throw a few of those fast TD drives on the board in one game and the D is gassed.  Slow running drives over the year will hopefully keep the D relatively healthy.

[Goin Breakdown]

1 hour ago, Gregg said:

 

If the Bills have a 10- 14-point lead at half, then it's still a game. But if they are up 28-0 at half then it would be nuts to have Allen and the starters out there for the 2nd half. Trubisky is more than capable of managing the offense picking up first downs to help the Bills kill clock.

I'm guessing it will be a 7-10 lead at half. Theyll play it close. 

[Sierra Foothills]

2 hours ago, bills742 said:

 

The Bills need to fire their S&C and athletic training staff.

 

[3rdand12]

2 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

I didn't say they should sit Bosa or Cook. I said they should manage their reps. The season is a marathon and we should use the easy games on our schedule to give them a bit of a break.

This is my perspective as well.

 Manage reps and look at players as they are able.

 Maybe try a new look on Defense

9 wide ?

 lol

[MikePJ76]

30 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

The Bills need to fire their S&C and athletic training staff.

 

They did that in February and have new guys.

 

you want them fire already?

[gonzo1105]

2 hours ago, zow2 said:

I don't think this will be the week, but I do think the Bills are going to force the running game so much it will lead to several 3 and outs and cost them a game at some point. Or leave some inferior team in the game too long (like Miami last week).  Sometimes during games they get very ground and pound, let's not risk turnovers, etc...

I would too if my Running back was on pace for 5.5 yards per carry and 1,600 yards rushing. He’s also on pace for 2,000 scrimmage yards. 
 

We are a two headed monster, we don’t need to be like the 2021 Bills where Allen had to do everything under the sun to win us a football game. Our offensive line is arguably the best in football with an arguable top 5 RB. I think Joe Brady needs to be quicker with adjusting when teams start to load the box to take it away 

[zow2]

1 hour ago, GottaRun said:

I agree but I think this style serves them well for the most part.  The 1 - 5 play fast TD drives are exciting for us fans but they are tough on the D, throw a few of those fast TD drives on the board in one game and the D is gassed.  Slow running drives over the year will hopefully keep the D relatively healthy.

 

Very true.  Cowherd has been saying this on his show recently. About how time of possession is key because every play your defense is on the sidelines it’s fewer defensive injuries. We have to believe that’s part of the regular season philosophy this year.  If we get behind and Allen has to shift to 5th gear then he will.

Edited September 24 by zow2

[Ya Digg?]

3 hours ago, Gregg said:

 

If the Bills have a 10- 14-point lead at half, then it's still a game. But if they are up 28-0 at half then it would be nuts to have Allen and the starters out there for the 2nd half. Trubisky is more than capable of managing the offense picking up first downs to help the Bills kill clock.

Sitting out an entire half is pretty extreme. Teams can still come back

[K-9]

1 hour ago, MikePJ76 said:

They did that in February and have new guys.

 

you want them fire already?

They fired their S&C coach, that’s it. They lost Denny Kellington, who, along with others on the staff,  was credited with saving Damar’s life. The rest of that award winning training staff were retained. 

[RiotAct]

4 hours ago, Beck Water said:

 

"When and IF"??

Bust.  Season over.

[Sierra Foothills]

2 hours ago, MikePJ76 said:

They did that in February and have new guys.

 

you want them fire already?

 

Yes.

 

Fired and executed... possibly tortured then executed... after being fired.

 

[EmotionallyUnstable]

Well just watched the condensed version of Saints/Seahawks first half (38-6 after 30min) and I am not going to bother with the second. 
 

My goodness, what a display. The special teams gaffes have been well documented and rightfully so…but not enough has been said about some of their other issues.

 

Penalties killed these guys. Multiple false starts and holds, especially on the LT rookie Kelvin Banks Jr. Pass pro seemed to be an issue too across the board, with Seattle collapsing the pocket pretty regularly with 4. 

 

Rattler probably should have had 4-5 interceptions. 3 clearly dropped and one that was negated by a penalty. I am not sure they can complete a pass farther than 15 yards downfield. 
 

Olave had what seemed like 10+ quick game catches, all for minimal gains and the rest were TEs (I also forgot Brandon Cooks was on their team!) This is the kind of team I don’t mind allowing to do this to my D, because sooner or later they’re going to make an error, try and force a play or create negative penalty yards.
 

Defensively it appears their back 7 in coverage is an obvious weakness. They were hung out to dry with awful field position from the get go. I think they’re actually better up front than people would assume, and Seattle was hit and miss in the ground game. I don’t expect the Bills to try and force the issue downfield but I’d be very curious to see how well we can do so after watching Darnold, JSN and Tory Horton completing passes of 20+ air yards 
 

Looking ahead to Sunday, it’s important to remember there are some legit NfL caliber players on their roster. However they are not a cohesive unit in any phase. It sounds corny, but the old McD “stick to our fundamentals, play smart, 1/11th” mantra is probably enough to get it done. 

 

Bills by a billion. 

[Sierra Foothills]

5 minutes ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

Bills by a billion. 

 

Mini-Marvs 126... 

 

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

5 hours ago, Beck Water said:

 

A propos of a post I made answering a Q what happened with SEA?  

NO was moving the ball and accumulating a lot of yards.  They got pig-piled by SEA due to a couple of early ST miscues (PR for TD, blocked punt) 

 

So  they're still an NFL team.

They were absolutely destroyed in that game. They were down 38-6 at halftime. There was no fight put up

[Coffeesforclosers]

We could win 3-2 or 71-70, I don't care so long as everybody comes through healthy with big Ws.