9/28/2025 Bills vs Saints post game thread

[paulmm3]

Mildly worried one or more of Benford, Bernard, or Rousseau may be going the Albert Haynesworth route after getting paid.

Edited Monday at 02:08 AM by paulmm3

[Richard Noggin]

5 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

For those complaining about the D, take a look at the drive summaries. Outside of that first TD drive (which was terrible), the D actually held its own. They gave up a long 11-play 65-yard TD drive in the 3rd quarter, but that was basically a bunch of 4 and 5-yard plays by the saints. That’s the sort of drive the Bills D usually will take, and hope the opponent makes a mistake.

 

Otherwise, they pretty much got off the field. The FGs given up were long and due to terrible field position. 
 

They can be better in many ways. But it wasn’t terrible. 

 

The defense was dealing with a drastic imbalance in field position most of this game, so I can give them some grace there. When the offense went to sleep for half the game, the D kept it mostly bottled up. 

 

However, they don't break down well when pressuring QBs, nor do they tackle well in the open field. And they REALLY struggle to keep contain on the edges. Those are recurring flaws. 

[BillsFan130]

Biggest concern I still have for the Bills defence is what is their identity? For example..

Spags/Chiefs- You know they wanna blitz and be aggressive.

 

Leslie Frazier- Wanted to rush 4 and play a lot of zone. (Even though I disagree with that strategy but at least it's an identity)

 

4 weeks in and I don't think Babich has established any identity with the defence. His play calling and scheme just seems random and sporadic 

[dakarider17]

I certainly didn't think the Bills would win by 15 points or more.  But Bills defense can't stop anyone.  If the other team can effectively run the ball and keep the score close they'll be in the game.  Seems like Bills get a couple huge plays each game to break it open.  Can't always count on that though.

[gonzo1105]

I also wanted to point out that T.J. Sanders had some nice penetration at times and he was the reason that A.J. Epenesa got his sack late in the game.  Also would have had his first sack if not for the intentional grounding penalty

Edited Monday at 02:31 AM by gonzo1105

[hondo in seattle]

1 hour ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

People take regular season wins for granted. Look at Baltimore. They’re in danger of losing their division possibly because of a sloppy start. A win IS a win. Getting the 1 seed is priority #1 and you do that by having the best regular season record possible. 

 

 

Exactly.

 

When the Ravens or Chiefs play a bad game, they lose.  When we play a bad game, we win by 12.  

 

I'm NOT saying that we don't have things to improve. We do.  The run D has been terrible; the pass D has moments; and the O can run hot and cold.  But there are only two undefeated teams left.  We have more to celebrate than criticize.  

[billsfan89]

1 minute ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

 

Exactly.

 

When the Ravens or Chiefs play a bad game, they lose.  When we play a bad game, we win by 12.  

 

I'm NOT saying that we don't have things to improve. We do.  The run D has been terrible; the pass D has moments; and the O can run hot and cold.  But there are only two undefeated teams left.  We have more to celebrate than criticize.  

Fans also kind of forget that most regular season games in the NFL are usually 1-2 score affairs that are usually in doubt most of the way.

 

I wanted the Bills to repeat the Jets game today where they just had a dominant effort wire to wire. But that’s just not always gonna happen. 
 

Bills will “get got” on one of these games but they gotta come out desperate next week because that game is going to determine if they can build a dominant division lead or not.

[Low Positive]

I'm really angry that the Bills lost this game. I didn't watch and I haven't checked the score, but i came right here to see if we won and it is clear that we lost and lost bad. The amount of complaining on here about the defense must mean that the Bills defense gave up more yards of offense than any other team this year to the Saints. What????!!!! You're telling me that they actually won???? The Bills worst in the league defense gave up fewer yards to the Saints than both the Cards and 49ers? Couldn't be!!! They're starting a head coaching search one thread down FFS. 

[Richard Noggin]

1 minute ago, Low Positive said:

I'm really angry that the Bills lost this game. I didn't watch and I haven't checked the score, but i came right here to see if we won and it is clear that we lost and lost bad. The amount of complaining on here about the defense must mean that the Bills defense gave up more yards of offense than any other team this year to the Saints. What????!!!! You're telling me that they actually won???? The Bills worst in the league defense gave up fewer yards to the Saints than both the Cards and 49ers? Couldn't be!!! They're starting a head coaching search one thread down FFS. 

 

It's 100% fair to dislike and criticize the gnashing of teeth many fans (including myself) are displaying after the team went 4-0 today. 

 

But it's also 100% fair for fans to be concerned about a Bills team that is not obviously improved in the areas where they had room for improvement: downfield passing, WR separation against aggressive man coverage, and of course, DEFENSE (3rd downs, pass rush, QB contain, EDGE contain in general, tackling, etc.). Without getting better in these areas, what evidence are we seeing that the team will finally persevere against the Chiefs or whichever top tier opponents they face in the AFC playoff tournament? 

[Beck Water]

1 hour ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

 

Exactly.

 

When the Ravens or Chiefs play a bad game, they lose.  When we play a bad game, we win by 12.  

 

I'm NOT saying that we don't have things to improve. We do.  The run D has been terrible; the pass D has moments; and the O can run hot and cold.  But there are only two undefeated teams left.  We have more to celebrate than criticize.  

 

Hooo lordy, if you wanna see a frustrating defense check out Dallas Green Bay.  Cheeseheads, that's Swiss Cheese.

That was supposed to be the #1 D in the league going into this game.  

 

Yeah Dallas getting shredded too, but we knew they had problems.

Edited Monday at 03:38 AM by Beck Water

[Shortchaz]

1 hour ago, gonzo1105 said:

I also wanted to point out that T.J. Sanders had some nice penetration at times and he was the reason that A.J. Epenesa got his sack late in the game.  Also would have had his first sack if not for the intentional grounding penalty

That second “sack” was a ff by bosa 

[WideNine]

22 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

Hooo lordy, if you wanna see a frustrating defense check out Dallas Green Bay.  Cheeseheads, that's Swiss Cheese.

That was supposed to be the #1 D in the league going into this game.  

 

Yeah Dallas getting shredded too, but we knew they had problems.

I think the fan base is just getting tired of this team having a basement dwelling defense when it comes to defending the run and 3rd down defense. I think they may have done better today on 3rd downs or maybe they had so much success on 1st and 2nd down they did not have to convert too many 3rd and longs.

I think we were assessed 3x the penalties the Saints had and that can make for a long day and a hard game to watch. Seems odd to be pinning so much of my hopes on getting key defensive players back because this seems like a defense I have seen so many seasons running now - but that is where I am. 

 

We seem to be pulling that horseshoe out every game, 2 games in a row where key drives were extended by having your punter run into... and takeaways on the doorstep when we were about to fall behind. I keep thinking it is not sustainable and will catch up to us, but still glad for the win and you have to have some luck in this league.

I feel like the Saints have a good start on their rebuild. Was impressed with Rattler and their rookie DB and their rookie Safety Sanker made some incredible plays out there today. Looks like they have a good DL front too. They can come away from this game with some pride and knowing their franchise seems to be heading in a better direction.

[Big Turk]

And of course Josh Allen tied Cam Newton with the most games with at least 1 passing and rushing TD with 45.

11 minutes ago, WideNine said:

I think the fan base is just getting tired of this team having a basement dwelling defense when it comes to defending the run and 3rd down defense. I think they may have done better today on 3rd downs or maybe they had so much success on 1st and 2nd down they did not have to convert too many 3rd and longs.

I think we were assessed 3x the penalties the Saints had and that can make for a long day and a hard game to watch. Seems odd to be pinning so much of my hopes on getting key defensive players back because this seems like a defense I have seen so many seasons running now - but that is where I am. 

 

We seem to be pulling that horseshoe out every game, 2 games in a row where key drives were extended by having your punter run into... and takeaways on the doorstep when we were about to fall behind. I keep thinking it is not sustainable and will catch up to us, but still glad for the win and you have to have some luck in this league.

I feel like the Saints have a good start on their rebuild. Was impressed with Rattler and their rookie DB and their rookie Safety Sanker made some incredible plays out there today. Looks like they have a good DL front too. They can come away from this game with some pride and knowing their franchise seems to be heading in a better direction.

 

And yet the last 3 games for as "bad" as they may have looked at times they have averaged allowing 16.5 PPG and 243 YPG, with all 3 teams held under 300 yards of offense.

 

The defense is not as bad as we think it is. It isn't great, but it also isn't as bad as many think.

[Beck Water]

19 minutes ago, WideNine said:

I think the fan base is just getting tired of this team having a basement dwelling defense when it comes to defending the run and 3rd down defense. I think they may have done better today on 3rd downs or maybe they had so much success on 1st and 2nd down they did not have to convert too many 3rd and longs.

I think we were assessed 3x the penalties the Saints had and that can make for a long day and a hard game to watch. Seems odd to be pinning so much of my hopes on getting key defensive players back because this seems like a defense I have seen so many seasons running now - but that is where I am. 

 

We seem to be pulling that horseshoe out every game, 2 games in a row where key drives were extended by having your punter run into... and takeaways on the doorstep when we were about to fall behind. I keep thinking it is not sustainable and will catch up to us, but still glad for the win and you have to have some luck in this league.

I feel like the Saints have a good start on their rebuild. Was impressed with Rattler and their rookie DB and their rookie Safety Sanker made some incredible plays out there today. Looks like they have a good DL front too. They can come away from this game with some pride and knowing their franchise seems to be heading in a better direction.

 

I've heard people say that "Week 1 is a liar" but I actually kind of feel like the first 4-5 weeks of the season are liars.  So much depends upon which opponents a team has faced in those first few weeks.

 

I mean, look at Green Bay.  They came into tonight with a top-5 defense on 3rd down conversion, #3 rush defense, best defense in the league on points.  They beat Detroit and Washington, both good teams.

 

This was NOT the defense I expected to see based upon that record.  And it wasn't the offense I expected to see based on Dallas defensive record.

 

The Bills gave up ridiculous rush yards to the Ravens week 1.  I think when things average out, our rush D isn't going to be bottom dwelling. 

We did better on 3rd downs, yeah - something like 31% conversion

 

I was telling people that NO moved the ball on Seattle, they just got kicked into a pit they couldn't climb out of by their ST miscues.  

 

I would agree they've got a good start on their rebuild.

 

Come away from this game with some pride - one thing I don't think we, as fans, take into account is to what extent the Bills have a target on them.  Other teams and coaches do get fired up for their games with us now a days.

[Low Positive]

My inclination is to let people wallow in their misery, but if you check the stats, you'll see that it wasn't as bad as it felt on TV.

 

https://static.www.nfl.com/image/upload/v1759090809/gamecenter/f6aa26a6-311e-11f0-b670-ae1250fadad1.pdf

[eball]

Hey is this the place for me to come and b-I-t-c-h about the only undefeated team in the AFC and how many problems there are?

 

[WideNine]

19 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

And of course Josh Allen tied Cam Newton with the most games with at least 1 passing and rushing TD with 45.

 

And yet the last 3 games for as "bad" as they may have looked at times they have averaged allowing 16.5 PPG and 243 YPG, with all 3 teams held under 300 yards of offense.

 

The defense is not as bad as we think it is. It isn't great, but it also isn't as bad as many think.

 

We have a potent offense that does a good job usually of sustaining drives, eating up clock, and scoring. Our points against look better as we have had some really timely turnovers from teams on the doorstep, I keep wondering how long we can keep that up but we keep getting them. 

 

We are 31st in the league against the run and that is just a fact and something that has to get better, along with the missed tackles. I am hopeful that we have the kind of players waiting in the wings that can help our D hit its stride down the home stretch. Imagine this offense getting the ball even more when they are already averaging 30+ points a game.

I thought I heard something during the broadcast that sounded like Ray Davis did not have good practices and that is why he is not getting the work. Not sure what happened there as I thought he was having a good camp this year. Maybe I misheard. Coleman is getting better, and Palmer is starting to click with Allen. Kincaid and Allen are on the same page and Hawes is doing great blocking and receiving.

We are 4 and 0 and have NE and Atlanta then we go into the bye and we get some much needed reinforcements on D when they come back.

 

 

[Scott7975]

I missed the first half of the game. Can someone tell me who was scratched in place of Samuel and was it a healthy scratch or were they injured?

[ganesh]

3 hours ago, Richard Noggin said:

 

The defense was dealing with a drastic imbalance in field position most of this game, so I can give them some grace there. When the offense went to sleep for half the game, the D kept it mostly bottled up. 

 

However, they don't break down well when pressuring QBs, nor do they tackle well in the open field. And they REALLY struggle to keep contain on the edges. Those are recurring flaws. 

Keeping the score to under 20 points is always good enough for a Josh Allen led offense.  The issue that continues to plague this team is its ability to stop the run and get off the field on 3rd and longs.  

[muppy]

 

 

how much did we all worry when we saw Benford go down in the 4th quarter. and right back in. Hallelujah!

 

and the Punter being wrecked oh my goodness. and comes back into the game to hold.  Unbelievable.

 

Real men play NFL football .  I have huge respect for the amount of abuse their bodies take. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, Scott7975 said:

I missed the first half of the game. Can someone tell me who was scratched in place of Samuel and was it a healthy scratch or were they injured?

Codrington was a healthy scratch. I found an article relating toi the decision

https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/buffalo-bills/bills-brandon-codrington-benched-uncertain-future/