 Photo By: William Anthony Da Boot Sports 9/28/2025 Article Courtesy of Crescent City Sports By: Ken Trahan You probably heard the numbers, and they were daunting. No 0-3 team had beaten a 3-0 team in 17 years.The Saints entered their game at Buffalo as a 15.5 to 16-point underdog, the largest spread of the young NFL season. New Orleans caught the Bills in perfect weather fashion, sunny and 73 degrees. The Saints had won four straight games at Buffalo. No one expected the Saints to win. They did not. Here are my Quick Takes on the 31-19 Buffalo win over the Saints: **Inactives for the Saints were Jonathan Bullard, Devin Neal, Trey Palmer, Dillon Radunz, Xavier Truss, Rejzohn Wright and Chase Young. **The Saints won the toss and deferred, giving the Bills the ball first. **That was not a good idea. **Josh Allen hit Khalil Shakir with a 43-yard touchdown pass to give the Bills a 7-0 lead with 10:49 to play in the opening quarter. **Demario Davis and Jonas Sanker each missed a tackle on Shakir, who made the catch in the right flat and turned a short pass into a long touchdown. **The drive covered 79 yards in seven plays, taking 4:11 off the clock. **The Bills have scored a touchdown on all four opening drives this season, hence questioning the decision to give the Bills the ball first. **Velus Jones Jr. finally got a chance to return a kickoff and did a good job with a 30-yard return. **The Saints opened with their projected starting five offensive linemen for the first time this season. **The Saints had to waste a timeout prior to their second offensive snap of the game. **Spencer Rattler scrambled for a first down twice to extend the possession. **Rattler then hit an open Juwan Johnson for 17 yards and a first down. **Kendre Miller then ran inside, broke three tackles and raced 17 yards for a touchdown to tie the game 7-7 with 6:46 to play in the opening quarter. **It was the first time in 10 games that the Saints scored a touchdown on their opening drive, dating to last season. **The drive covered 69 yards in seven plays, taking 4:03 off the clock. **The Bills answered easily. James Cook scored on a 1-yard run to make it 14-7 with 2:29 to play in the first quarter, completing a 66 yard drive in seven plays. Buffalo had open receivers throughout the drive. **Cook set a franchise record, scoring a rushing touchdown in his eighth straight game. It was his 21st rushing touchdown since last year, which leads the league. **Ugo Amadi was flagged for holding on the ensuing kickoff, burying the Saints at their own 13-yard-line. **Alvin Kamara swept left for 17 yards and a first down. Johnson had a good kickout block on the play. **Rattler then bought time and hit Rashid Shaheed for 10 yards and a first down. **Buffalo amassed 145 yards to 106 for the Saints in the opening quarter. **Rattler was then sacked on consecutive plays to kill the possession for the Saints. On the second sack, Rattler was flagged for intentional grounding, a 16-yard penalty. **Jonas Sanker then showed out. First, he broke up a pass on an outstanding play before making a great read on a deep ball by Allen intended for Keon Coleman against Isaac Yaidom and Sanker intercepted it at the Buffalo 49-yard-line. **It was the first turnover of the season for Buffalo and the first interception of Sanker’s career. **The Saints did nothing with the turnover, going three-and-out as Chris Olave failed to catch what would have been a first down completion from Rattler and had to punt. **Kai Kroger punted beautifully, downed by Jones at the Buffalo 3-yard-line. **Pete Werner dropped another potential interception when Allen had his arm hit under pressure from Chris Rumph III. **The Saints started a second consecutive drive at the Buffalo 49-yard-line. **Once again, the Saints failed to take full advantage but Blake Grupe, who has been poor previously, nailed a 54-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 14-10 with 5:31 to play in the half. **Jordan came up with his 124th career sack, surpassing Robert Mathis for 20th all-time in NFL history. Allen became the 50th quarterback Jordan has sacked in his illustrious 15-year career. **Granderson sacked Allen on the next play, forcing a punt. **New Orleans got the ball at the Buffalo 40-yard-line after a nine-yard punt return by Shaheed. **Miller followed with a 13-yard run for a first down. **Cesar Ruiz went down with 1:47 to play in the half with an ankle injury, replaced by Torricelli Simpkins. Ruiz did not return. **The Saints reached the Buffalo 6-yard-line and on third and goal, Kellen Moore went for a trick play on a reverse to Olave, who then tried to throw a pass to Rattler and Cole Bishop read it and intercepted it to kill the drive. It was the “Philly Special” which worked so well for the Eagles, not so much for the Saints. **The Saints finished the first half with 117 yards rushing, just 43 passing. Rattler was a big part of it with five carries for 38 yards. **The Saints finished the half with 160 yards to just 158 for the Bills, who had just 13 yards in the second quarter. **Kamara ran 12 yards for a first down on a sweep left to start the second half but Rattler threw behind Olave and Olave could not catch it, despite getting his hands on it and the Saints ended up punting. **The Saints finally broke defensively as the Bills drove 80 yards in nine plays with Allen running it in from five yards out to make it 21-10 with 6:42 to play in the third quarter. **New Orleans answered with an outstanding drive of 65 yards in 11 plays with Rattler hitting Olave with a 3-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-16 with 14 seconds left in the third quarter. **Moore elected to go for two and ran Rattler behind a three tight-end setup but Rattler came up a yard short. **The Bills had 248 yards while the Saints had 240 yards of offense after three quarters. **Granderson made a huge stop on a fourth-and-one at the New Orleans midfield. **The Saints had a chance to take the lead with another good drive but on third down, Rattler threw behind an open Brandin Cooks in the end zone. Cooks reached back for the poor throw with one hand, brought it back toward his body and pulled it in. Initially, it was ruled a touchdown but upon replay review, the call was overturned. It was a big miss by Rattler. **Grupe kicked a 35-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 21-19 with 8:53 to play in the game. The drive covered 32 yards in nine plays. **Grupe then failed to kick the ensuing kickoff in the required zone, giving the Bills the ball at their own 40-yard-line. It was the second time he has done so this year and it simply cannot happen. **Allen came up with a 27-yard run on third-and-five. **On the next play, Allen hit Dalton Kincaid with a 28-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-19 with 7:07 to play in the game. It was Kincaid’s first catch of the game. It took the Bills just four plays to go 60 yards, taking advantage of the good field position. **The Saints had a fourth-and-two at the Buffalo 41-yard-line, went for it but Rattler felt pressure, threw it short of the sticks to Kamara and he was stopped, giving the ball back to Buffalo with just under six minutes left in the game. **Bryan Bresee collected his first sack of the season, getting Allen on the ensuing series to force a punt. It marked the first time Allen was sacked more than twice in 17 games. **It did not matter. Nephi Sewell committed an obvious roughing the kicker penalty with 5:11 to play to finish the Saints, who had used all their timeouts. **Matt Prater finished the scoring with a 35-yard field goal. **Rattler was sacked twice on the final offensive series of the game for the Saints. There were some good things for the Saints. The pass rush was good, producing three sacks. Sanker was outstanding, producing five tackles, three passes broken up and an interception. Jordan had four tackles, including a sack, a tackle for loss and two quarterback hits. Granderson had five tackles, including a sack, two quarterback hits and a tackle for loss. Kroger punted well, averaging 47.3 yards per punt with two punts downed inside the 20-yard-line. Jones returned kickoffs effectively. New Orleans ran the ball quite well, to the tune of 189 yards. Kamara, Miller and Rattler all ran the ball solidly. Rattler continues to play solidly enough to not get his team beat but continues to not make plays that have to be made if a below average team is going to win a game. He is now 0-10 as a starting quarterback for the Saints. Much like he missed an open Olave in the end zone against San Francisco, he missed an open Cooks in the end zone today. These are throws that have to be made. He finished 18 of 27 but for just 126 yards with a touchdown. He did not turn the ball over. The Saints caught Buffalo not playing its best football and competed well. New Orleans had a chance in the fourth quarter for the third time in four games. The Saints limp home at 0-4 to take on another lowly team, the New York Giants and rookie quarterback Jackson Dart, who will be making just his second NFL start. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the Giants got their first win, upsetting the Chargers 21-18. Unfortunately, former LSU star Malik Nabers reportedly suffered a torn ACL in the game. Moore is the first Saints coach to start 0-4 since Tom Fears did so in the inaugural season of the franchise in 1967. The watch continues. When will Rattler win his first game? When will Moore win his first game? That is the mantra of a last-place team. Post Game Press Conference John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior) *John 3;16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 
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