Players to Watch: vs Saints

After a tough loss on Sunday to the Colts, the Bills look to bounce back in a prime-time game on Thanksgiving against the Saints. Due to the loss on Sunday, the Patriots now lead our division by one game because they haven’t had their bye week yet. This is a must win game to keep the Bills alive in the AFC east. The Saints have a good pass rush and this might cause some problems for the offensive line.

Offensive Line

The Saints have a couple of great pass rushers in Cam Jordan and Marcus Davenport. Both players have over four sacks on the year and have been causing problems for opposing offensive lines. In the last couple weeks, the Bills have struggled to run the ball allowing teams pass rushers to rush the passer. The Bills may be getting Spencer Brown back this week and that would be a huge help for the line. With Spencer Brown the offensive line plays so much better. Daryl Williams is more comfortable playing guard and performs a lot better there. Not only does he play better but he is also leaps and bounds better than anyone else the Bills can play there.

If there is no Brown, I hope to see Williams continue to play inside and either bring someone up from the practice squad to play tackle or start anyone not named Cody Ford. The line needs to communicate and not allow the Saints defense to get any easy shots at Josh Allen. They need to give Allen time to deliver downfield. That is the only way our offense is successful. The Bills should use the short passing game this week to limit the Saints rush. This will help the line tremendously, getting the ball out fast means that the line doesn’t have to block as long. The less the line must block the better.

Defensive Secondary

Alvin Kamara didn’t practice on Monday and hasn’t played in two weeks due to injury. With this being the case, the Saints’ run game isn’t the same. Even though Mark Ingram is a good running back he’s no Kamara. The Saints will have to rely more heavily on the pass game, and they are starting their backup quarterback. Trevor Siemian hasn’t played that well since the Winston injury. Going 1-3 in the games he has played, and he has thrown two interceptions. Siemian doesn’t really push the ball down field, and they run a lot of short passes.

The Bills secondary should have a great day on Thursday. The Saints also have some injuries at receiver and tight end, so they are limited on targets. Tre White will most likely see Marquez Callaway all game. This is a good matchup for the Bills, White is a lockdown defender and should be able to shut down Callaway. The rest of the secondary also has favorable matchups. This should lead to multiple interceptions and a minimal number of points.

This should be the week the Bills get back on track and play well in all three facets of the game again against the Saints.