The Bills DO Have a Shot Against The Saints…No Seriously, Stop Laughing

On Sunday the Buffalo Bills will be facing their toughest opponent of the season, the New Orleans Saints.  Most experts are not giving Buffalo a chance in this game, and although I am not delusional, here is why I believe Buffalo may have a chance to win this Sunday.

Although Philadelphia is not a terrible team let’s not forget that the Saints are not an impenetrable team, let’s also not forget that their other win was against the lowly Lions.  The Saints do have flaws.  The one thing the Bills have done well this season is sustain drives, in the last game against the Bucs they also showed they were able to make big plays.  New Orleans Achilles heal is their defense.  As good as the team is offensively, they are almost equally as bad on the defensive side of the ball.

There is one giant mistake that both teams made when facing New Orleans, they were unable to dominate when it came down to time of possession.  Philadelphia roughly equaled the Saints totals and Detroit allowed the Saints to have the ball far too often.  If the Bills are to have a fighting chance, their game plan needs to center around time of possession.  Although the no huddle offense is based on catching defenses off guard, the Bills must sustain drives, as winning the field position battle is not good enough against an offense as powerful as the New Orleans Saints posses.

What will make achieving this difficult is the loss of TE Derek Schouman and rookie Shawn Nelson being doubtful for the game Sunday.  QB Trent Edwards is a true check-down master and will now have to rely on 3rd stringer Derek Fine to make plays.  Hopefully the Bills and Trent Edwards have seen what can happen when RB Fred Jackson is allowed to touch the ball and is given the chance to take some of those check-down throws away from Fine.

Buffalo’s defense will have problems with the Saints offense without a doubt, but as long as they provide consistent pressure they may be able to create disturbances in timing between Brees and his receivers.  The main issue going into this game will be Buffalo’s inability to cover TE’s.  So far it has been opposing team’s TE’s that seem to do the most damage against Buffalo.  Jeremy Shockey could wind up having some great numbers this game if Buffalo does not learn to adjust in coverage against TE’s.

Buffalo’s biggest weakness is not their offense or their defense, it is mental lapses.  The hope is that through the first two games Buffalo has leaned to stop taking plays, and like last week, entire quarters off.  Buffalo will not have the luxury to be lackadaisical against the Saints and will need to explode each and every play to be able to put themselves into a position to compete.

The Bills can win this game, they are not a team that is starting a rookie QB with an atrocious defense like the Lions, and they are not a very good team that had to start a second string QB due to injury like the Eagles.  Buffalo does have it’s share of injuries, but the key components are still there.  Although the defense will need to step up in a big way, it’s the offense that needs to show patience and make big plays to keep drives alive.

New Orleans allowed the Lions and Philadelphia to score a combined 49 points.  Although they have some great DB’s who have a nose for the ball, they do not posses a good enough pass rush to put fear into even a rookie QB.  QB Trent Edwards needs to make sure not to force his throws when he gets pressured and needs to also rely on the talent of his receivers.  If the fourth quarter of the Bills vs Bucs game has any indication on how good the Bills can be, then they may have a chance to provide one of the biggest upsets this season.

Tags: Buffalo Bills, Derek Fine, Derek Schouman, Detroit Lions, Drew Brees, Fred Jackson, Jeremy Shockey, New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles, Shawn Nelson, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Trent Edwards