Synced-up Saints rush to judgment
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara are so in sync, the New Orleans Saints running back duo is now finishing sentences for one another.
“Listen, it’s fun whenever we’re scoring at will,” Ingram said, before sounding like Oprah on a giveaway episode following a 47-10 win over the Buffalo Bills yesterday.
“Drew (Brees) got a touchdown. AK (Kamara) got a touchdown. Trey (Edmunds) got a touchdown. Man, that’s what we work for, so everybody eats.”
That’s when Kamara interjected by noting to Ingram, “You don’t want to say you got three touchdowns,” before the two broke into a fit of laughter.
Ingram had 131 yards rushing and scored three times, and the Saints won their seventh straight in producing one of the most prolific running performances in franchise history. The six touchdowns rushing set a franchise record, and New Orleans’ 298 yards rushing were the third highest in team history.
“We came out and wanted to impose our will,” said Kamara, who scored once and added 106 yards rushing. “We were in the locker room and said, ‘We’ve got to put pressure on them to break their neck.’ ”
Ingram set a career high by scoring twice from 3 yards and another from 1 yard. Kamara scored on a 5-yard run, while Brees scrambled in from 7 yards. Edmunds capped the run of rushing touchdowns with a 41-yard scamper.
The Saints never punted by scoring on eight of their nine possessions, not including two mean-nothing drives to close both halves in a game they finished with 482 yards and 32 first downs.
The Saints (7-2) became the second team in the Super Bowl era to win seven straight after starting the season 0-2, joining the 1993 Cowboys, who went on to beat Buffalo in winning the Super Bowl.
The Bills (5-4) so completely unraveled on defense, linebacker Preston Brown didn’t know what hit them.
“That felt like the longest game of my life,” Brown said. “Every time they ran the ball: 8 yards. Every time they passed the ball: 15, 20 yards. Nothing worked today.”
It marked the second straight game the Bills defense has caved after allowing 194 yards rushing in a 34-21 loss to the New York Jets on Nov. 2.
“It’s two straight times where you get embarrassed,” Brown said. “And it has to change or we’ll be five and what, 5-11, if we don’t make a change.”
Buffalo fell to 4-1 at home and squandered an opportunity to win six of its first nine games for the first time since 1999.
The offense was hardly better.
Buffalo managed 198 yards, and 10 first downs. And five of those first downs came on Buffalo’s meaningless final drive that ended with backup quarterback Nathan Peterman hitting Nick O’Leary on a 7-yard touchdown pass.
After Stephen Hauschka capped a nine-play, 57-yard opening drive with a 37-yard field goal, the Bills never crossed midfield over their next eight possessions.
The most notable cheer came with 4:53 remaining when Peterman replaced Tyrod Taylor and then immediately hit Deonte Thompson for a 10-yard reception along the right sideline.
“Horrible game,” said Taylor, who finished 9-of-18 for 56 yards and an interception.
Saints coach Sean Payton said “all the signs are positive” in updating the status of backup running back Daniel Lasco, who had feelings in his extremities after sustaining a spine injury while tackling Brandon Tate on a kickoff return six minutes into the second quarter.