Buffalo @ New Orleans preview
Caesars Superdome
Last Meeting ( Sep 27, 2009 ) New Orleans 27, Buffalo 7
After a week off, the New Orleans Saints look to rebound from their first loss of the season when they host the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. It's a homecoming for former Saints offensive coordinator Doug Marrone, whose Bills snapped a six-game road losing streak with a 23-21 win at Miami last week and seek back-to-back wins away from home for the first time since 2009. "We're going to go down there and try to win a game," Marrone told reporters. "It would be important for us to go out and win on the road, which we haven't done well in a long time."
The Saints have won three games by eight points or fewer but ended up on the wrong end of a 30-27 decision at New England last time out and are wary of a Buffalo team that been competitive in every game. "The one thing you see is leadership and you see a team that believes," Saints coach Sean Payton told reporters. "… I think when you look at their formula right now, they've played very well of late."
TV: 1 p.m. ET, CBS. LINE: New Orleans -11.5. O/U: 48.5.
ABOUT THE BILLS (3-4): Buffalo has faced a revolving door under center thanks to injuries, but Thad Lewis has held his own over the past two games, completing 62.5 percent of his passes for 418 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. It helps that the Bills can lean on running backs Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller, who lead the league's No. 5 rushing attack at 140.4 yards per contest. The defense has given up plenty of yardage - ranking 24th in the NFL at 380.4 per game - but leads the league with 12 interceptions.
ABOUT THE SAINTS (5-1): New Orleans again boasts one of the top offenses in the league and has been especially good in the passing game, averaging 311 yards per game. Drew Brees is in the midst of another great season with 1,958 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and five interceptions, and eight different players have caught touchdown passes. Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan's unit has played surprisingly well and has used a strong pass defense to rank fourth in scoring defense at 17.2 points per game.
EXTRA POINTS
1. Saints TE Jimmy Graham has six touchdowns in his past four home games, and WR Marques Colston has caught at least five passes in the past four at home.
2. Bills DE Mario Williams' 10 sacks are the most through seven games by a Buffalo player since 1982.
3. Buffalo WR Stevie Johnson needs four catches and 26 receiving yards to move into the top 10 in franchise history in both categories.
PREDICTION: Saints 33, Bills 17