Final score prediction for the Buffalo Bills vs. the New Orleans Saints

In Week 12, the Buffalo Bills will be looking to rebound from their 41-15 drubbing at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts. This week’s opponent is the New Orleans Saints. The Saints were blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 11.

The Saints started hot, jumping out to a 5-2 record. In that fifth win, Starting quarterback Jameis Winston tore his ACL, ending his season. Since then, the Saints have lost three in a row, and the injury bug has hit them particularly hard.

The New Orleans offense is 13th in points scored, but 24th in total yardage. The Saints are heavily reliant on their run game; they currently sit 13th in rushing yards, but 26th in passing yards. Said running game has taken a big hit as of late, with star running back Alvin Kamara missing their last two games with a knee injury and will also be out against the Bills. Offensive tackles Ryan Ramczyk and Terron Armstead are also set to miss the game, and Kamara’s backup, Mark Ingram, is questionable to play on Thursday.

The Buffalo offense was all out of sync against the Colts last week, posting just 307 yards of offense and turning the ball over four times. Josh Allen threw for just 209 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and a 72.2 passer rating.

There are very few Bills who did not have a bad day with Stefon Diggs, Matt Brieda, and Dawson Knox being among those players. Diggs had just four catches, two of them being for touchdowns. It has been proven time and time again that the offense works best when Allen and Diggs are hot, so Brian Daboll should gameplan accordingly to get Diggs more involved.

The Bills’ defense was gashed on the ground, allowing 264 yards on the ground, 185 of those yards were courtesy of Jonathan Taylor. The secondary held Carson Wentz in check, allowing him to complete just 11 of 20 passes for 106 yards. The Buffalo defense needs a big-time rebound effort in New Orleans, and facing Trevor Siemian without his starting tackles or running back should allow that to happen.

The Bills and Saints are both teams that are reeling at the moment. The Bills have fallen out of first place in the AFC East for the first time since 2019, and are just a half a game up on the Pittsburgh Steelers for the seventh seed in the AFC Wild Card. The Saints have been hit very hard by the injury bug in recent weeks, and are on the verge of having the wheels fall completely off of their season.

The Bills will be getting Tremaine Edmunds back this week which should be a big boost for this defense. The depleted Saints offense should not be much of a problem for a Bills defense that, despite their effort last week, has been the NFL’s very best.

How close this game is will depend on how well the Buffalo offense does and in the end the Buffalo Bills will defeat the New Orleans Saints by a score of 21-10.