Buffalo Rumblings
The Buffalo Bills host the New Orleans Saints this weekend in what appears to be a lopsided matchup, at least on paper. The Bills are among the NFL’s elite, sitting at 3-0 with the top scoring offense in the league. The Saints, meanwhile, are in the bottom-third of the league in both points scored and points allowed, and they’ve lost all three of their games so far.
In an odd scheduling quirk, this is New Orleans’ first game this season that will come against an opponent outside of the NFC West, as they’ve lost to the Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, and Seattle Seahawks so far this year. For the Bills, this is their first game against an NFC opponent after taking down the Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, and Miami Dolphins in successive weeks.
If the Saints want to pull a massive upset, they’ll need help from their key players. Here are five we’re watching this Sunday.
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RB Alvin Kamara
Look, I love Kamara. I drafted him as a rookie in a dynasty league way back when he was the RB3 on the Saints’ depth chart, and I rode his early career elite production to plenty of wins. His career has been interesting, as he is an elite receiver out of the backfield and a great runner, yet he’s never surpassed 1,000 rushing yards or 1,000 receiving yards in a single year. He has, however, been over 1,100 yards from scrimmage in every year of his career.
While Kamara’s definitely lost a step, he’s still a dangerous runner, as he totaled a career-high 950 yards last year in his age-29 season. Kamara is averaging just 3.9 yards per touch this season, which would be a career-low by far if he were to remain at that level for the whole season.
Buffalo has allowed a league-worst 6.2 yards per carry this season, with most of that damage coming in Week 1 against Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson. They have allowed at least 100 yards rushing in every game thus far. If the Bills can take Kamara away and force quarterback Spencer Rattler to do the heavy lifting this week, they’ll be in great shape.
WR Chris Olave
Olave burst onto the scene in 2022, starting his career with two fantastic seasons while catching passes from the likes of Andy Dalton, Jameis Winston, and Derek Carr. In 2024, though, Olave played in just eight games while suffering two concussions, the second of which occurred in Week 9 and led him to miss the remainder of the season.
After averaging a line of 80/1,083/5 over his first two seasons, Olave totaled just 32 catches for 400 yards and a score last year. This season, he’s played in all three of New Orleans’ games, and he leads the team in both targets (37) and receptions (26). He has only 165 receiving yards, though, averaging just 7.2 yards per catch.
Rattler’s limitations likely come into play here, but the Bills can’t fall asleep...
