Canal Street Chronicles
The New Orleans Saints will head to Highmark Stadium on Sunday to face the unbeaten Buffalo Bills in Week 4 of the 2025 NFL season. To break it down, Matt Byham of Buffalo Rumblings joins us to preview Sunday afternoon’s matchup.
NJ: The Bills have given up a league-high 468 rushing yards and 6.2 yards per carry; will the Saints, who’ve found success on the ground, be able to take advantage on Sunday?
MB: At first blush, it appears as though Buffalo has a major problem defending the run. While we can’t ignore the Week 1 stats versus the Baltimore Ravens, that game has heavily skewed the ranking thanks to the 238 net rushing yards given up to Baltimore. In their next two games, the gave up a net total of 230 rushing yards to the New York Jets (100 net rush yards) and Miami Dolphins (130 net rush yards). The Ravens account for better than half of that 468 yards.
Baltimore is built different than every other team, and Derrick Henry is a nightmare to handle. So, too, is Lamar Jackson, but the Detroit Lions sure did a great job containing him. Without taking this sidebar much further, I will say that concern about the Bills’ run defense is valid. They’re not built to take on brutally physical teams, preferring speed and sideline-to-sideline prowess out of most positions.
They do appear built to take on the backs in the mold of Alvin Kamara, but that doesn’t mean they’ll shut down the Saints’ run game. If New Orleans utilizes lead blockers well, they could take advantage of Buffalo’s slighter defensive ends and linebackers. If I’m Kellen Moore, I’d try to do everything possible to feature Kamara and run clock.
NJ: Bills RB James Cook is second in the league with 284 rushing yards and tied for the league lead with four rushing touchdowns; how can the Saints’ run defense contain him this week?
MB: They’ll have to encourage Josh Allen to attack them with the passing game. I don’t mean to sound snarky, but in truth the best way to limit Buffalo’s run game is to discourage them from running. They’re going to do it early and often, and then late, and often again. You might wonder if they ever throw passes on first down by the end of the first half.
As with any solid run attack, the key will be winning battles in the trenches. Cook has become a far more well-rounded runner, now equally adept inside getting dirty yards. But it’s his outside speed, where even his time speed doesn’t reveal just how quick he is in making decisions and cuts to get to the next level. Defensive speed and gap integrity will be huge in limiting Cook’s damage beyond the line of scrimmage.
Cook isn’t Henry, and he isn’t going to run guys over. He is a bit like Alvin Kamara, but with the type of juice to produce 1,000-yard rushing campaigns. Perhaps what you should...
