Saints Stifle Bills for 19-7
Bills shut out after game's first drive; Deuce runs for 130

posted October 02, 2005 - print me!
neworleansprofootball.com
By Chris Pika - courtesy of neworleanssaints.com

SAN ANTONIO, Texas--The New Orleans Saints, behind a strong all-around performance and a loud, partisan crowd, defeated the Buffalo Bills, 19-7 in their Alamodome debut.

After a "home" game on the road in New York which was the first of a pair of losses in which the Saints committed 10 turnovers and 27 penalties, New Orleans (2-2) got a shot in the arm from the crowd of 58,688, all of whom made it tough on Buffalo (1-3) from the start. The Saints did the rest with a workman-like effort, which included a turnover-free game and only four accepted penalties against the home team.

"I'd like to thank the crowd," said Saints Coach Jim Haslett. "I know it was a mix of New Orleans and San Antonio people, but it was nice. It was refreshing to play in front of a home crowd. You saw the results and I think it helped the team."

For the third straight week, the opposition scored first, but the Saints defense clamped down on Bills QB JP Losman and scored 19 unanswered points to pull away.

RB Deuce McAllister punished the Bills with 27 carries for 130 yards, 102 of which came in the second half. WR Donte' Stallworth, who was the go-to guy as WR Joe Horn was inactive for the contest with a hamstring injury, caught eight passes for 129 yards.

"We left some yards out there on the field and things we can improve on," McAllister said. "It's a good start for us."

"I wanted to come out and prove what I can do," Stallworth said. "I had a dropped pass early and I just wanted to shake it off and continue to play well. The coaches had faith in me and kept coming to me."

QB Aaron Brooks used his feet to score the only offensive TD of the game for New Orleans, a four-yard run in the second quarter that gave the Saints the lead for good. He was 15-of-26 passing for 172 yards and ran seven times for 33 yards.

The defense contributed with a key interception of Losman by CB Jason Craft in the second quarter that eventually led to Brooks' TD that gave the Saints the lead for good, four sacks of Bills quarterbacks and a key fourth down stop of Buffalo RB Willis McGahee by S Dwight Smith with 11:14 to play that helped the Saints extend their lead to 16-7 on a 20-yard field goal by K John Carney with 4:59 left.

New Orleans got four field goals by Carney and what may have been the biggest play of the game after a 40-yard field goal with 10 seconds to play before halftime and a 13-7 Saints lead. Buffalo return man Terrence McGee took the ensuing kickoff at the Bills 15 and waded through traffic toward the Saints end zone. Saints CB Fred Thomas took a direct line to McGee, got a hand on him and tripped him up three yards short of the goal line as time expired in the half.

"I thought on offense, Aaron did a great job of running the ball when he had to," Haslett said. "Donte' dropped a couple of balls early, but he stepped up big. Deuce, we knew if we kept on it, sooner or later that he would get some yardage and he did."

The reduced amount of mental and physical mistakes helped the Saints control the clock and the contest, much like they did in the opener at Carolina.

"When you win time of possession, hold the ball for 36 minutes (36:20), you have the chance to win your football games," said Haslett. "So, we played like we want to play every game. That's how we played against Carolina, but that's now how we played the previous two games."

The Bills took the opening kickoff and McGahee immediately ripped off a 25-yard run out to midfield on the first play from scrimmage. Losman called his own number for a 14-yard gain to the New Orleans 32 on a third-and-six play and threw for another third down conversion as he hit WR Lee Evans at the Saints' 1. The next play, McGahee went over left guard for the touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 9:40 to go in the first quarter.

The teams traded punts for most of the rest of the quarter before the Saints took over at their 39 with 2:09 to go in the period. It looked like the drive would stall after Brooks was sacked for a nine-yard loss back to the 32, but a defensive holding call on Buffalo gave New Orleans an automatic first down at the Saints' 46.

As the game moved into the second quarter, McAllister worked the Saints into Bills territory with runs of nine, two and four yards as New Orleans faced a third-and-four at the Bills' 36. Brooks took off and got a first down with a six-yard scramble to the 30. Stallworth hauled in a 24-yard pass to the 11, but the drive stalled and Carney made a 23-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 7-3 with 9:05 left.

The Bills drove to the Saints' 27 late in the half, but K Rian Lindell's 45-yard field goal attempt went wide right and New Orleans got the ball back at their 35 with 1:23 before halftime.

A 26-yard reception by Stallworth, a seven-yard catch by WR Devery Henderson and a four-yard run by McAllister gave Carney a chance to extend the lead, which he did with a 40-yard attempt with 10 seconds left for a 13-7 advantage.

McGee took the kickoff from P Mitch Berger at the Buffalo 15 and worked his way around before he found a seam and headed toward the goal line. Thomas stayed back during the return and his one-handed trip-up saved the lead as the half came to a close.

Carney's only missed field goal, a 32-yarder with 7:57 to play, was the only real scoring chance for either team in the third quarter.

In the final quarter, the Bills changed QBs as they replaced Losman with Kelly Holcomb. Buffalo faced fourth-and-one at the New Orleans 48 with 11:20 to play and the Bills needed less than a foot for the first down. McGahee got the call, but Smith charged through the line and dragged him down two yards deep, as the Bills turned the ball over on downs and the crowd roared their approval.

"That was a great play," Haslett said. "That was a blitz we had coming, lined up and Dwight came up the middle to make a great play. That was the turning point of the game."

The Saints took 6:15 off the clock after the change of possession. The 11-play drive came to a close with 4:59 left on a Carney 20-yard field goal and a 16-7 lead.

Buffalo went three-and-out on their next possession and it was all McAllister with consecutive runs of 10, 15, 12 and 26 yards as he went over the 100-yard mark for the first time this season and the 23rd time in his career.

Carney added the game's final points with a 37-yarder with 1:09 to go and the defense had the final big play of the game as DE Charles Grant sacked Holcomb and forced a fumble, which teammate DE Tony Bryant recovered with 34 seconds on the clock as the Saints defense extended their streak of consecutive games without allowing a fourth quarter TD to eight.

The Saints rolled up 333 total yards of offense and the defense had a season-low 208 yards allowed.

Buffalo turned the ball over twice and committed 12 penalties for 79 yards. Losman was 7-of-15 passing for 75 yards, threw one interception and was sacked three times. Holcomb was 3-of-6 for 28 yards in relief of Losman.

McGahee led Buffalo with 16 carries for 84 yards and one TD while Losman had four rushes for 38 yards. WR Johnathan Smith had two catches for 30 yards.

LB James Allen had a left hamstring injury and will be day-to-day according to Haslett. S Mel Mitchell had a left hamstring and his status for next Sunday's game at Green Bay is unknown. LB T.J. Slaughter had a right groin injury and S Steve Gleason had a thumb injury.

The Saints travel to Green Bay next Sunday (Oct. 9) to take on the Packers (Noon CT; FOX, WWL 870-AM, KGLA 1540-AM [Spanish], Saints Radio Network) in Lambeau Field.

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