Josh Allen threw four touchdown passes and the Buffalo defense dominated as the visiting Bills defeated the New Orleans Saints 31-6 on Thursday night.
Allen completed 23 of 28 for 260 yards. He threw two touchdown passes to Dawson Knox and one each to Stefon Diggs, his sixth scoring grab in six games, and Matt Breida.
Buffalo (7-4), which bounced back from a 41-15 home loss to the Indianapolis Colts four days earlier, easily overcame two interceptions that Allen threw by shutting down the Saints' injury-riddled offense.
New Orleans (5-6) gained just 190 yards, including 44 on the ground, as it lost its fourth consecutive game. Trevor Siemian completed 17 of 29 passes for 163 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Allen threw a 5-yard TD pass to Diggs on the first possession of the third quarter to increase Buffalo's lead to 17-0.
On the Bills' next possession, Allen and Knox teamed on a 24-yard touchdown on fourth-and-2 to increase the lead to 24-0 late in the third quarter.
Siemian threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Nick Vannett on the first play of the fourth quarter, but Allen answered with a 23-yarder to Breida midway through the final period.
Allen drove the Bills 65 yards to a touchdown on their first series, throwing a 7-yard pass to Knox for a 7-0 lead that held up through the end of the first quarter.
The Saints, playing without their top two running backs -- Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram II, who are both injured -- as well as two injured starting offensive linemen among others -- went for a fourth-and-2 at the Bills' 41 early in the second quarter. Tony Jones Jr. was stopped for a 5-yard loss.
That led to a 34-yard field goal for Buffalo's Tyler Bass.
The Bills were poised to increase the lead in the final minute of the half, but an apparent touchdown pass was negated by a penalty. On the next play. Kwon Alexander intercepted Allen at the Saints' 10, leaving Buffalo with a 10-0 halftime lead.
--Field Level Media
Buffalo | New Orleans | |
Devin Singletary | Player | Tony Jones Jr. |
15 | Attempts | 16 |
44 | Yards | 27 |
2.9 | Avg Yards | 1.7 |
0 | Touchdowns | 0 |
15 | Long | 11 |
Buffalo | New Orleans | |
Stefon Diggs | Player | Lil'Jordan Humphrey |
7 | Receptions | 3 |
74 | Yards | 47 |
10.6 | Avg Yards | 15.7 |
1 | Touchdowns | 0 |
28 | Long | 24 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Buffalo | 361 | 113 | 248 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2.0 | 0 |
New Orleans | 190 | 44 | 146 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2.0 | 0 |