Buffalo Bills (1-1) vs New Orleans Saints (2-0)
Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 4:05 PM ET
Ralph Wilson Stadium - Orchard Park, NY
For the second straight week, the Buffalo Bills face an opponent whom they have had very little history against. Like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before them, the New Orleans Saints have only played the Bills eight times in their history. Unlike the Bucs, however, the Saints have played in Buffalo before. The lifetime series between the Bills and Saints is tied at four wins apiece, but the Saints have won the last two - the latter of which came in 2005. One game of note that I feel compelled to mention is the first-ever meeting between these two teams. In 1973, Buffalo and New Orleans played a game in Louisiana. 1973 was the year the O.J. Simpson set the NFL record for rushing yards in a season with 2,003. The Saints held Simpson to 79 yards and shut out the Bills to win 13-0. Their five most recent meetings are after the jump.
December 10, 1989: Saints 22, Bills 19
Saints quarterback John Fourcade tossed two touchdown passes in the first quarter - a 12-yarder to John Tice and a 54-yarder to RB Dalton Hilliard - to give the Saints an early 13-0 lead (Morten Andersen missed a PAT). Jim Kelly then opened the second quarter by hitting James Lofton with a 42-yard touchdown pass to bring the Bills back into the game. Scott Norwood then let Andersen off the hook by shanking his own PAT. After Andersen hit a 31-yard field goal to give the Saints a 16-6 lead, the Bills came roaring back. Two Norwood field goals and a Kelly-to-Pete Metzalaars score gave the Bills a 19-16 lead. But the Bills, who were victimized by turnovers all day, got bitten again and the Saints capitalized. Andersen kicked two more field goals to close out the scoring and get the win. Kelly threw three interceptions on the day. Shane Conlan (1.0) and Bruce Smith (2.0) recorded sacks for the Bills, and Nate Odomes picked off a pass.
December 20, 1992: Bills 20, Saints 16
After Steve Christie opened the scoring with a 25-yard field goal, the Saints scored 13 straight points. Two Morten Andersen field goals and a Bobby Hebert-to-Terrence Small touchdown pass accounted for the Saints' scoring. Two Thurman Thomas touchdown runs, of six and two yards respectively, sandwiched another Andersen field goal to give the Bills a narrow 17-16 lead. Christie capped the scoring with a 29-yard field goal to give the Bills the win. Kelly had another poor statistical outing, going 13 of 28 for 135 yards passing and throwing one interception to Reggie Jones. Thomas picked up his slack with 115 yards rushing and two TD. Phil Hansen and Jeff Wright recorded two sacks apiece, and Nate Odomes picked off another pass.
December 27, 1998: Bills 45, Saints 33
Holy statistical output! The Rob Johnson-led Bills offense jumps out to a 28-0 lead thanks to three touchdown runs, one each by Antowain Smith, Sam Gash, and Johnson; Johnson added a 66-yard TD strike to Eric Moulds. After the Saints scored two touchdowns via a Troy Davis run and a Cam Cleeland catch from Billy Joe Tolliver, Steve Christie hit a 35-yard field goal to make it a 31-14 game. Brent Bech (more on him later) then caught a 10-yard pass for a touchdown to bring the Saints within 10 points. Lonnie Johnson (23-yard catch) and Jonathan Linton (8-yard run) opened the fourth quarter with touchdowns to extend the Bills' lead to 45-21. Aaron Craver and Bech added touchdowns late to help the Saints make it look respectable.
Some crazy notes from this game: Shawn Price - who had 14.5 sacks for his career - recorded 2.5 in this game for the Bills. Clarence "Pooh Bear" Williams got all five of his career rushing yards in this game for Buffalo. Bech, who had career numbers of 21 catches for 379 yards and 4 touchdowns, finished this game with 4 catches for 113 yards and 2 touchdowns. That, my friends, is the definition of a career day. Also of note: Rob Johnson played the entire game. Even though the Saints sacked him 4 times, they were unable to knock him out, proving that they were wussies.
September 9, 2001: Saints 24, Bills 6
This was the season opener during that wonderful 3-13 season. The Bills led at halftime 6-0 on the strength of two Jake Arians field goals. They should have stayed in the locker room. Aaron Brooks threw three touchdown passes in the second half - one each to Albert Connell (46 yards), Cam Cleeland (12 yards) and Ricky Williams (19 yards). John Carney rounded out the scoring for the Saints with a 31-yard field goal. Once again, the Saints failed to knock Rob Johnson out of the game, but this time it might have been by design. Johnson threw three interceptions, all to Sammy Knight, and was sacked 5 times. Erik Flowers, however, recorded half a sack in this game!
October 2, 2005: Saints 19, Bills 7
This game was played in San Antonio, Texas. The Bills opened the scoring with a one-yard Willis McGahee touchdown plunge, to go up 7-0. It was all downhill from there, as the Bills' offense went into hiding while the Saints rattled off 19 straight points. A four-yard Aaron Brooks touchdown run and four John Carney field goal accounted for the scoring. This time, the Saints did get Rob Johnson J.P. Losman out of the game, but it was more due to poor play than injury.
Fun times.