On third-and-goal from the 5-yard line, Cole Bishop was supposed to work with Buffalo Bills cornerback Christian Benford to cover New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave.
The plan changed when Olave motioned from the left side of the formation to the backfield, and Bishop knew how to react. As the Bills’ second-year safety moved left, he noticed Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler hand the ball to receiver Rashid Shaheed and leak out to the right side of the field.
Bishop followed Rattler.
Shaheed pitched the ball to Olave, who lofted the ball toward the end zone. Bishop leapt and used his left hand to corral the pass, hauling in an interception that ensured the Bills entered halftime with a four-point lead and helped them remain undefeated with a 31-19 win over the Saints on Sunday at Highmark Stadium. It was the first pick of his NFL career.
“It’s tough, because you have to make a split-second decision whether to play the man or the ball,” Bishop, a second-round pick in 2024, told reporters in the locker room. “(I) made a choice to get the ball, and I was able to go get it.”
Bishop sprung to his feet and flexed when he was pushed out of bounds by Olave. Players on the Bills’ sideline rushed over to celebrate. The drive started at their 40-yard line and began with two plays that gained 21 yards.
New Orleans could have led by three points when it got the ball at the start of the third quarter. Instead, Buffalo was still up by four points. The Bills got another stop on the Saints’ first possession of the second half, setting up another scoring drive for the Buffalo offense.
Bishop’s teammates also understood how important the play was for him. Five weeks earlier, Bills coach Sean McDermott told reporters he knew Taylor Rapp would be one of his starting safeties for Week 1, but the coaching staff wasn’t sure whom the other would be. Bishop dealt with a quad injury for much of the offseason, and as a rookie, he played just 34% of their defense snaps.
The interception showed how much Bishop has improved since his rocky preseason outing in Chicago six weeks earlier. Through four games, Bishop has one sack, an interception and 16 solo tackles.
“A play that really changed the game,” said Bills linebacker Terrel Bernard, their defensive captain.
Here are other plays that shaped the Bills’ win:
James Cook is proving to be worth every penny of the contract extension he signed. He starred again Sunday as the Bills defeated the New Orleans Saints 31-19, rushing for 117 yards and a touchdown in leading a ground game that piled up 165 team yards. Cook averaged 5.3 yards per carry. He has a knack for falling forward at the end of his runs, turning 3-yard plays into 5-yard gains.
Big stop on Alvin Kamara
The Bills were struggling to tackle the Saints’ running backs, Kendre Miller and Alvin Kamara.
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They had three opportunities to take down Miller on his 18-yard run in the first quarter that tied the score, 7-7, and the Saints were trying to catch the Bills off guard with an inside run on third-and-8 from the Bills’ 35-yard line in the second quarter.
Bills rookie defensive tackle Deone Walker suspected that Kamara was going to cut inside because of the cutoff block. Walker, a fourth-round draft pick, used a swim move to get around right guard Cesar Ruiz and tackled Kamara for a 1-yard loss, forcing New Orleans to settle for a 54-yard field goal that cut Buffalo’s lead to 14-10.
The Bills needed reliable play at defensive tackle the past three weeks with Ed Oliver inactive because of an ankle injury. T.J. Sanders, their second-round pick, looked like a probable replacement, but Walker has proven he learned from some messy run-stopping snaps in the preseason. The key, the fourth-round pick explained, is simply following the coaches’ instructions instead of freelancing. Walker focused on generating power with proper hand placement and extending his arms properly.
The Bills are 4-0 for the first time since 2020 and the second time in Sean McDermott’s nine seasons as coach. They overcame 10 penalties and a turnover to avoid the dubious distinction of becoming the first 3-0 team to lose to a 0-3 team in 17 years.
“Trusting our technique here more and the fundamentals that we play with and trusting that the coach isn’t going to just let me get double-teamed,” he said, beaming at his locker stall after special-teams ace Sam Franklin Jr. congratulated him from afar.
Josh Allen’s scrambling heroics
The Saints could have gotten the ball back with the Bills leading 21-19 and less than eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Facing third-and-5 from his own 45-yard line, Bills quarterback Josh Allen dropped back and immediately ran through the hole in the middle of the field his offensive line created.
Allen ran through Cam Jordan’s arm tackle. Saints linebacker Pete Werner dove at Allen’s legs and missed. Cornerback Alontae Taylor was in position to tackle the NFL’s reigning MVP, but Allen pushed him off with a stiff-arm. The Saints needed cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry and linebacker Demario Davis to finally take down Allen, whose 27-yard run was the Bills’ second-longest play of the game.
On the next play, Allen faked a throw to running back Ty Johnson in the right flat, causing Davis to sprint toward Johnson. Saints defensive end Carl Granderson had to cover Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid, who easily separated on a wheel route and caught a 28-yard touchdown pass, giving Buffalo a 28-19 lead with 7:07 left in the fourth quarter.
“At halftime, I could tell he was … he just had that look in his eye,” McDermott said of Allen. “He just has an incredible will to win and spirit about him. I love it. I absolutely love it. When he made that scramble run on one of those drives, when he raises his level of play it’s like, ‘OK, boys, they raised their level of play,’ and they knew what time it was.”
Powerful early blocking
The Bills don’t have to throw the ball downfield if they’re blocking as well as they did on their opening drive.
Allen was in the shotgun with a bunch formation to his right when he caught the snap and immediately threw a screen pass to receiver Khalil Shakir.
Bills receiver Tyrell Shavers overpowered Taylor, driving the cornerback to the ground. Kincaid pushed cornerback Isaac Yiadom toward the sideline. Shakir ran between the two blockers, spun out of Davis’ poor arm tackle and ran 43 yards for the touchdown. Buffalo is the only team in the NFL to score a touchdown on its opening drive every game this season.
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Lance Lysowski
News Sports Reporter
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