Buffalo Bills 23, New Orleans Saints 21
Tough game to call between two teams that have enjoyed more success than most league observers anticipated in the preseason. The Saints are 6-2, the Bills 5-3. Both of the defenses rank top-10 in points allowed. Those units will be key -- as will turnovers. Tyrod Taylor doesn't turn the ball over much. Drew Brees hasn't of late, after tossing a handful of picks in back-to-back games last month. Thus, I'm not looking for high-flying football at Ralph's House this weekend. Lots of Shady, and heavy doses of Alvin Kamara.
Cool fact: The Saints have won six straight after losing their first two games. In the Super Bowl era, only two other teams have pulled that off: the 2007 Giants and 1993 Cowboys. There is something special about those two teams, but I can't remember what it is ...
MDS's take: The improvement of the Saints' pass defense this season has been nothing short of remarkable. I think they'll keep it going and New Orleans will win a defensive struggle.
MDS's pick: Saints 17, Bills 14.
Florio's take: The schedule gets tougher for the 6-2 Saints, and the 5-3 Bills can't afford too many more losses. The extra time makes the difference for the Bills, whose head coach knows a thing or two about the Saints from his time in Carolina.
Florio's pick: Bills 23, Saints 20.
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Bleacher Report, Chris Simms](http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2741741-chris-simms-week-10-nfl-picks)
The New Orleans Saints present a tough matchup for the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo wants to play tough up front and run the ball. Well, the Saints are physical defensively and can stop the run. The Saints have some guys on the edge who can pressure Tyrod Taylor as well.
On the other side, Buffalo plays a lot of zone defense. The Bills don't want to give up the big play, and they want to make opponents execute all the way down the field. That's great most of the time. One thing we know, though, is that Drew Brees and Sean Payton have been capable of carving up this style of defense throughout their careers.
This is a bad matchup schematically for the Bills, and the Saints are the better team in general. The one factor in Buffalo's favor is the fact this game is in New York and is outside, where Brees can struggle at times. Still, the Saints are one of the best teams in football and should win here.
Prediction: Saints 24, Bills 20
The Saints have won six straight games because of their defense, which is a good sign when a team is on the road. Buffalo was bad the last time out in losing to the Jets and I think the Saints defense will get the best of the Buffalo offense here. The Saints win a seventh straight game.
Saints – 23, Bills 20
The Saints (6-2) are a passing team that loves playing indoors, so a trip to Buffalo on a chilly Sunday afternoon should present an interesting test. A huge factor in how they fare, though, will come in which version of the Bills (5-3) shows up. Two weeks ago, Buffalo looked great and easily beat the Raiders, but last week, they were hardly competitive against the Jets, allowing 194 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. It is that rushing success by the Jets that the Saints may want to pay attention to: In Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara, they have the running backs to exploit the same weakness. Another win would be seven in a row for New Orleans. More important, it would improve the team's road record to 4-1.
Pick: Saints
Against the Jets, the Bills suddenly forgot how to protect Tyrod Taylor, and that weakness exposed all the other weaknesses in this offense. They should get Kelvin Benjamin this week following the too-short turnaround after his trade. They at least should be more of a challenge to a Saints defense that has performed well against some … questionable opposition the last three weeks (Brett Hundley, Mitchell Trubisky, an injured Jameis Winston/Ryan Fitzpatrick).
Prediction: Saints, 26-23
