Game 12: Bills 13, Saints 10

I called an audible and switched to Friday night's network game. Gus Johnson and Solomon Wilcots on the call for CBS.

The Saint offense seemed to get off to a good start; Reggie Bush launched through an opening to convert a 3rd-and-8; Drew Brees was 4-for-4, hitting Devery Henderson twice. Once they got into the red zone, though, Buffalo stuffed Deuce McAllister for a loss on 2nd-and-1 and Brees can't find an open receiver on 3rd down. And the FG attempt is blocked, as Bobby April maintains his career goal of pissing me off by coaching top-notch special teams everywhere BUT St. Louis.

Saint d-line is really teeing off on Buffalo. JP Losman gets one first down with a Flutie-like run, scrambling around for 80 yards to get a 12-yard gain, but Lee Evans drops a third-down pass in traffic to end the drive. Sam Aiken then makes a terrific shoestring tackle of punt returner Lance Moore to pin the Saints at the 1. Screw you, Bobby April. Just screw you.

Between the 20s, the Saint offense looks like the Second Greatest Show on Earth. Brees is very sharp, hitting Henderson with a beautiful sideline pass for 24. They line Reggie Bush out wide and Brees hits him for 17. Brees has already hit 6 different receivers. This drive also falls apart, though, with a holding penalty and an end zone pass too tall for Henderson, who gets clocked by Ko Simpson for his efforts. New Saint placekicker Olindo Mare hits a 42-yarder to start the 2nd quarter. 3-0.

Saints had the ball almost 12:00 of the first quarter. They had almost 120 offensive yards in the quarter, most of it coming from Brees. And they got a whole 3 points out of it, pointing up the importance of having an effective red zone offense.

Marshawn Lynch in at RB now for A-Train. The Bills make it to midfield - nice throw and catch from Losman to Josh Reed at the sideline to gain a 1st down - but Losman has to dumpoff short on 3rd-and-10. Brian Moorman's punt caroms out of bounds at the 3. Bobby April is the devil.

Tyler Palko, not Jamie Martin, replaces Brees. Antonio Pittman in at TB. Damn fine outing for Brees, 12-14-118. Palko gets the Saints out to the 50 in 3 plays, including a good sideline pass to Lance Moore and a screen to Pittman. Kevin Dudley atones for getting submarined at the Hall of Fame Game by blasting Trevor Hooper along the sideline at the end of an 18-yard reception. That hit fired up the whole stadium. The Saints make it inside the Buffalo 10 before Palko is picked off at the goal line by Jabari Greer. Very little of New Orleans' effort tonight is translating to the scoreboard.

New QB for Buffalo is Craig Nall. Three completions to Roscoe Parrish set them up for a 36-yard Rian Lindell FG that ties the game up just before halftime. Despite Buffalo's success this drive, the Saint secondary is playing a lot tougher than they did last Sunday night. The Saints definitely took heed of the message the Steelers sent in that game. 3-3 at halftime.

Trent Edwards enters the game at QB for Buffalo to start the second half. Somebody tell Edwards it's ok to throw a pass more than five yards downfield. It's legal, really.

AN ANTHONY HARGROVE SIGHTING! He deflects a Palko pass back at him early in the 3rd. Saints go 3-and-out.

Why are Gus and Solomon marveling at how "the city shuts down" and they take off from work when Saints games come on? Do they really think that many people are working on Sundays?

Edwards doesn't even throw a pass across the line of scrimmage as Buffalo goes 123-out. He can throw the ball forward, can't he?

Ashton (It's Not Your Booty, It's) Youboty makes a fine play to stop returner Lance Moore for a loss of two, coming at the end of a 51-yard punt. Bobby April molests collies.

Terrible throw by Palko, off his back foot for no reason, hangs in the air for 20 yards and is picked off by Greer, his second of the night. Palko, you're no Charlie Batch.

Edwards still hasn't thrown a ball more than 5 yards downfield, but Fred Jackson turns in the best run of the preseason so far. He gets stacked up in the hole but twirls out of it with a spin move, turns the corner and runs up the sideline for a 17-yard TD. 10-3, Buffalo.

WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO THIS COUNTRY? CANADA beat MEXICO for the world flag football championship? The US didn't even make THE FINAL? Who was the coach of the US team, Marty Schottenheimer? Is it a sign where this country is going when we can't win at baseball, can't win at basketball, can't even win at flag football, but we got the hot dog eating championship back?

Palko is much better off throwing fastballs than he is looking downfield for the long ball. This drive, he seems to hold the ball forever and takes a sack from Paul Posluszny for a 9 yard loss. But he makes up with it with an 18-yard pass to Robert Meachem, and to start the 4th quarter, 4th and 1 from the Buffalo 45, he takes off for 19 on a naked bootleg. Sweet, sweet call. The Saints drive to the 2 and Meachem makes a super play on Palko's fade pass for the TD. The drive went 16 plays, 78 yards in 7 1/2 minutes. 10-all.

Another great drive for Edwards. He attempts a 10-yard pass that is badly incomplete and gets sacked on 3rd down by Josh Cooper, who burns Walter Stith with an inside move. Nice work, nfl.com; neither of those linemen are listed on their "current" team rosters online.

Palko scrambles for 14 more, but the Bills get a jailbreak on him a couple of plays later for a sack and a loss of 10. I'm thinking somebody missed an assignment when 3 guys come in on the QB untouched. And you know who's having a good game, though I understand he's been suspended for the first four games of the season? Anthony Freaking Hargrove. Guess he missed Bill Kollar.

Fred Jackson's off to a heck of a good start. He opens this drive with a 12-yard run around left end and a 9-yard run off right tackle, bouncing off 2 or 3 tacklers. Edwards throws his longest pass of the night. Nine yards. And it was a screen pass. That plus a short Edwards scramble overcome a couple of sacks and set Lindell up for a 54-yard FG, which he hits to put the Bills ahead 13-10.

35-yard kick return by Pierre Thomas sets the Saints up near midfield. HA HA! Fie on thee, April-demon! 3:00 left and Palko's still in, so I guess no Jamie Martin tonight. A completion and another scramble, for 10, get the Saints in FG range. They wouldn't do that, would they? Sean Payton needs to pretend he's down 4 here and needs a TD. No one wants overtime in preseason.

Saints at the 35 with 2:00 left. Bills bring the house, Palko switches off and throws a deep pass incomplete. Youboty gets away with a pretty blatant hold. The 3rd-and-9 call is a stupid screen pass, which Pierre Thomas takes nowhere. Gotta let Palko fire there, Payton. A false start makes it 4th-and-12, which really isn't important because Palko gets pressured by five different Bills and tosses it away incomplete.

Well, at least Kevin Eakin can tell his kids someday that he played in a real NFL game. He's the QB as Buffalo runs out the clock for the 13-10 win.

The Bills seem to be auditioning a lot of DBs, and Jabari Greer certainly made a good impression with two INTs. Trent Edwards, I'm not so sure. At some point he has to start throwing balls that travel more than five yards in the air. Then again, I don't know what to make of a game where ANTHONY HARGROVE looks good.

The Saints took a lesson from the physical game the Steelers played against them in Canton. That's a good response for a team that is sure to get the "finesse team" label applied to them. Saint secondary showed up a lot better than they did last week. Now, they need to get their red zone offense working. Brees was very sharp and they're working consciously to make Devery Henderson a more consistent part of the passing game.

Up next: Jacksonville vs. Miami.