BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Buffalo Bills defense wasn't happy about their week 11 performance against the Indianapolis Colts. It was a performance they didn't want repeated.
"I've been in this league a long time," defensive end Mario Addison said. "You've gotta flush it, do it all over again, and everyone had a great mindset going into this game."
The Bills defense bounced back in a big way, helping the team grab their 7th win of the season with a 31-6 Thanksgiving Day outing against the New Orleans Saints. The win put the Bills back atop the division, tied with the New England Patriots at 7-4 on the season.
"Coming off a tough loss like that last week, it says a lot about our guys," safety Micah Hyde said. "But we have to be consistent and look forward to the next matchup here."
"Obviously, last week was not what we wanted," safety Jordan Poyer added. "But we've got guys in the locker room who come to work every single day."
After allowing 274 rushing yards against the Colts a week ago, the Bills run defense dominated on the ground and held the Saints to just 44 yards rushing. The Saints were without their top two running backs in Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram, both dealing with knee injuries, but the Bills defense says that didn't matter in the long run.
"You could say they're down, but everybody gets paid to be here in the NFL," defensive end Ed Oliver said. "Anybody can run the football. You've gotta take it upon yourself to knock it out."
"We don't care who's back there," Addison added. "It's up for us to stop them and I think we did a tremendous job doing it."
Combined with the 44 rushing yards, the Bills allowed just 146 passing yards and limited big plays. They did suffer a blow though in the 1st half when CB Tre'Davious White left the game with a knee injury and didn't return.
"Knowing Tre'Davious, he'll bounce back whatever it may be," Hyde said. "His presence is known for us."
But that next-man-up mentality came into play with Dane Jackson stepping into White's spot and finishing the game with three tackles.
As for the rest of the Bills defense, Ed Oliver showed up in his home state with 40 friends and family members from Louisianna and Texas in attendance. With a large crowd in attendance, Oliver finished with four tackles, two QB hits, and a half sack. Oliver was initially credited with the solo sack, something that had been a long-time coming.
"They've taken so many away from me I thought they were gonna take that one away because I hit him [Trevor Siemian] so low. I was like, oh well, there goes another one," Oliver laughed. "To get one on the board, it gets the monkey off my back."
"For him to get that sack, I was more excited than anything," Addison added. "He deserved it."
And while the defense showed out, they know they could've been better. It took them more than three quarters to get their first takeaway of the game.
"We wished we could've gotten a few more takeaways and it's something to improve on," Hyde said. "They didn't throw downfield as much. We could've gone to the football more. Things we can all improve more."
The Bills will look to get better as they get ready for a Monday night showdown with the New England Patriots on Monday, December 6th.
