The Bills have their second of three straight home games coming up on Sunday against the Saints. It's their longest stretch at home of season and one of just two scheduled 1:00 p.m. games at Highmark Stadium.
Here are the top storylines to get you ready for Week 4.
1. Buffalo's fast start to the season
The Bills are off to a fast start to begin the 2025 season. We've learned a lot of positive things about the team already – they've got an offense that's tough to stop, producing at least 30 points a game and they've got a defense that shows up in the vital moments.
Buffalo is 3-0 for the fourth time since 2017. With a win they'll be 4-0 for the first time since 2020, the second time doing so in the Sean McDermott era. The Bills have also been stellar at home dating back to the 2023 season. Buffalo has 13 straight regular season wins. If they pick up another on Sunday, they'll be one win away from tying the franchise record (15) for most consecutive home wins (1990-91).
A big reason why Buffalo hasn't dropped a game to start the season is because of the offense. They've found different ways to win, distributing the ball to plenty of playmakers and leaning on the run game to move the ball. Buffalo's averaging 34 points per game, which is the fourth best in the league. They've scored a whopping 30 points in 12 out of the last 14 games.
Quarterback Josh Allen has seven touchdowns to start the season (ties for 3rd most) and no turnovers. That smart play by Buffalo's QB is allowing the Bills to stay on the field as long as possible.
"I couldn't be more proud," McDermott said of his QB's decision making. "Happy with the way he's really learned the game and become a really good decision maker...I think Josh Allen continues to show why he is who is. In my 25 years or more in this league, very rarely do you get a chance to witness what we in Buffalo have had a chance to witness, and it's pretty special."
Through three games, the Bills are averaging the most total yards per game (420) and most rushing yards per game (163). They're scoring on 59.4% of their drives, good for 2nd best in the NFL.
The Bills are also the first team in NFL history to win three games, score at least 100 points, record zero turnovers and less than 15 penalties and average at least 150 rushing yards and 250 passing yards per game through three weeks according to Opta Stats.
2. Two offensive coaches playing against former team
Two of Buffalo's offensive coaches will play against their former team in the Saints on Sunday. Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady coached for New Orleans from 2017-18 as an offensive assistant and quarterbacks coach Ronald Curry spent 2016-23 with the Saints in various roles.
Curry started as an offensive assistant the year before Brady joined the team and moved to wide receivers coach in 2018 and quarterbacks coach in 2021.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton was the Saints head coach for Brady's two seasons with the team. Brady attributes much of what he learned about the NFL game to Payton and Saints quarterback Drew Brees.
"It was an incredible organization," Brady said. "That was my first taste of the NFL. And I thought that's how every organization was in the NFL leaving there, and that wasn't the case…Just being able to see Coach Payton in that organization, kind of how they run. See Drew Brees, how he approaches the quarterback position, and take notes on all the details of it."
The Bills actually played the Saints back in 2017 at home. It was a tough loss for Buffalo as the Saints beat the Bills 47-10. The Saints finished 11-5 that year but lost in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. They had four straight playoff appearances from 2017-20. Brady said in those years the culture was very similar to Buffalo.
"I felt like I was getting my doctorate there," Brady shared. "I tell people all the time, like just sitting there and just seeing how it kind of works, how a winning organization does things the right way, very similar to how we are here."
Brady and Curry's best season in New Orleans was in 2018 when the team finished 13-3 and made it to the NFC Championship.
3. Run game rolling
Three weeks into the regular season the Bills have the top rushing offense in football at 163 yards per game on the ground. Naturally, James Cook has been the catalyst for that production along with his offensive line as Buffalo's offense averages more than 4.8 yards per carry.
Opposing defenses have even shifted to unique defensive fronts that run counter to their identities defensively in an effort to slow it down. For example, the Miami defense last week jumped into a 4-4 defensive front at times with four defensive tackles across the front, two edge rushers outside of them and two linebackers at the second level to load up against the run.
Bills radio network analyst Eric Wood believes Buffalo's offense will continue to see unique looks from opposing defenses to try to thwart the effectiveness of their rushing attack.
"The M.O. for playing the Bills forever has been can we keep up with the passing game," said Wood on One Bills Live. "You've got the league MVP, and it's nickel defense and how do we defend these guys? And the Bills offense is just so tough to prepare for right now because they can get in 13 personnel (3 tight ends) like we've seen them do the last two weeks, and they can all block. (Dalton) Kincaid is a weapon in the pass game and (Dawson) Knox and (Jackson) Hawes can make plays in the pass game as well. I'd expect teams to put more linebackers and defensive tackles in and run some run blitzes to try to get the Bills out of their run game."
Buffalo's ground game has taken the pressure off QB Josh Allen to carry the offense with his arm, and the pass protection. So don't be surprised to see the Saints employ some similar tactics with bigger personnel defensively out of necessity or trigger corners to run blitz and neutralize their rushing ability. The only caveat to that is if Allen recognizes those tactics pre-snap and makes the necessary checks opposing defenses could be vulnerable to the big play.
4. Slow start for Saints
While the Saints did drop each of their first two games, they did manage to stay in them with both finishing as one score affairs in losses to Arizona and San Francisco. Last week, in their first game on the road, they were never in it in a 31-point road loss at Seattle (44-13).
The Seahawks scored the first 21 points of the game, including a 95-yard punt return for a touchdown.
New Orleans 0-3 start is their first since 2016, and QB Spencer Rattler is now 0-9 in his career as a starter. It's the third-most career starts without a win in the last 15 seasons.
"Rattler has actually had good moments," said ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky on ‘One Bills Live’ this week. "He got through progressions well. He is way locked into (Chris) Olave right now. They're trying to force feed the football to Olave. They're moving him around. They want to get 10 to 12 targets for him. If you can handle Olave, it's a huge win for your defense. They're not running the ball very well, but they're getting Alvin Kamara involved more in the pass game. But Rattler can throw it. He's been impressive throwing the football."
The Saints offense ranks near the middle of the league in a number of categories, so they have been able to move the ball at times. They're just having trouble extending drives due to their 26th ranked third down conversion rate (35%) and scoring points as they've only scored touchdowns on half their red zone possessions so far this season, and their field goal kicker, rookie Blake Grupe is just 4-7 on field goal attempts. His success rate of 57.1 percent ranks 31st in the league.
5. A chance to improve in different areas
As the Bills get ready to take on the Saints in Week 4, the team is looking to improve in different areas. While their offense ranks top 5 in several categories and their defense has recorded a takeaway in every game, there's different things they want to keep tweaking.
Bills legend and current radio analyst Eric Wood joined One Bills Live on Monday to share what he wants to see in Week 4.
"As the Bills continue to stay disciplined, lean into the run game, throw the bubble screen and all the things they're doing right now, I'd love to see the downfield passing game come to fruition," Wood said. "Defensively for the Bills, it's how can we continue to tweak our third down defense to set ourselves up for success, to get off the field, to get more three and outs."
Through three games, Buffalo has the fifth best passing offense in the league averaging 257 passing yards per game. The Bills were under that number against Miami (203) because their defense was allowing Allen to eat up the underneath routes.
Against the Jets, Buffalo's defense was fantastic on third down as the Jets didn't convert any of their 11 third down attempts. In Week 3, the Bills defense struggled to get off the field on third down as Miami converted 67% of their third down attempts.
Defensive coordinator Bobby Babich said getting the Dolphins into third downs was a positive, but the next step is getting off the field.
"I could help them with calls, and we've got to be able to execute and make sure our rush and coverage is working together," Babich explained. "It starts with me, I got to put us in the right position, and then we got to be able to execute."
As young players got valuable reps due to defensive tackle Ed Oliver (ankle) and linebacker Matt Milano (pectoral) being out in Week 3, head coach Sean McDermott is excited about their growth and getting the team back to full strength eventually.
"It's exciting, yet at the same time there's going to be growth moments, good and bad, where you have to endure it to get yourself where you want to be," McDermott shared. "I'm excited about that. Development of players, development of getting young players integrated and trying to get our team elevated with their help is exciting."
