Rattler and the winless Saints show some improvement in a loss to the Bills

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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — First-year coach Kellen Moore and the New Orleans Saints are winless four games into the season. If there’s any consolation, they earned the respect of Josh Allen after giving the Buffalo Bills a scare on Sunday.

“They’re a team that’s establishing the culture with their head coach,” Allen said after leading Buffalo to a 31-19 win. “It seems like they’re doing things the right way over there. They came ready to play today.”

The Saints were more competitive than in last week's 44-13 drubbing at Seattle but fell to 0-4 for the first time in 13 seasons. New Orleans was undone by squandered opportunities in the red zone, including one that would have given it a fourth quarter lead against the unbeaten Bills.

Spencer Rattler’s low pass to Brandin Cooks on third down with 8:53 remaining was initially ruled a touchdown before video replays determined the ball touched the turf.

“Wish it was a little higher,” Rattler said. “I thought he made a hell of a catch. I thought it was a catch, but they reviewed it and it wasn’t. That’s tough. You want to hit that.”

The Saints settled for a 35-yard field goal from Blake Grupe that got them within 21-19 before Allen secured the win with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Dalton Kincaid on the ensuing drive.

New Orleans was limited to two touchdowns and two field goals despite having its first nine drives end in Buffalo territory.

On third-and-goal from the 5 in the first half, receiver Chris Olave’s pass to Rattler on a trick play was intercepted by Bills safety Cole Bishop, who made a leaping, one-handed grab to preserve Buffalo’s 14-10 lead.

“We’re in it,” Moore said. “It’s very frustrating I think for all of our guys that we’re that close. You’ve got to feel the taste of it, feel the taste of executing in these critical situations to succeed and find a way to win one of these.”

Moore was pleased with how his team responded in light of the loss to Seattle, and after allowing Khalil Shakir to score on a 43-yard catch-and-run on Buffalo’s game-opening drive.

“Our guys settled in and they competed for four quarters,” Moore said. “They battled. Our group sticks together. I appreciate that. We’re right there, and obviously we know there’s steps we need to get better and put ourselves in better position. We’ve got to finish one of these. We’ve got to keep growing, that’s our only choice.”

New Orleans got closer to taking the lead in the fourth quarter than it did in one-score losses at home against Arizona and San Francisco in the first two weeks of the season.

“For us to come up short four straight times, there’s a lot of frustration associated with that,” Moore said. “But I think the messaging by our players, by our staff, the consistency by everyone’s approach gives me hope and optimism that we are going to keep getting better and get to the positive side of these games.”

The Saints have only held a lead once this season — in the opening minutes of their 20-13 loss to Arizona in Week 1. Since then, they haven't held a lead over 220 minutes and 5 seconds of play.

Among the positives on Sunday was New Orleans finishing with a season-high 189 yards rushing. Alvin Kamara led with 70 yards on 15 carries, and Kendre Miller rushed 11 times for 65 yards with an 18-yard touchdown in the first quarter. Rattler’s scrambling ability helped the Saints convert 5 of 13 third downs, and he produced 49 yards on six runs.

Grupe kicked a 54-yard field goal and Olave caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Rattler, who finished 18 of 27 passing for 126 yards as he became the 10th quarterback in NFL history to lose his first 10 starts.

“There were a few moments in this game where we could’ve taken it over,” Rattler said. “It’s frustrating because we are in these games. We just got to close them out. But we know who we are and we know what we can be. And there’s 13 more games for us to show that. We’re going to keep working, keep building, and keep progressing.”

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