Gold Rush

Given how well Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara were running the ball against Buffalo, Saints quarterback Drew Brees couldn’t resist getting in on the fun.

Unable to find an open receiver while dropping back on first-and-goal from the 7, Brees took off to his left and scampered into the end zone courtesy of a key block from tackle Terron Armstead.

“I felt like I owed that to the running backs since they did all the work,” Brees said, in noting how the Saints ran the ball nine times for 87 yards to get into scoring position in the first place. “We needed another rushing touchdown.”

The Saints totaled a franchise-best six touchdowns rushing to win their seventh straight game by plowing through a porous Bills defense in a 47-10 rout on Sunday.

Ingram led a 298-yard ground attack with 131 yards rushing and a career-high three touchdowns. Kamara added 106 yards rushing and a score. And even Trey Edmunds found the end zone on a 41-yard scamper up the left sideline with 3:04 left.

The Saints (7-2) matched their win total from each of the past three seasons and became the second team in the Super Bowl Era to win seven in a row after an 0-2 start. The other team to do so was the 1993 Cowboys, who went on to beat Buffalo to win the title.

New Orleans’ defense isn’t a pushover either.

After Stephen Hauschka capped a nine-play, 57-yard opening drive with a 37-yard field goal, the Bills never crossed midfield over their next eight possessions.

Buffalo finished with 198 yards and 10 first downs — five of them coming on a meaningless final drive that ended with backup quarterback Nathan Peterman hitting Nick O’Leary on a 7-yard touchdown pass.

The Bills (5-4) have lost two straight in which they’ve allowed a combined 492 yards rushing and nine touchdowns, including a 34-21 loss to the New York Jets on Nov. 2.

“It’s two straight games where you get embarrassed,” linebacker Preston Brown told The Associated Press. “It has to change or we’ll be five and what, 5-11 if we don’t make a change.”