ORCHARD PARK – Former Buffalo Bills great and Pro Football Hall of Famer Andre Reed was the featured legend for Sunday night’s season opener against the Baltimore Ravens at Highmark Stadium, and he whipped the sellout crowd into a frenzy with the trademark line, “Where else would you rather be than right here, right now?”
However, for most of the crisp, autumn-like evening, it did not look like the Bills were all that interested in being there as the Ravens’ dynamic offense pummeled Buffalo’s defense into the ground and Baltimore seemed well on its way to a most satisfying, amends-making victory.
Instead, Josh Allen put together one of the most incredible rallies this old stadium has ever seen as he put up 16 points in the final 3:56 and the Bills sent the Ravens skulking back to Baltimore trying to figure out how they lost 41-40.
“Baltimore’s got a great team and they’re very well coached, so we’re fortunate to win it tonight,” a relieved, exhausted Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “Maybe we’ll see them again at some point. We have the utmost respect for them, their coaches, players and their organization. It’s good to get the win and be able to learn from it. A lot to clean up in all three phases so we go back to work in a few hours here and work on getting that cleaned up.”
It was as stunning a result as I can remember given just how bad the Buffalo defense performed for 3½ quarters. It had no answers for anything the Ravens ran or threw at them as they scored on seven of their first eight possessions behind Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and Zay Flowers.
But then came the Ravens’ last three possessions which went punt, fumble, punt, and when you give the reigning NFL MVP an opportunity like that, was it any surprise that he took full advantage? Of course not.
“He’s always been like that, though,” McDermott said, referring to Allen’s poise. “He wants the ball in key moments of the game. That’s what the great ones do, that’s their mindset. That’s they want, and he’s never out of it in his mind.”
Allen was simply brilliant at the end and he finished with 394 yards passing, 30 yards rushing and four total touchdowns as the Bills rolled up 29 first downs and 497 total yards.
In no universe should the Ravens have lost this game, similar to last January when they outplayed the Bills for a good chunk of that divisional round playoff game, only to implode with three turnovers to lose 27-25, but Allen certainly made sure to remind everyone that the voters made the right call when they selected him as MVP over Jackson.
“I think it just shows that as long as there’s time on the clock, we know we’re always in it,” wide receiver Khalil Shakir said. “We know as long as there’s time on the clock and we got the ball, there’s a chance. So, like I said, man, we just keep our head down and take one step at a time.”
Here are a few of my observations:
The downfield passing game came alive
Everyone knows all about the everybody eats mantra, but through 3½ quarters nobody was doing much more than snacking as the Bills’ passing game was pretty inefficient. Allen can keep plays alive all night, but when no one can get open down the field, it’s not like he can throw it and then go catch it.
The Bills had to rely on a short passing attack which the Ravens did a nice job neutralizing, and when Allen tried to bite off bigger chunks, the Buffalo receiving corps was not able to separate.
But wow, that sure changed at the end.
When the defense finally got a stop with 7:16 left to play, Allen proceeded to put together a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a rather lucky play as his pass into the end zone on fourth-and-2 from the 10 was tipped by a defender and found it way into the arms of Keon Coleman.
Two plays after the kickoff, Ed Oliver forced a Henry fumble, which Terrel Bernard recovered at the 30, and Allen needed four plays to score, plunging in from the 1, though a two-point conversion failed, leaving the Bills down 40-38.
Once again the defense managed a stop and after Baltimore punted, Allen took the field with 1:26 left and no timeouts, but 66 yards later, Buffalo’s temporary kicker, Matt Prater, was lining up for the walk-off 32-yard field goal. On those last three possessions, Allen was 11 of 14 for 166 yards and after throwing for just 113 yards in the first half, he had 251 in the fourth quarter alone.
“It took everybody there,” Allen said. “I’m just proud of our team for staying in it. No one on the sideline blinked. I mean, down 15 points, whatever we were with five, six minutes left, just staying with it, fans leaving the stadium, you got to play this game for 60 minutes and that’s a really good outfit that we just played.”
Keon Coleman had a wild night
If there’s one thing you can count on with the 2024 second-round pick, it’s that he’s going to take you on a rollercoaster ride. His night did not start well as he dropped a quick screen, and going into the fourth quarter he had one catch for 17 yards, and his most memorable play was stepping out of the back of the end zone on a two-point conversion, which nullified the catch he then made.
But in the fourth quarter Coleman went off and he finished with eight catches for 112 yards, one a 10-yard TD reception on a pass that had been deflected, and then on the last drive he caught a 25-yard pass over the middle that set up the winning field goal.
“He stepped up for us,” Allen said. “Made some good plays. Proud of him.”
Run defense was pathetic until the very end
There was really never a doubt that the Ravens were going to be able to run on the Buffalo defense. They have Henry and Jackson, as dynamic a running tandem as there is in the NFL. And sure enough, they pummeled the Bills to the tune of 238 yards and 8.2 per attempt.
Henry ran for 123 in the first half alone and then he ripped off a 46-yard TD run that made it 40-25 with 11:42 to go and 200 yards was in sight. Instead, with the Ravens trying to run out the clock, his last four carries netted zero yards and he lost a fumble with 3:06 remaining that gave the Bills the chance they needed.
“I told my teammates after the game to put the loss on me. I own it,” Henry said after the Ravens became the first team in NFL history to score 40 or more points and rush for at least 235 yards and lose. Teams were previously 277-0 including playoffs given those parameters.
“Definitely not a good look,” edge rusher A.J. Epenesa said of the run defense.
As bad as it was for the Bills, one player who really came through was Oliver. He had a 15-yard sack of Jackson early, and then punched the ball out of Henry’s hands to force the fumble.
“Josh obviously played great today, but Ed Oliver, I mean, he showed out,” Epenesa said. “That’s not any different than his usual impact, I feel, personally. But the fact that he was able to do it when it was needed the most — our best players make the best plays when they’re needed most. And that was incredible by Ed Oliver.”
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, he has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: 3 takeaways from Bills’ stunning comeback win over Ravens in Week 1
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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