As soon as the Ravens lined up for their first offensive play Sunday night at M&T Bank Stadium, they knew they had the Bills right where they wanted them.
Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken had that run scripted for the first play of the game. If they got the alignment they hoped for from Buffalo's defensive line, they would go with it. If not, they would can it.
The fact that Derrick Henry took it 87 yards for a touchdown tells you the rest.
The Ravens set out to bury Buffalo's defense on the ground, and they did so far from the literal start to (almost) finish.
A week after amassing 274 rushing yards in Dallas, Baltimore piled up 271 more rushing yards at home against the Bills, in front a "Darkness" crowd clad in menacing black. The only problem was the Ravens ended the night just one yard short of getting Henry to 200.
"The reality is he doesn't need much room to run," rookie tackle Roger Rosengarten said. "If you give him a little sliver of space, he's going to take advantage of it. He's '22' for a reason. He's 'King Henry' for a reason. He shows it week in and week out and we just have to give him a chance. He'll do the rest."
After the game, Henry was asked if he's comfortable in the Ravens' rushing attack yet.
"If today doesn't show that I'm used to it and I'm comfortable, then I don't know what else to say," he said. "It's been fun."
The 87-yard run was a "crunch" concept, center Tyler Linderbaum said. It's designed to be effective against aggressive penetrating defensive fronts (like the one the Bills have) by letting a defensive lineman into the backfield only to cut him off with a tight end or fullback while the offensive linemen get to the next level.
As Rosengarten said, it's a play that either gets blown up in the backfield for a loss or goes for a big gain. Needless to say, it hit.
"It's usually a great play if it's blocked right and everyone blocked it beautifully," said fullback Patrick Ricard, who had the initial key "pin" block on defensive tackle Ed Oliver. "I kind of wished we ran it again, but we'll take the touchdown."
The Ravens had plenty of other crafty runs against the Bills, keeping them on their toes despite a constant onslaught of heavy formations. Baltimore had 54 offensive snaps. They only had 17 with three receivers. They had 15 with only one wideout.
Baltimore's offensive attack was unrelentingly physical. The Ravens hammered the Bills with a merry-go-round of Henry, Justice Hill, and Lamar Jackson, who combined to average 8.0 yards per carry, including 5.18 yards per carry before contact, per TruMedia.
"They had our numbers tonight, and they came out and out-physicalled us and dominated on the line of scrimmage," Bills linebacker Baylon Spector said.
Henry also had runs of 38 and 25 yards. Jackson had a 19-yard scamper and a 9-yard touchdown that eased nerves after the Bills closed the Ravens' early lead to 11 points. Hill led the Ravens' aerial attack with six catches for 78 yards, including a 19-yard score.
The Bills waved the white flag midway through the fourth quarter, pulling quarterback Josh Allen. The Ravens did the same on the following drive, inserting Josh Johnson in at quarterback. But Henry remained for two more carries.
He was still angry about the way things ended, as he fumbled on the goal line when he tried to go in for his third touchdown. As he went to his locker after talking to reporters, he said he said he would legitimately have trouble sleeping because of that – after a 199-yard rushing game with two touchdowns.
"We've got some momentum going," Henry said. "There's still things that we can get better at that we're going to focus on and get better at, but it's a long season. We got off to a great start last week, then didn't finish the way we wanted to. Then this game tonight, we got the momentum going and we were able to finish the game. We're still progressing, still working and still looking to get better.
