Bills Got 'Stomped' By Ravens' Defense
Entering Sunday night, the Buffalo Bills were the hottest team in football. Quarterback Josh Allen was garnering early MVP buzz, they had to No. 1 scoring offense, the list goes on. That all came to a screeching halt as the Ravens' defense eliminated their offense entirely, and the NFL world took notice.
NFL.com’s Grant Gordon: "The Bills were rolling right along with a perfect record and Josh Allen receiving MVP chants. Then they stopped in Baltimore and got stomped. In a prime-time battle against another Super Bowl contender, Buffalo struggled on both sides of the ball and Baltimore was impressive in all facets."
ESPN’s Jamison Hensley: "After allowing the most yards through the air in the first three games (291.7 per game), the Ravens insisted their confidence was high and proved it in slowing down Josh Allen, who was the favorite for NFL Most Valuable Player. Baltimore limited Allen to 180 yards passing and no touchdowns, hitting him eight times. Outside linebacker Van Noy, who recorded two sacks for the third straight game, delivered the biggest defensive play. After Buffalo closed to 21-10 in the third quarter, Van Noy had a strip sack of Allen, which led to Baltimore's fourth touchdown of the night."
ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg: "After putting up 30-plus points in the first three games, this was a relative no-show. The Bills streak of 41 straight regular-season games of scoring more than 10 points ended, the longest active streak in the NFL. The offense went 2-11 on third down and Allen completed 16 of 29 passes (55.2%), down from his 75% average to start the season. The offensive line had a tough night with Allen pressured on 44.1% of throws and sacked three times after two sacks on the season."
CBS Sports’ Jared Dubin: "Allen entered the game as an MVP favorite despite a new crop of wide receivers this year. And yet his overhauled pass catching corps struggled to find steady separation against Baltimore's secondary, forcing the Bills gunslinger to scramble time and again, hoping for a big play to emerge. It never really did, with Jackson and Henry instead stealing the show on their side."
CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin: "Mike Macdonald has gotten glowing reviews for what he's done as the Seattle Seahawks' new coach, but his successor, Zach Orr, deserves credit for the way guys flew around to keep Josh Allen on his toes Sunday night. From Kyle Van Noy registering a few more sacks to Odafe Oweh getting involved to Kyle Hamilton reminding everyone why he's considered one of the best, rangiest safeties in the game, this was a statement performance for a stingy unit against an elite quarterback. Talk about a glaring contrast, by the way, with Sean McDermott's run defense, which had no answers throughout the contest."
The Athletic's Joe Buscaglia: "The Bills offense had been keeping their opponents on the backfoot through their first three games, but the Ravens flipped that on its head on Sunday night. Allen never quite got into a groove as the Ravens overwhelmed the Bills with pressure in a way they have yet to see so far this season. Offensive coordinator Joe Brady has had a strong start to his first full season in that position, but the Ravens game will require a lot of attention to how they were able to unnerve Allen in a way they hadn't seen before in 2024. The Bills averaged only 4.6 yards per play when Allen was in the game on Sunday."
The Baltimore Sun’s Childs Walker: "On defense, the Ravens did a brilliant job getting Josh Allen off the field, holding Buffalo to 1 of 8 on third down in the first half. Their dime packages in passing situations worked beautifully, leaving Allen with few targets as he scurried away from pressure. The Ravens seemed in danger of losing momentum after Allen completed a remarkable 52-yard throw on the run to set up a touchdown that cut the lead to 21-10. But the Ravens kept chasing him, stripping Allen to set up a touchdown drive late in the third quarter."
The Baltimore Sun’s C.J. Doon: "First-year defensive coordinator Zach Orr stifled counterpart Joe Brady, who was the talk of the league for what his 'everybody eats' offense did through three weeks."
The Baltimore Banner's Jonas Shaffer: "Allen, who entered Sunday's game as the early favorite for league Most Valuable Player honors, struggled against a ferocious Ravens pass rush. He finished 16-for-29 for 180 yards and no touchdowns and had five carries for 21 yards. Running back James Cook was limited to 9 carries for 39 yards against the Ravens' top-ranked run defense."
Pressbox’s Bo Smolka: "From the outset, Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken seemed a step ahead of Bills defensive coordinator Bobby Babich, as the Ravens scored touchdowns on their first three drives. … From start to finish the Ravens were the more physical team, and by the middle of the fourth quarter, Allen was on the bench and the Bills looked ready to get out of town."
Ravens' Offense 'Mashed the Bills to Bits'
The Ravens' offensive identity of dominating the line of scrimmage carried over after an assertive Week 3 win in Dallas. The sequel was just as good as the first, gashing the Bills for 271 rushing yards and two touchdowns, with running back Derrick Henry leading the way.
"[Sunday night] belonged to Derrick Henry, starting from his team's very first play," PFF’s Mark Chichester wrote. "The Ravens running back dominated on the ground with 199 rushing yards on 24 carries, highlighted by an 87-yard touchdown run on the Ravens' opening play. He added a rare receiving touchdown — his first since 2019 — in the second quarter. Henry moved the chains six times. He forced four missed tackles and gained 10 or more yards on three separate carries. Of his total yardage, 131 came before contact, with 67 coming after. He was bolstered by stellar blocking, averaging an impressive 5.5 yards before contact per carry."
While Henry amassed a yard shy of 200 rushing yards, it was the Ravens' old-school approach that led the charge. They put their biggest and best blockers on the field and went to work.
The effectiveness forced the Bills to move away from their oft-used nickel defense they favored in the first three games of the season, though it didn't exactly slow down the Ravens.
Ravens May Be Fielding the Best Two-Headed Rushing Attack in NFL History
The highlights and much of the attention will, deservedly, go to Henry this week after his stellar prime time performance, but The Ringer's Steven Ruiz sees something bigger brewing in Baltimore: the best rushing duo… ever?
"The Bills just never looked very interested in tackling [Henry]. And they never looked capable of tackling Lamar Jackson, who chipped in with 54 yards on six carries and never allowed Buffalo to fully commit to stopping Henry," Ruiz wrote.
For the past five seasons, Jackson has finished as the Ravens' leading rusher primarily because he's just that dynamic but also as the Ravens haven't had a "bell-cow back" since 2019. But now, with the Ravens adding the best back of this generation, the two are combining for something special.
"This had been Baltimore's aim when signing the 30-year-old back: reducing the playmaking burden on Jackson in this offense," Ruiz wrote. "With Henry now leading the NFL in rushing after his dominant performance on Sunday night, it's safe to say he's provided that relief. But Lamar is still doing his part. The Ravens quarterback ranks ninth in the NFL in rushing, with 308 yards. This isn't just the best two-headed rushing attack in the league today – it might be the best we've ever seen. Jackson and Henry are on pace to finish with a combined 3,349 rushing yards this season."
Ravens Are Super Bowl Contenders … Again
After their Week 2 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, teams were beginning to write off the Ravens as pretenders. But after trouncing the Bills, Ruiz labels the Ravens as Super Bowl contenders once again.
"Whatever the case, the Ravens team we saw lose to Las Vegas a few weeks back was not the team that throttled the red-hot Bills on 'Sunday Night Football,'" Ruiz wrote. "The Baltimore we saw in the 35-10 win over Buffalo in Week 4 looked more like the team many pegged as the biggest threat to Kansas City's reign over the AFC."
Getting over the hump against the upper echelon teams of the AFC has been an uphill climb for the Ravens. The Chiefs and Bills are among the most notable. Adding Henry, who has been a menace to both opponents, was expected to tilt the scales in their favor. That tilt became an anchor as Henry bludgeoned the Bills.
"Jackson has never performed particularly well against this Bills defense, which has focused on neutralizing him as a runner in past games," Ruiz wrote. "But with Henry, who's been a bogeyman for the Bills throughout his career, standing next to Jackson in the Ravens backfield, that was difficult to do."
Ruiz isn't alone in considering the Ravens as contenders. Walker does, too.
"Here, finally, was the team that smashed the San Francisco 49ers on Christmas night, that embarrassed the high-octane Miami Dolphins a week later," Walker wrote. "The details weren't identical, of course. That blur of muscle and motion wearing No. 22 wasn't in the team photo last season. But on Sunday night in Baltimore, facing the best team in the AFC to date, the Ravens reasserted that, at their best, they're as dominant as anyone. … They did, however, reintroduce us to the very real possibility that they could win the Super Bowl. The Ravens were that good."
Ruiz went as far to say the Ravens could secure back-to-back division championships by late November.
"After an 0-2 start, which has been a death sentence for NFL teams in the past, the Ravens are now 2-2 and just a game back in the AFC North, with only the Steelers ahead of them in the standings," Ruiz wrote. "With four of their next seven against divisional opponents, including two monster games against the Bengals, this team could run away (both literally and figuratively) with the division by Thanksgiving."
Travis Jones Becoming the Next Ravens Big Defensive Lineman
With nose tackle Michael Pierce (shoulder) ruled out for Sunday's game, the Ravens needed defensive tackle Travis Jones to take on a greater workload. He delivered, playing 41 of 59 defensive snaps (69%), and making an impact that doesn't show on the stat sheet.
His performance against the Bills drew attention and recognition.
