Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Now I know how the Jacksonville Jaguars felt last Monday night.
Six nights after the Buffalo Bills completely dominated the visiting Jaguars in a 47-10 cakewalk, the roles were reversed. This time, the Bills played the role of the Jaguars, and the home team, the Baltimore Ravens, did the butt-kicking in a 35-10 thrashing at M&T Bank Stadium.
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A lot of things went badly for the Bills on Sunday night, but the good news is it only counts as one loss, and the Buffalo defense won't be facing one of the top quarterbacks and best rushing offenses in the league every week.
I'm not shocked the defense had such a bad night.
To the Bills' credit, they were able to overcome and hide a combination of offseason player losses and injuries this season through the first three games. Four starters left in the offseason, and three more have been injured since training camp opened. That's a lot for any team to overcome.
And when you face offensive talent like Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, bad things are likely going to happen.
The shocking part of this nightmare game was the no-show from the Bills offense.
Save for one touchdown drive that featured an amazing Josh Allen 52-yard bomb to Khalil Shakir, the Bills offense was anemic. In the nine drives before Allen was pulled in the fourth quarter, since the game was a lost cause, the Bills produced one touchdown, one field goal and one missed field goal to go along with five punts and a lost fumble on a disastrous trick play.
Allen spent a good part of his night trying to run away from Ravens pass rushers. He could never really get comfortable in the pocket and get the passing game into any kind of rhythm.
Against Jacksonville, the whole "everybody eats" thing worked wonderfully. On this night, though, the Bills really needed a stud target to get open and make plays consistently.
In addition to having trouble handling the Ravens' blitzes, there was a slight case of dropsies going on.
Dalton Kincaid dropped, what would have been, a first down reception during the opening drive of the game. Instead, the Bills elected to punt.
Keon Coleman had a big drop late in the second quarter that would have given the Bills a first down around the Baltimore 15-yard line, and given the Bills a great chance to cut into a 21-3 deficit before halftime. They did not get any points on that drive.
Then there was the trick play.
The offense had finally put together, what turned out to be, their only touchdown drive to pull to within 21-10 in the third quarter. The defense, which was shredded most of the night, actually recorded back-to-back three-and-outs, and the Bills got the ball back hoping to make it a one-score game on a night when they were getting bombed more than Fort McHenry.
A 24-yard completion to Keon Coleman and three James Cook runs took the Bills from their own 19-yard line to the Ravens' 43-yard line.
Then offensive coordinator Joe Brady dialed up the trick play that saw Allen set up out wide and receiver Curtis Samuel take a direct snap. Samuel would flip the ball to Allen, who then attempted to throw a pass.
However, the play was blown up from the start, and Baltimore recorded a strip-sack and fumble recovery.
For all intents and purposes, the Bills' chances of any sort of comeback died right there.
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This was not the way to start a brutal stretch of three-straight road games, but the Bills need to move past this fast and concentrate on Stefon Diggs and the Houston Texans.
If the Bills can, at least, split the next two games against the Texans and New York Jets, they will be 4-2 after a very difficult six-game stretch to open the 2024 season and will, at worst, be sharing first place in the AFC East.
