Orchard Park, NY (WGR550) - The Buffalo Bills opened the season with an incredible, and maybe unbelievable comeback to defeat the Baltimore Ravens 41-40.
Here are my Arrows Up and Down from the contest, remarkably starting UP after all:
ARROW UP
The Comeback
The Bills trailed by 15 points with under eight minutes left and the Ravens having the ball. Yet, improbably, they found a way to win the game.
DT Ed Oliver
Oliver had one of the finest games of his career, finishing with six total tackles, including three for loss, a sack, a QB hurry, and of course the terrific strip of Derrick Henry to force the fumble that led to a Bills recovery and eventual touchdown in the fourth quarter.
QB Josh Allen
The reigning NFL MVP did what great players do, leading his team when they needed him most. Despite throwing for just 22 yards in the first quarter, Allen finished the game with 394 yards passing, going 33-for-46 (71.7%), including a pair of touchdown passes, and no turnovers. He had an incredible 251 yards passing in the fourth quarter. He also added 30 yards rushing and two TD runs on the night for a total of 424 yards and four total touchdowns.
WR Keon Coleman
Coleman had his best day as a pro, catching eight passes for 112 yards, including sticking with a ball that was deflected by tight end Dawson Knox on fourth down to grab it for a touchdown.
K Matt Prater
A pretty incredible story for Prater, who was just signed this week to replace the injured Tyler Bass. At 41-years old, the 18-year veteran was perfect on five of his kicks, including a 43-yarder to end the first half and the final 32-yarder at the very end of the game to walk it off.
TE Dalton Kincaid
Kincaid scored the Bills first touchdown of the season, grabbing a 15-yard laser from Allen. He finished with four catches for 48 yards and the TD, but was also very good as a blocker when called upon.
PR/KR Brandon Codrington
Codrington opened the game with a big 41-yard kickoff return, setting the Bills up at midfield. He made good decisions all night on both kickoffs and punts.
End of half/game clock management
The Bills played both ends of halves perfectly when it came to managing the clock. They used timeouts on defense in both cases to try and get the ball back. Eventually, they did. In the first half, it led to a 43-field goal as time expired. In the second half, the exact same thing happened and that 32-yard kick was for the win.
Third down offense
The Bills were 7-for-15 (46.7%) on third downs.
Red zone offense and defense
The Bills won the red zone battle in this game, going 5-for-7 (71%) scoring touchdowns themselves and limiting the Ravens to just one touchdown on three trips inside the 20 yard line (33.3%).
*************************************************
ARROW DOWN
Defense, Defense, Defense
It didn’t matter which level of the defense, or what situation in the game, the Bills just could not stop the Ravens for almost all of the night. 433 total yards for Baltimore, including 238 rushing yards. They averaged 8.6 yards per play and scored 40 points!
Tackling and angles
One of the reasons the Bills gave up so much on the ground was due to poor tackling, especially right at the line of scrimmage. Too many times they had Derrick Henry slowing his feet, but he was able to get through the first level of defenders. Then once he was, far too many bad angles were taken.
Safeties Taylor Rapp and Cole Bishop
Both safeties had a tough day against the run and pass. Bishop got stiff-armed by Henry on a touchdown run. Rapp took a poor angle on another, and Baltimore completed a few important passes in the middle of the field.
Joe Brady’s play calling most of the game
Brady called a very nice first drive after the Bills had terrific starting field position. But after that he didn’t give his NFL MVP quarterback much of a chance to make plays and got too conservative, allowing the Ravens to force the Bills into long-yardage situations and eventual punts.
OT Spencer Brown
Brown got beaten on a couple plays around the edge and, on a play he was beaten inside, was called for a holding penalty that wiped out a big first down.
Long plays given up
The Bills gave up eight plays of 20 or more yards and five plays of 30 or more yards. They gave up touchdowns of 46, 30, 29, and 23 yards.
DE Joey Bosa on contain
Bosa didn’t play a bad game overall, but he got sucked inside on a couple of different Lamar Jackson option runs that resulted in big gains.
Two point conversions
The Bills attempted three 2-point conversions in this game and failed at each one of them. In all three instances, the play call was very questionable.
Third down defense
Once again, just like last year, the Bills third down defense was not good enough. The Ravens were 6-for-11 (54.5%) on third downs.
