This week, the Ravens travel to Buffalo to face the surprisingly good Bills. The first game of the final quarter of the regular season, and this game means a lot to both teams. At 10-2, the Ravens are trying to stay ahead of the 10-2 Patriots for home field advantage (Baltimore has the tie-breaker), but the 9-3 Bills are trying to catch New England for that AFC EAST crown. The Patriots take on the Chiefs today and may very well lose, so a win today could be huge for both teams. Josh Allen has been playing out of his mind and has been the second best QB from the 2018 draft class and the Bills defense is firing on all cylinders. The Bills should be fired up to play in front of the home crowd in a game that matters a lot. On the other side has been the best QB from the 2018 draft class and a fairly good defense as well. The Ravens will be going for their 9th win in a row and their quest for the #1 seed for the first time in franchise history. LET'S GO, RAVENS!!!
This is a great match up, and only the second significant Dec. game for the Bills this millennium. It's too close to call, IMO. The Ravens deserve the accolades coming to them, and I'm sure they'll be clicking on all cylinders. They're too well coached to expect less. The Bills benefit (greatly) by being at home, and for the extra time after the Thanksgiving game. I do not think it's a surprise that Allen has gotten hot; his OL was completely revamped this summer. The line was clearly improved, but it takes about half a season for the unit to gel. The Bills D could win this game. Everyone focuses on their secondary - and they deserve that. But, their front seven is also playing better. Ed Oliver earned rookie of the week honors, and this rookie is also gelling into a holy terror. Obviously I'd like a Bills W, but I also extend best wishes and good luck to the Ravens. They deserve that respect.
I actually want to see the Bills win their division. Brady haa never had his entire road to the superbowl be on the road to my knowledge, so I'd love for him to experience that before he retires. Josh Allen has also been under the radar this year. One thing is for sure. After this game ends, regardless of who wins, Ravens and Bills fans can unite to be temporary Chiefs fans from 4 to 7 pm (EST)
This game will be close from start to finish. The Bills have been quietly rebuilding a former glorious franchise that came oh so close to winning at least 2 Super Bowls in the 90's to the current force that they are today. Josh Allen is really coming into his own and he has a deceptively good offensive line to operate behind. Their running game has been strong and they have been opportunistic on defense with a strong up the middle Front 7 and their secondary is very talented to boot. The Ravens have been dominant up front all season and this game might just be their strongest test in the trenches. We know Lamar will do his thing, but the WR will really need to step up and make some plays today for the Ravens to come out of Orchard Park with the W.
Ravens up 23-9. MVP chants in an opposing stadium yet again. With Lamar Jackson as a starter, the Ravens have yet to score under 20 points in a game during the regular season
This was an interesting game. Props to Josh Allen. He took a beating and kept on ticking. I hope they win their next 3 games. If KC wins today, winning out might give Buffalo the division
The defense really put on the pressure today. Again, Judon looked good, but why can't he do it for 16 games? Why is it always a second half surge? Losing Andrews sucked, but in that first half wind, no one seemed to be able to do anything. Despite that, Jackson had another 3 TD game which is the most 3 TD passing games in the league, and he leads the league in passing TDs. The MVP chants are well deserved. One of Jackson's nastiest hits came when he was throwing a pass and not running as he got smacked high and low. Clark had his first Tony Jefferson moment in giving up a big play, but he bounced back to make some key pressures. We ran more screens today than all year combined. I didn't even know we had screens in the playbook. I'm so used to going for it on fourth down, but Harbaugh made all the right calls today in punting. The defense was playing great and the wind was ugly. Bills played a strong game against the Ravens but were definitely jump started on their various scoring drives by Ravens penalties. With 50+ penalty yards on the final drive, I started wondering if the Bills would go for 2 to win instead of forcing OT.
With that Patriots loss to the Chiefs, the Ravens now stand alone with the best record in the AFC. They also have a 1 game lead and tie-breaker for the #1 seed. The Patriots have also lost to every AFC division leader and only have a 1 game lead on the Bills. So they will lose any seeding tie breaker, but could also just plain lose the division EDIT: forgot that the Chiefs could catch the Ravens for the #1 seed if they win out and the Ravens only win 1 of the last 3
You almost have to say that if there is one team the Ravens don't want to face in the playoffs, it's the Chiefs. Lamar has faced them twice and lost twice. Unheard of compared to the rest of the league. Granted they were both away games.
I believe I heard that 2 wins out of the next 3 clinch us the #1 seed. If we can beat the Jets and Browns, we can lock up #1 and home field and rest our starters versus the Steelers. I would hate to give the Steelers an easy path to the playoffs but I also would love to be able to let our core people get healthy in advance even with a bye week.
Congratulations to Baltimore and to all Ravens fans. In the end, the proverbial "better team" won. The Bills acquitted themselves well, but Sunday's game established who they are: a very competitive, but not elite, team. I expect that the Bills will be the off season darlings of many. Baltimore may be - actually are - a SB favorite. Enjoy it.
With that defense, idk if I would say the Bills are not an elite team. There's only 6 teams in the league with a better record and two of your losses come from two of those teams. I know peoppe will focus on who Buffalo has played, but I've said before that you can only play the teams on your schedule. If Allen continues to progress, Buffalo may just take the division outright next season, while still having a shot to take it this year.
