Bills Triumph Over Ravens in Divisional Drama: The Drop Heard Around Buffalo

Taron Johnson, Buffalo Bills CB, and Baltimore Ravens QB, Lamar Jackson
Bills Triumph Over Ravens in Divisional Drama: The Drop Heard Around Buffalo | The Wandering Buffalo

The Buffalo Bills prevailed against the Baltimore Ravens 27-25 this past Sunday in a game that will be remembered by many as the “Mark Andrews Game.”

Mark Andrews, the veteran tight end and possible future Hall of Famer, dropped a game-tying 2-point conversion at the pylon in the front corner of the endzone with only 1:33 left in the game.

To set the stage, the Bills were faced with a decision with 3:29 left on the clock: go for it on fourth down from the 2-and-a-half yard line, or kick the field goal-giving them an 8 point lead. Having been in previous situations like this, Head Coach Sean McDermott instructed his team to go for the field goal in hopes to give the team an 8 point lead. Having no coaching credentials myself, I strongly agreed with his decision - a team should want to be ahead 8 points, leaving them in better standing than if you’re only up 7, but that’s a discussion for a different time.

The Ravens regained possession and did exactly what you’d expect from a team of their caliber: they drove down the field on Buffalo’s “bend but don’t break” defense and scored on a 24 yard pass from Lamar Jackson to Isaiah Likely. That’s when the Ravens, down 8, went for 2, but failed to convert when Mark Andrews dropped the pass.

It worked!

It never works for Buffalo.

The Ravens were going to convert and then win the game in overtime because that’s what happens to the Bills; right? Wrong. Not this time. For what felt like the first time in a century the breaks went the Bills way. We got the bounce.

After the Raven’s failed to tie the game, the Bills were ahead by only 2 points with close to 90 seconds remaining on the clock, and the Ravens with only 1 remaining timeout.

The last hurdle between the Bills and their victory: recovering the onside kick. And for the last meaningful play of the game, Rasul Douglas fell, literally fell, on Justin Tucker's onside kick.

The Buffalo Bills, for the first time in the last 4 seasons, could taste victory in the Divisional Round of the Playoffs.

In a showdown between the top 2 MVP candidates this season, Josh Allen wasn’t able to light up the stats sheet as usual. Allen went 16/22 for 127 yards passing, 0 touchdowns, adding only 20 rushing yards. To his triumph, he made 2 dominant touchdown runs and ensured 0 turnovers. Lamar Jackson was a bit more prolific on the day, throwing for 254 yards on 18/25 passing with 2 touchdowns, but also threw 2 turnovers and 1 interception. Jackson also had a costly fumble that resulted in points favoring the Bills.

Both James Cook and Khalil Shakir led the Bills with 67 yards rushing and receiving respectively. Ray Davis, who returned to the Raven’s lineup after taking a pretty scary hit last week landing him in concussion protocol, positively contributed to the team’s effort with 29 yards on only 4 carries and 1 touchdown. In other important football footnotes, future HOF running back Derrick Henry to 84 yards on 16 carries with a touchdown. This may not seem like a tremendous victory, but after Henry ran for 199 yards and added 2 touchdowns in their week 4 matchup, this was a major improvement, seeing as this Ravens star never had a chance before to influence the playoff matchup.

The Buffalo Bills are headed to Kansas City to face their nemesis and currently most hated rival, the Kansas City Chiefs, in the AFC Championship this Sunday at 6:30 on CBS. On the line: a trip to Super Bowl LIX.

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