The Ravens can’t hold on to lead again in 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills

For the first fifteen minutes of Sunday afternoon’s game against the Buffalo Bills, Ravens fans saw sunlight despite the dreary gray, rainy day at M&T Bank Stadium.

The defense got things started when Marlon Humphrey intercepted Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen a few plays into the Bills’ opening drive, returning it 26 yards to set up an easy 1-yard touchdown shovel pass from Lamar Jackson to running back J.K. Dobbins.

The Bills responded with a field goal, and Jackson then proceeded to engineer a textbook, smashmouth drive. The Ravens ate 9:08 off the clock with a 15-play, 81-yard drive that was capped off by another Dobbins score, a 4-yard touchdown run.

Baltimore thoroughly bullied the Bills in that opening quarter in the same manner that Biff demeaned George McFly in “Back to the Future”.

With 12:54 left in the second quarter, Justin Tucker’s 42-yard field goal put the Ravens up 17-3. Buffalo looked dazed and depleted, as if they were still dragging from last week’s narrow 21-19 loss to Miami.

With Lamar lining up under center more than he ever had during the previous three games, Baltimore’s running attack was moving the ball and controlling the clock.

The Bills were getting summarily punished. But just when it seemed that the swirling rain could not put a damper on the Ravens parade, Buffalo decided to fight back.

And when they came out swinging like McFly after he grew tired of Biff’s nonsense, they proceeded to turn the tables on the Ravens for the rest of the game. It wasn’t pretty.

The Bills fought back to make a game of it, with Allen directing an 11-play, 76-yard drive that culminated in his 4-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah McKenzie. That closed the gap to 20-10 with nine seconds left before halftime.

In the third quarter, Allen showed he was in full command of the game, leading the Bills on a 9-play, 80-yard touchdown drive with 3:26 left before heading into the final period.

Baltimore seemed to regroup and catch a second wind with the score knotted at 20-20 in the fourth quarter.

The Bills were on their heels with the Ravens marching to the line of scrimmage facing a second down and goal on the one-yard line. But the ensuing play calling and offensive execution was atrocious. Two consecutive running plays failed to break the plane of the goal line.

And then Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh seemed to overestimate his team’s capabilities like Tango in the movie “American Gangster,” not recognizing the Ravens were up against the new power in the AFC.

Harbaugh’s hubris in going for it on fourth down instead of getting the sure three points from Justin Tucker, the greatest kicker in the history of the NFL, ultimately allowed Josh Allen to come back blasting like Frank Lucas when Lamar’s fourth down pass was intercepted in the end zone by Jordan Poyer.

Given the weather conditions, and the fact that Lamar Jackson proved that he was merely human by passing for only 144 yards while throwing two interceptions, even Ishmael from the movie “Kingpin” knew that you bring in Tucker and take the certain points for the lead.

Evidently, Harbaugh channeled Lloyd from “Dumb and Dumber” in calculating this move, giving Allen and the Bills the ball at their own 20-yard line with 4:09 left in the game.

Allen methodically marched the Bills down the field, rendering Lamar Jackson powerless to somehow make up for his mistakes with a miraculous finish.

All Jackson could do was watch Buffalo’s gifted young signal caller march his team 77 yards in 12 plays. When kicker Tyler Bass’ 21-yard field goal split the uprights as time expired, Buffalo completed their rally from a 17-point deficit for the 23-20 win, boosting their record to 3-1. They held the Ravens scoreless in the second half.

The Ravens fall to 2-2.

The sizzling quarterback matchup that many anticipated never materialized, mostly due to the inclement weather. Allen was good when he needed to be, but still was less than stellar in throwing for 213 yards and an interception.

For the Ravens, it’s not time quite yet to push the panic button. There’s a lot of football to be played. But for a team that could just as easily be 4-0 instead of 2-2, more of these wasted opportunities don’t bode well for a team with Super Bowl aspirations.

alejandro.danois@thebaltimorebanner.com

Alejandro Danois

Alejandro Danois was a sports writer for The Banner. He specializes in long-form storytelling, looking at society through the prism of sports and its larger connections with the greater cultural milieu. The author of The Boys of Dunbar, A Story of Love, Hope and Basketball, he is also a film producer and cultural critic.

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