Sixth road win of the year sets a team mark with a new point record reached in Buffalo.
New Era Stadium, Buffalo, NY, Sunday, December 8, 2019: With ruthless efficiency, the Baltimore Ravens have checked off box after box in their quest to return to football’s summit.
–A new single-season franchise points record? √
–Lamar Jackson breaking 1000 yards rushing for the season as a quarterback? √
–Sweeping the NFC West, considered by many to be football’s best division? √
–A 10-2 start for the first time in team history? √
–A single-season franchise-record eight-game winning streak? √
–An undefeated October, the first time that had happened in what is usually the Ravens’ worst month? √
–Getting a first-ever win in Seattle? √
–No wins within Los Angeles city limits? Not any more. √
–Sweeping AFC North Division rival Cincinnati for the first time in eight years? √
And in the spirit of the Old West, as depicted in spaghetti western movies, it might be a bit exaggerated to say that Buffalo was the last frontier. But, in many ways, it was for these Ravens.
Check! First, the Seahawks. Then the Patriots, Rams, and 49ers. And now the Bills. Five wins over five of the best teams in the league.
In all of those games, the Ravens brought the same formula to the table, combining a grind-it-out running game with ball control and a fresh defense. This time, those things contributed to a 24-17 win over the host Bills before 69,000+ fans on a day that wasn’t half-bad, weather-wise, in sometimes snow-stormy Buffalo.
The Bills (9-4), who haven’t had a ten-win season in 20 years, got three defensive penalties on the Ravens on their last-ditch drive, including a pass-interference call on Marlon Humphrey on fourth down. But on the next fourth down, Marcus Peters broke up a slant pass for ex-Ravens wideout John Brown to seal the win.
It was Baltimore’s ninth straight win–clinching the team’s 11th playoff berth, raising its record to 11-2, and keeping the Ravens in the top AFC playoff position.
After that, the regular season closes with a pair of intradivisional games, including a visit to Cleveland and a home finale against that old rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers. But while winning the division is always the top priority for any team, the Ravens have their sights set on bigger goals.
But one element to this game that was highly relevant was the battle between a pair of 2018 first-round quarterback draftees, Jackson and Buffalo’s Josh Allen.
But make no mistake about it: these Bills have gotten to where they are– which is on the verge of a second playoff appearance in three years (following a 17-year postseason drought)–on the strength of the defense.
But on this very windy day, the wind blunted Allen’s momentum as he attempted several long throws early against a 30-mile-per-hour wind and, with that, missed on six of his first seven passes. Drops by receivers and poor third-down play (not to mention constant pressure by a revived Ravens pass rush) relegated Allen to a 62.6 rating on 18-for-39 passing.
On the other side of the field, crafty Jackson rushed for 40 yards and passed to a 102.5 rating. He also broke the thousand-yard rushing barrier, getting within 24 yards of Michael Vick’s single-season NFL rushing record for signal-callers.
On defense, both teams came into the game with stellar resumes, and both sides lived up to their hype. After getting seven sacks in a game, the Ravens pass rush racked up six more, getting 1.5 from linebacker Matt Judon, who also forced a fumble. On top of that, the Bills were also 4-for-17 on third-down plays. But to Buffalo’s credit, they slowed a Ravens’ rush game, which had been averaging 207 yards per week, and held it to 115 yards.
It added up to a fifth straight road win for Baltimore–two more than the team’s previous single-season record of three–which it had achieved five times. It was also the team’s sixth total road win of the season, tying the franchise mark set in 2000 and 2005.
The Ravens have only had winning road records four times in 23 previous seasons and could set an all-time road win mark of seven with a win at Cleveland in Week 16.
But from the start of this game, DEFENSE was the calling card. Both teams would eventually punt seven times each. But Buffalo had to do more punting early and faced bad field position because of it. Winning the field-position exchange gave the Ravens more room to maneuver, and it helped set up Justin Tucker’s game-opening 36-yard field goal and Jackson’s line-drive pass to Hayden Hurst, who ran the rest of the way for a 61-yard touchdown.
Hurst came in handy for the Ravens, who lost receiving leader Mark Andrews to a knee injury in the second quarter. But the tight ends were still valuable, as Hurst’s score and Nick Boyle’s juggling touchdown catch helped forge a 17-6 lead and sent the Ravens past their previous single-season points record of 409 points set in 2014. The team has 430 points with three games left.
The Bills had been unbeaten this year when scoring 17 or more points, and they rallied from a 24-9 deficit on a touchdown catch and two-point conversion reception by former Dallas Cowboys slot receiver Cole Beasley. But that was it on this day.
Bills’ punter Corey Bojorquez could not take advantage of the wind as well as Koch did, and a poor punt led to a Ravens’ touchdown drive that covered a mere 51 yards, ending with Jackson’s four-yard scoring pass to Willie Snead. That gave the Ravens another franchise record–a 20th straight game scoring 20 or more points. The Baltimore defense, despite occasional sloppiness, was able to hold off the Bills after that.
So the Ravens salted away another win and checked off another box as they left Western New York. But the undeniable fact remains that there are a few more boxes to check, including a seven-year Super Bowl drought.
In Baltimore these days, the watchwords are ‘Check, please!’
