Bills Come Up Short In 24-17 Loss To AFC's Best Ravens
1st Quarter - Slow Starts, Allen Struggles
A match up of two of the AFC's top teams, with explosive quarterbacks, began as a defensive battle.
Buffalo started with the ball and quickly went three and out.
The Ravens offense would be stalled on third down after a six play drive.
Following that, the Bills would go three and out, again.
The two teams went back and fourth until Baltimore finally broke through on a Justin Tucker 36 yard field goal after ten minutes had expired in the quarter.
Jackson also crossed the 1,000 yards rushing mark during the drive - with more milestones to come.
On Buffalo's final possession of the quarter, Josh Allen was was sacked and fumbled away a ball that was recovered by the Jihad Ward of the Ravens.
Allen finished the frame just 1/7 passing with 10 yards. He didn't pick up a single yard rushing.
2nd Quarter - Buffalo On The Board
Off of the Allen fumble, the Ravens only had 24 yards to go for the game's first touchdown.
At the goal line, Jackson found tight end Nick Boyle with a short pass to extend their lead to 10-0.
The Bills responded with their most successful drive since the game began, finding the red zone on a 55 yard drive.
Looking for the endzone on 3rd down, Allen couldn't connect with Isaiah McKenzie and the Bills settled for a 36 yard Stephen Hauschka field goal.
On the ensuing Baltimore drive, the Bills defense continued to set the tone.
Jackson threw his first interception in 173 pass attempts, and his first since week five, when he was picked off by Tremaine Edmunds.
The Bills faced a scary moment on Buffalo's drive off the turnover, on third down, Allen came up limping off the field, holding his left ankle. The second-year quarterback would get tapped up and return for the end of the half.
Buffalo would add a second Hauschka field goal, this time from 47 yards out, and would trail the Ravens 10-6 heading into the locker room.
Third Quarter - Ravens Come Out Hot
The Ravens offense didn't miss a beat when they came out to start the second half.
On just their third snap, Jackson threw a 61 yard touchdown pass to Hayden Hurst giving the Ravens a double digit lead at 17-6.
Buffalo would look to keep pace with the Ravens, adding their third field goal from Hauschka, cutting the lead to 17-9.
Following the field goal both teams combined for six straight punts to end the quarter.
Fourth Quarter - Back And Forth In Buffalo
Baltimore broke through the offensive drought with a 51 yard scoring drive and Jackson's third passing touchdown of the day. This time Willie Snead was his target, and the Ravens led 24-9.
The Bills most successful drive of the day came just moments later - driving 78 yards down the field in under three minutes.
Allen found Cole Beasley for a three yard touchdown cutting the lead to nine.
Buffalo went for two where Allen and Beasley were successful again, making it a seven point game with seven minutes to play.
After a defensive stand - holding the Ravens to a three and out drive, the Bills took over on their own 28 yard line.
The Baltimore defense began to crumble under penalties - including 30 yards of yellow flags for unnecessary roughness.
Then, facing potentially their last snap of the day on 4th and 16, Allen aired out a pass to Beasley who got tangled up with a Ravens defender and drew a new set of downs at the Baltimore 18 yard line.
But, the Bills red zone effort came up shorts.
On fourth down, Allen couldn't find John Brown in the endzone and their comeback efforts came to a halt.
The Ravens improve to 11-2 and maintain first place in the AFC while the Bills fall to 9-4. Buffalo will travel to Pittsburgh next weekend to face the Steelers on Sunday Night Football.
