BILLS TACKLE RAVENS
Bills’ QB faces tough Ravens’ defense for spot in AFC title game
Quarterback Josh Allen and Buffalo meet Baltimore and its highly rated defense in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs Saturday.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh was immediately impressed by Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen’s competitive fire following their first face-to-face encounter in an NFL setting.
It happened in the 2018 season opener, when the then-raw rookie Bills’ quarterback was shoved into the Ravens’ sideline. Allen hopped up and exchanged words with players and Harbaugh before officials stepped in to separate everyone.
“He came up jawing and talking and shoving and pushing,” Harbaugh recalled as fifth-seeded Baltimore (12-5) prepares to face the AFC East champion Bills (14-3) in a divisional playoff Saturday night. “Rookie quarterback. Man, I love this guy.”
What struck Harbaugh is how Allen refused to back down, a quality he also sees in Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, who also made his NFL debut that day.
“They’ve come up on the quote-unquote other side of the tracks from a football perspective where they came up the
hard way, doubted often, and had to overcome that,” Harbaugh said. “I always like the underdog.”
Allen, whom the Bills traded up five spots to select No. 7 in 2018, had accuracy issues and was dismissed for playing at lowly regarded Wyoming. Jackson, selected 32nd in 2018, was questioned as to whether the dynamic mobility he showed at Louisville would translate to the NFL.
Three seasons later, both are coming off their first career playoff victories and have their teams one win short of appearing in the AFC Championship Game.
Jackson made his splash last season when he earned NFL MVP honors after leading the NFL with 36 touchdown passes, 43 combined TDS and became the league’s first player to top 3,000 yards passing and 1,000 rushing.
And yet, Jackson failed to silence his critics because he was 0-2 in the playoffs before a 20-13 win at Tennessee last week.
Allen blossomed into a star this season by setting numerous franchise passing and scoring records, while finishing fourth in completing 69.2 percent of his passes — a 10.45 percent jump over last year.
An MVP candidate, Allen is the key reason the Bills matched a franchise record in winning 13 regular-season games and clinched their first division title in 25 years.
Allen benefitted from spending three years being groomed by offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, and the influx of talent brought in by GM Brandon Beane. The most notable addition this offseason was acquiring Stefon Diggs in a trade with Minnesota.
But Buffalo is without rookie running back Zack Moss, who sustained a season-ending ankle injury last weekend. Coach Sean Mcdermott said T.J. Yeldon will take over the role behind Devin Singletary. The seventh-year player has just 70 yards on 10 carries, and hasn’t played since Oct. 13.
Baltimore has been playing with a win-ordone urgency since early December, following a 1-4 skid that dropped it to 6-5.
The Ravens were depleted by a COVID -19 outbreak in a 19-14 loss at Pittsburgh before reeling off six consecutive wins.
Baltimore accomplished its objective in limiting the NFL’S leading rusher, Tennessee’s Derrick Henry, to 40 yards last week.
Now the Ravens turn their attention to having to contain the league’s leading receiver in Diggs.
The Ravens are only the third team in NFL history to have three players top 700 yards rushing in a single season with Jackson (1,005 yards), rookie J.K. Dobbins (805) and Gus Edwards (723).
Buffalo has allowed 150 yards rushing five times this season.
Harbaugh and Mcdermott were members of Andy Reid’s coaching staff with the Eagles in the 2000s, and both remain close.