Bills dig themselves out of big early hole
Buffalo scores final 20 points, tops Baltimore
BALTIMORE — Josh Allen and the Bills can deal with nasty weather — that’s part of the job when you play in Buffalo.
On a rainy afternoon in Baltimore, they pulled off their biggest comeback in over a decade.
“Those are games that you love winning,” Allen said. “It’s a hardfought battle both ways. Winning on the last play of the game is always fun.”
Buffalo’s defense forced a big fourth-down turnover, Allen drove the Bills down the field and Tyler Bass made a 21-yard field goal as time expired for a 23-20 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. Buffalo trailed 20-3 late in the second quarter. It was the largest comeback win for the Bills since they erased a 21-point deficit to beat New England in 2011.
With the score tied at 20 in the final quarter, the Ravens (2-2) had second down from the Buffalo 1-yard line. Two straight runs failed to reach the end zone, and Baltimore decided to go for it on fourth down from the 2.
Lamar Jackson had to scramble a bit, then threw a pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Jordan Poyer for a touchback with 4:09 remaining — a disastrous result for the Ravens because it meant the
Bills (3-1) weren’t pinned deep like they would have been following an incompletion.
“Hindsight, you take the points,” Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said. “But you look at it analytically, you’ll understand why we did it.”
Starting from the 20, Allen calmly guided Buffalo into field goal range, with the help of a roughing the passer call on Brandon Stephens. At one point, the Ravens wanted to let the Bills score, but Odafe Oweh tackled Devin Singletary at the 3. Buffalo was able to run the clock all the way down for Bass.
It was the second straight home game in which Baltimore let a sizeable lead slip away. Miami rallied from a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Ravens 42-38 two weekends earlier.
Allen threw for 213 yards and a touchdown with an interception, and Jackson passed for 144 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions. The matchup of star quarterbacks didn’t really live up to its potential on a rainy day near the Chesapeake Bay. Jackson and Allen did their usual damage with their legs but were largely limited to short completions.
“Week 4,” Jackson said. “We’ve been in this situation before. I feel like we’re going to hit our peak at the right time.”