Bills look to contain QB and get better result
There are no moral victories in the NFL, so in early December 2019 when they lost 24-17 to the Baltimore Ravens, no one in the Buffalo Bills locker room was all that jazzed about having done such a fine job defending Lamar Jackson.
Sure, no team in the league had a better day against the soon-to-be-named NFL MVP than the Bills as they held him to 145 yards passing and, even more impressive, just 40 yards rushing. But that didn’t matter; they lost the game.
Maybe it will matter Saturday night, though, when the Ravens return to Bills Stadium for an AFC divisional-round playoff game because while the teams aren’t identical to how they were 13 months ago, they are fairly similar in terms of personnel.
“As soon as we got the word we were playing Baltimore, I got the tape from last year,” said safety Jordan Poyer.
Obviously, watching Ravens games from the past month or so will be more useful in the Bills’ preparation, but looking back at what they did last season to limit Jackson’s effectiveness cannot be ignored, and won’t be.
“We did a lot of good things in that ball game,” said defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. “That was a different team and a different year; they’ve grown since then and they’ve added some wrinkles to their offense that we’re gonna have to adjust to. We realize we can’t just look at what we did last year and say that was good enough.”
The only meaningful addition Baltimore has made to its offense is rookie running back J.K. Dobbins, while the Bills have added defenders such as defensive linemen Mario Addison, Vernon Butler, Quinton Jefferson, and cornerback Josh Norman.
And not to be overlooked, Frazier is still calling the shots for the Buffalo defense and Baltimore’s offense is still being coordinated by Greg Roman. That’s a lot of overlap.
“I’m sure they’ll be looking at that tape,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said, meaning the coordinators. “They’ve got a lot of new stuff this year that we’ve been looking at that they’ve added to their offense. So, I think it’s a frame of reference, or a reference point, but not a be all end all.”
Last year the Ravens were the hottest team in the NFL when they arrived in Buffalo, riding an eight-game winning streak that eventually became a season-closing 12-game streak. They would become the first team since 1978 to average 200 yards per game rushing, thanks in large part to Jackson’s 1,206, the most ever by a quarterback in one season.
But the Bills’ defense wasn’t lacking confidence in its ability to slow down Jackson as it entered that game ranked third in fewest total yards, passing yards and points allowed. Now departed defensive tackle Jordan Phillips crowed beforehand, “We’re built for an offense like this. Now, we just have to go out there and execute. Simple as that.”
Big words, and then he and the Bills backed it up as Jackson could not have looked more ordinary. He had one 16yard run but managed only 24 yards on his other 10 rushes. And of his 16 pass
L.A. Rams at Green Bay Baltimore at Buffalo Cleveland at Kansas City Tampa Bay at New Orleans completions, 15 of them netted 84 yards.
Unfortunately for the Bills, his other completion was a 61-yard TD pass to since traded tight end Hayden Hurst.
Because the Bills offense could not get anything going, that Hurst touchdown essentially ended the game.
But Saturday, the Bills enter as arguably the hottest team in the NFL, riding a seven-game win streak, but the Ravens have won their last six while averaging 425.5 yards per game in that span.
“It’s a totally different style offense than any team that we ever face,” Poyer said of the run-first, run-second, and sometimes run-third Ravens. “They have every single QB run you can think of.”
DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS
Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel staff picks the NFL winners for the divisional playoffs:
Game
Last week Overall
Point spread
Straight up
vs. spread
Packers by 61⁄2 Bills by 3 Chiefs by 10 Saints by 3
Packers Bills Chiefs Saints 4-2 171-89-1
Rams Bills Browns Saints 1-5 123-129-9