2024-09-30 13:25:04
The Buffalo Bills entered Week 4 of the 2024 NFL season as the hottest team in the league. The Baltimore Ravens stopped them right in their tracks.
The Ravens earned a blowout victory over their AFC counterparts at M&T Bank Stadium. Baltimore bested Buffalo 35-10 in a game where the Ravens never trailed. Derrick Henry nearly ran for 200 yards while Lamar Jackson enjoyed another strong, efficient outing and earned a 135.4 passer rating.
The Bills dropped to 3-1 after the defeat while the Ravens improved to 2-2 after starting the season with back-to-back losses. The contest could eventually prove pivotal in the AFC playoff race, especially as Baltimore inches closer to the top of the AFC North.
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Here’s a look at the winners and losers from the Bills vs. Ravens game, from players to coaches, to teams that didn’t take the field on Sunday night.
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Bills vs. Ravens winners
Derrick Henry
Any suggestion that Henry might start to slow down during his age-30 season seems laughable after his effort on “Sunday Night Football.” Henry took the Ravens’ first offensive play 87 yards for a touchdown. It was the longest run in Baltimore’s franchise history breaking the previous 82-yard record that was shared by Jamal Lewis and Le’Ron McClain.
Henry showcased that he still has great top-gear speed, as he reached a peak of 21.29 mph during the run. That’s good for the fourth-fastest run by a ball carrier so far in 2024, per the NFL’s Next Gen Stats.
From that play on, Henry continued to shoulder a hefty workload for the Ravens. He recorded 24 carries for 199 yards and two touchdowns, one on the ground and one through the air. He was just one yard shy of his seventh career 200-yard rushing game, which would’ve been good for the most in NFL history.
It’s clear that Henry’s ability to shoulder the workload is taking pressure off Jackson while also opening up the field for him. The duo complements each other well, so as long as both stay healthy, Baltimore will have one of the best running games in the NFL. That could do a lot to help them in their Super Bowl quest in the era of the two-high safety.
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Lamar Jackson
Henry might have been the driving force behind Baltimore’s offense on Sunday, but Jackson was terrific as well. He was efficient through the air, completing 13 of 18 passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns, and also added 54 yards and a score on the ground.
Jackson’s efficiency is what made him the NFL MVP last season despite not boasting prolific stats. He seems well on his way toward establishing himself as one of the league’s most important players again, especially as he establishes a harmonious relationship with Henry.
Zach Orr’s Ravens defense
Like Henry, the Ravens defense faced many questions entering the 2024 NFL season, but the No. 1 concern of fans was how Baltimore would replace Mike Macdonald after he took the Seattle Seahawks‘ head coaching job.
The Ravens decided to promote from within, giving the job to Orr, who played three years for the Ravens before joining their coaching staff. While Baltimore’s defense started slowly, they have gradually improved and are now playing at a high level, as evidenced by their containment of what had been an explosive Buffalo offense.
The Bills logged just 236 yards of total offense against Orr’s defense. They also held Josh Allen without a touchdown for the first time since Urban Meyer’s Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Bills 9-6 in 2021 and saw veteran edge rusher Kyle Van Noy record two sacks for the third consecutive game.
If Baltimore can continue to make strides each week, the Ravens’ stop unit should eventually be among the best in the NFL. If that comes to pass, John Harbaugh can certainly thank the 32-year-old Orr for continuing the work started by Macdonald.
Kansas City Chiefs
Look, it might seem weird to call the Chiefs a winner on a day during which they potentially lost their No. 1 receiver to a torn ACL, but they are the last undefeated team standing in the AFC. It’s very early in the season, but that still gives them an advantage in the quest for the conference’s No. 1 seed.
This was the best outcome for the Chiefs, as they already beat the Ravens head-to-head, so they are maintaining a two-game lead and a tiebreaker over Baltimore while now adding a one-game lead over Buffalo. Again, it’s early, but given the injuries Kansas City has suffered, every little advantage will matter for them as they look to win a third consecutive Super Bowl.
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Bills vs. Ravens losers
Perception of the Buffalo Bills
Three weeks into the 2024 NFL season, many were saying that the Bills were the NFL’s best team. They were one of the league’s five unbeaten teams after Week 3, and Josh Allen was playing at arguably the highest level of his career to date.
Coming out of Week 4, the narrative about the Bills could shift significantly. Why? Because the three teams Buffalo faced to start the season — the Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins and Jaguars — have all endured defensive struggles that aren’t limited to their games against the Bills. That will lead some to question whether the Bills offense benefitted from a weaker than expected schedule to start the year.
Of course, that isn’t entirely fair. The Bills still blew out the Dolphins and Jaguars, and Allen hasn’t thrown an interception through four weeks, a big step forward in the decision-making issues that have plagued him during his career. Plus, the Ravens have one of the league’s most talented defenses.
But odds are that Buffalo’s blowout loss to Baltimore will have at least second-guessing the Bills, and NFL fans should expect to hear plenty of that ahead of Buffalo’s Week 5 game against the Houston Texans.
The Bills’ pass-catching weapons
To be clear, Buffalo’s receivers weren’t bad on Sunday night. Khalil Shakir made a big-time 52-yard play to help spark the Bills offense in the second half; Dalton Kincaid was a reliable target for Allen and helped keep the chains moving; and Keon Coleman flashed some of the upside that made him a second-round pick.
But even so, this marked the first game during which the Bills missed Stefon Diggs. Once it went down 21-3, Buffalo didn’t have a player who could win and get open consistently. And while Shakir, Kincaid and Coleman were all solid, the Bills were lacking a true No. 1 receiver to open things up for them.
That’s part of the reason Allen had to scramble around in the backfield so much. He waited for players to get open. It’s also why he took some downfield, contested-catch shots to Coleman throughout the contest.
Perhaps Coleman can develop into more of a No. 1 option for Buffalo as the season goes along, but at present, the Bills aren’t necessarily built to overcome larger deficits or score a lot on great defenses. Even a great quarterback like Allen will only be able to take Buffalo so far without a true, top-tier receiver.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers suffered their first loss of the season to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 4. A silver lining could have been attached to the loss had Baltimore also lost, but the Ravens’ resounding victory puts them just one game back of the Steelers in the AFC North standings.
Again, it’s early in the season, but every game will matter in the AFC playoff race. The Steelers entered Week 4 in command of the AFC North, but will now exit it with things getting much tighter in a division that’s always competitive.
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