The Buffalo Bills are now 3-1 through September after they were handed their first loss of the season from the Baltimore Ravens 35-10 on Sunday Night Football.
"Give credit where credit is due, Baltimore Ravens came out and they beat us," Bills head coach Sean McDermott said. "They outplayed us. They outcoached us, and we've got to identify the problems and get them fixed."
It seemed like nothing could go right from the jump for the Bills on either side of the football, as they struggled to contain Ravens RB Derrick Henry, QB Lamar Jackson and RB Justice Hill. Henry ended the day with 209 yards from scrimmage, just shy of 200 rushing yards with 199, one touchdown on the ground and one receiving, while the Ravens ran for 271 yards total. That total was more than the Bills had in total offense.
"We'll know when we watch the film," DT DaQuan Jones said. "They just kept getting them creases and Derrick is one of those backs, you give him a lane and he'll take it to the crib and first play of the game, he did that, and I felt that got them in a rhythm and that kept them going after that."
After the Bills first drive of the game stalled, Henry took the Ravens' first play from scrimmage 87 yards to the end zone, giving the Ravens the early lead.
"I gotta do a better job communicating, getting everyone lined up, gotta read the keys," LB Baylon Spector said.
"They executed and we really didn't even touch the running back," McDermott said. "We've got to be in better position. I know we've done that before."
Even though the offense responded with a 50-yard field goal, it was all Ravens as they scored touchdowns on their next two drives and never surrendered the lead.
The Ravens defensive line applied pressure to Allen all night long, making him uncomfortable and forcing him into difficult situations.
"I think they had a good plan, a good pressure plan," Allen said. "They made more plays than we did, and it was evident right away. They had more urgency than we did, and that's something we'll correct."
Even when the Bills felt as if they were starting to gain momentum on offense in the second half, a trick play that resulted in an Allen fumble and Ravens recovery sent them crashing back down to earth as they were never able to put the ball in the endzone again.
Bills WR Curtis Samuel, who took the direct snap addressed the play call and the offense in general after the game.
"We just didn't execute," Samuel said. "I mean, hats off to them, they did a great job out there, but all 11 guys, we all gotta play together. We all got to play our best football."
Despite the blowout loss and offense struggling to find much momentum, there were a few positives to draw from.
In the third quarter, the defense forced a quick three-and-out of the Ravens offense that led to the Bills only touchdown of the game to RB Ty Johnson. On that drive, Allen worked his magic, extending a play as he ran to the right sideline and slinging a pass down the field to WR Khalil Shakir for 52-yards.
"They brought a little bit of pressure," Allen said. "We had a max protect on and they dropped a few guys into zone underneath where I wanted to go and just tried to extend and make a play and Khalil did a good job of scramble drill there."
Even though the loss was frustrating, there was positivity in the locker room after the game as they saw this as an opportunity to learn from early in the season. Allen wanted his team to know that "not everything was bad in this game."
"I don't want us to come away from this saying we're the worst, and lots to learn from," Allen said. "I'm glad this happened early in the season so we can correct things."
Rookie WR Keon Coleman, who ended the day with 3 catches and 51-yards, spoke after the game about bouncing back in the second half after having a drop late in the second quarter that would have set the offense up in position to score. Coleman made two huge, contested catches along the sideline that helped the offense move the ball in the second half.
"The moment's never too big," Coleman said. "Just got to go out there and make a play, execute and keep going."
Allen also said that he learned about his team's no-blink mentality and that it will help them down the road in dealing with adversity after being down 21-3 at the half.
"We were down and out early on, and we kinda stopped the bleeding," Allen said. "We could have done more to really put a Band-Aid over it, and we just let it slip away. So those plays are really big in the grand scheme of things, and they altered the game. But make no mistake about it, they came out, like I said, with urgency, and they whipped our butt."
Jones parroted Allen's thoughts, adding that although he was frustrated, he was excited to watch the film.
"At the same time, I think that this will be a huge learning point for us to see where teams are going to attack us so they can move the ball," Jones said. "I am looking forward to watching the film and seeing what we can learn from it and it's early in the season."
With the first quarter of the season now complete, the Bills will look to make those adjustments quickly as they turn around for the second of their three-road game stint and travel to Houston to play the Texans on Sunday afternoon.
"Like I said, we'll make the adjustments we need to make," McDermott said. "We've got to make them quickly, and then move on from there."
