1. Night and day for Josh Allen
The last time the Bills and Ravens played it was the first career appearance for Josh Allen. Buffalo suffered a decisive 47-3 loss on a rainy day in Baltimore.
"The rain coming down made it a pretty messy game but I remember watching it a few times and making some play and it's just kind of surreal to be in the position I'm in and I feel like night and day from as far as a football perspective with my knowledge of the game, knowledge of my own offense, but that was one of those moments I got to learn from," Allen said.
Allen has been familiar with Lamar Jackson since his college days and before the 2018 NFL Draft. At junior college he was roommates with one of Jackson's cousins and they remembered watching film and highlights of him.
"Lamar wasn't anointed the guy until he went out there and started making some plays," Allen said. "Everybody had their doubts about him, and he's proved everybody wrong. Being a guy that's kind of had a similar situation where guys want to doubt you, to go see him do what he's been doing and kind of watch him prove everybody wrong, it's been awesome to see."
2. Jordan Phillips breaks down McDermott's message to the team this week
At 9-3 the Bills are on the verge of clinching a playoff berth but they still have a goal of going 1-0 every week. Defensive tackle Jordan Phillips says the Bills don't have any expectations and want to focus on working week in and week out.
"He [McDermott] had a good message today just saying 'be yourself.' You know we're having a good season but still don't really have any expectations, so it's just kind of like everybody is playing for each other, everybody is still having fun and playing good ball," Phillips said.
3. Lorenzo Alexander's defensive philosophy for this week
Lorenzo Alexander will be integral to sealing the edge against Lamar Jackson. Buffalo's defense will have to be confident in their attempts to tackle him.
"You got to be aggressive, I get that, but at some point he's going to burn you," Alexander said. "Once you identify the ball you have to go attack, you can't sit back and try to play a space game with a space player. I'm not athletic enough so I have to at some point take my shot with the confidence that my defensive guys are pursuing the ball to get him down."
4. Micah Hyde describes what it's like to defend a high-powered offense
Micah Hyde used to play quarterback in high school and described what Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense as similar to it.
"One hundred percent. I used to love it, knowing that they don't have enough in the box," Hyde said. "It was easy for you to quarterback-keep it and you can get outside and use the space and it was fun to operate. Obviously, Jackson is doing that in the NFL and I was doing it in high school football but when it comes down to the basics and the number-game they're really good at exploiting it."
5. Shaq Lawson's confidence continues to grow
Shaq Lawson's confidence has grown with every game and he says he's feeling and playing with the same confidence he had when he was drafted out of Clemson. Lawson is riding a three-game sack streak and has produced a career-high 5.5 sacks on the season.
"I feel like the 2016 first round pick at 19th overall," Lawson said. "I feel like that guy. I have so much more confidence in the games going for me. The plan is to get better as a pass rusher and continue to get better to take the next step in my career."
