Buffalo Bills: The Lone Bright Spot in Loss vs. Ravens

The Bills were out-coached and out-executed on Sunday night against the Ravens, making it hard to find many silver linings — however, the second-half contributions and mental progress flashed by rookie wide reciever Keon Coleman were an exception.

After scoring his first NFL touchdown in Week 3, expectations for Coleman were starting to rise. Against a defense in Baltimore that was struggling against the deep passing game, it felt like the Bills could potentially exploit that weakness.

That wasn't the case in the first half. In fact, the Bills stuck with their typical game plan of spreading the ball around underneath, staying ahead of the sticks and relying on yards-after-catch.

It wasn't until the end of the first half, when the Bills were already trailing 21-3, that they found themselves with an opportunity to throw downfield. Josh Allen threw a perfect ball down the sideline and Coleman did a great job of separating at the point of attack, but it bounced off his shoulder and fell incomplete.

Considering the score and Coleman's lack of NFL experience, it would have been easy for Allen to turn his eyes elsewhere after the mishap, but in the second half, the pair connected three times for 51 yards.

The book on Coleman entering the 2024 draft was that he wasn't the most-defined route runner, but that it didn't matter because he was lethal at the catch point — and incredibly athletic. While the former basketball player has always had a knack for winning contested catches, he likely wouldn't garner 8-10 targets per game, at least not early on in his NFL career, but could his 3-4 targets account for some chunk plays?

Two of Coleman's three catches on Sunday night accounted for 20+ yards as he caught nearly identical back shoulder throws from Allen down the left sideline in the third quarter. Outside of a desperation throw to Shakir that went for 52 yards, they were the only completions that travelled 15+ air yards for Allen in the game, according to Next Gen Stats.

It was discouraging that Coleman dropped his deepest target of the game with under two minutes remaining in the first half, but it's more encouraging that he was able to shake it off and be a worthy contributor in the later stages of the game. Despite the drop, Allen trusted Coleman when the Bills were trying to mount a comeback — and that certainly counts for something.

While it didn't work on Sunday night, the Bills will likely continue to own their 'everybody eats' mantra on offense. But when an opportunity arises for Allen to take some shots downfield, expect Coleman to be on the other side.

If the rookie can consistently make a handful of catches like he did on Sunday night, he'll become a significant contributor to the offense before long. So kudos to Coleman for moving on from his mistake and coming back stronger for his quarterback in an otherwise disappointing game for the Bills.