Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills were begging the Baltimore Ravens to give them some bulletin-board material ahead of their Week 1 duel, and they managed to do just that when someone on the Ravens' defense seem to doubt the necessity of making the reigning MVP the focal point of their defensive game plan.
Ravens All-Pro linebacker Roquan Smith, when asked about how the team prepares to corral a Bills offense that took them down in the postseason this season, may have taken a veiled shot at Allen. Smith said that the plan is to "stop the run, and we'll go from there." Someone should let him know Allen has a bit of a special right arm to worry about.
Apparently an MVP with multiple playoff wins against Baltimore is not worth trying to prioritize in their 2025 debut. If the Ravens end up getting blown out, they could look to that quote as part of the reason for their poor performance in the fact of a mighty Buffalo roster.
Ravens give Josh Allen, Bills motivation before Week 1
Stopping James Cook and the ground game will obviously be important, as some great Allen years were let down by the fact that he had to do everything on the offensive side of the ball and wilted under the weight of such a task. The bigger task, as always, is making sure Allen can't beat you with his arm.
Allen will admittedly have his hands full with a Ravens defense that added some new playmakers in the NFL Draft and invested a ton of money into keeping some of their best players locked up long-term. From top to bottom, Baltimore may have the best roster in the entire league.
While the Ravens have had some success against Allen, as he is barely completing over 50% of his passes against Baltimore if you factor the playoffs into things, the fact that Allen has consistently come out on top when it matters gives the Bills a serious psychological edge.
The Ravens might be salty about how the MVP vote went down last year or still licking their wounds from how their playoff exit went, as that is the only explanation for why Baltimore is going into their latest duel with the Bills sporting such a cavalier attitude about Allen.