It was Sunday night, September 29th live from Baltimore where the Buffalo Bills not only suffered their first loss of the season, but it was a brutal loss. Literally right from the start, Derrick Henry punished the Bills by scoring an 87-yard touchdown run on the Raven’s opening drive. From there on out, the Bills were out of it and couldn’t get out Baltimore any faster.
Buffalo was going through a lot of injury adversity in Week 4 going up against the Ravens. They didn’t have linebackers Terrel Bernard and Matt Milano. Cornerback Taron Johnson was also inactive, and Josh Allen had been dealing with a hand injury that he suffered in Week 1 against Arizona. The Bills were humbled big time by the Ravens and it threw them off the following week where they lost to the Houston Texans, 23-20.
Many fans thought that this was the downfall for the Bills. After starting out 3-0, averaging 37 points per game, a lot of people were saying that the Bills were finally coming back down to Earth. That just simply wasn’t the case whatsoever. After cleaning up their wounds from the Ravens and Texans, the Bills ripped off seven consecutive wins, won the AFC East, and finished the regular season at 13-4.
Head coach Sean McDermott should be in the conversation for Coach of the Year, but he has been overlooked his entire coaching career. One way that McDermott can really prove that he is the most valuable coach is by taking advantage of a second chance that he and his team are getting this coming weekend.
Bills have prime opportunity to fix massive Week 4 mistake
Throughout this week, you will see all the chatter about how it’s the battle of the two MVP leading candidates in Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. There is no question that it should be the main headline. At the same time, McDermott has a big chance to correct a major wrong that the Bills dealt with in Week 4; putting up a fight against the Ravens and making the score even in a big game.
Buffalo was outworked in every aspect of the game the first time. They couldn’t stop Jackson and the Baltimore offense. They couldn’t get anything going on defense. You name it, and the Ravens were clearly better. Times have changed though.
The Bills are a completely different team for the better. There is more continuity and there is trust among the entire team, from coaching staff down to the roster. The divisional round has been McDermott’s kryptonite the last three years. He has been beaten by the Chiefs twice and Bengals once. Now he will have to the chance to overcome that hump by taking down a team that a lot of people think is the best in the AFC.
If the Bills can take down the Ravens this weekend, no one is going to care about what happened in Week 4. Regular season football is no match for playoff football. Have all of the regular season success you want. In the end, it’s all about what happens in the postseason.