The Buffalo Bills were humbled on the road against the Baltimore Ravens, suffering their first loss of the season while getting rocked by the Ravens’ offense. And while the Bills were coming off dominant showings against the Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars, they had yet to face a physical offensive unit like the Ravens, and it showed. What was even more evident is that the Bills miss their defensive superstars, and they miss them badly.
The Bills were without their three best defensive players for the second straight week against Baltimore. Linebackers Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard were out again, and Milano won’t be back until at least December while he rehabs a bicep injury. Bernard is dealing with a pectoral injury that will keep him out for an undetermined amount of time. Nickel cornerback Taron Johnson was also out again after injuring his arm in Week 1 against the Cardinals. The Bills were able to get away with these injuries because they hadn’t played a physical, ground-and-pound team in their first three games. The Cardinals, Dolphins, and Jaguars are all finesse offenses that the Bills were able to out-physical up front – Baltimore was a different story, and that was evident from the first snap for Baltimore.
Derrick Henry took the Ravens’ first play from scrimmage 87 yards untouched for a touchdown, which set the tone for the rest of the evening. Baltimore ran for 271 yards on eight yards per carry. That allowed the Ravens do carve up the middle of the field with receivers getting wide open off play action against stacked boxes. Buffalo entered the night 16th in defensive rush success rate, and that was against teams who all rank outside the top 10 in rush success rate on offense. The Ravens simply bullied the Bills in the trenches, and they used that to keep Buffalo guessing all night.
The good news for the Bills is that they will almost certainly win the AFC East, and do so somewhat handedly. For now, though, their defensive generals being out of combat is beginning to catch up with them.
