One week after dominating the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card round, the Baltimore Ravens are taking a seat on the couch next to Pittsburgh during Championship Game weekend. The Ravens’ season came to an end Sunday night, falling to the Buffalo Bills 27-25 in the Divisional Round.
Buffalo will travel to Kansas City and take on the Chiefs next Sunday in a classic No. 1 versus No. 2 seed matchup. The winner will represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.
Both offenses started hot scoring on their opening possessions. Baltimore received the opening kick and carved up Buffalo’s defense on eight plays for 73-yards. QB Lamar Jackson scrambled for a key first down before finding WR Rashod Bateman open over the middle for a 16-yard score.
The Bills’ answer was immediate going 70-yards on 11 plays as rookie RB Ray Davis plowed over the snowy goal line for a 1-yard score to tie the game at 7.
From there, the Ravens’ turnovers were the storyline of the game. Miscommunication between Jackson and Bateman led to an arm-punt interception that Buffalo couldn’t turn into points. But Jackson made a bad play worse on his ensuing drive. Corralling a high snap from C Tyler Linderbaum, Jackson couldn’t escape S Damar Hamlin and fumbled. Veteran EDGE Von Miller scooped and nearly scored before being tackled at the Ravens’ 24.
Buffalo grabbed a 14-7 lead when QB Josh Allen Tush Push’d his way into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown. A short Justin Tucker field goal made it 14-10 late in the half but the Bills used a late drive to score seconds before the second quarter ended, Allen rushing for a 4-yard touchdown to take a 21-10 halftime lead. It was Baltimore’s largest deficit at intermission of the season.
But the third quarter was all Baltimore. RB Derrick Henry got rolling after a quiet first half, ripping off long runs that led to 10 Ravens’ points. First, a second Bateman score followed by another Tucker field goal. With a failed two-point conversion mixed in, Buffalo’s lead fell to just 21-19.
A long but inefficient drive to open the fourth quarter led to a Bills’ first goal to go up 24-19 with 12 minutes to play. The Ravens threatened but turned the ball over again as TE Mark Andrews fumbled for just the second time of his career, punched out by Bills LB Terrel Bernard.
Buffalo drove to Baltimore’s doorstep and chewed clock but couldn’t put the game away with a touchdown, settling for a field goal to take an eight point lead. The Ravens took over with 3:23 remaining. Despite turnovers and earl-game struggles, Jackson led a masterful drive that hit TE Isaiah Likely for a sliding touchdown catch with 1:33 left. Needing a two-point conversion to tie, Jackson rolled right and had Andrews wide open in the right flat. What should’ve been a catch, conversion, and tie turned into an Andrews’ drop, a disaster of a performance in a critical game.
It was a moment reminiscent of Andrews’ 2020 two-point conversion drop in a loss to the Steelers.
Buffalo recovered the onside kick and rushed for a first down on their first offensive play, clinching the win.
Jackson finished the day throwing for 254-yards, two touchdowns, and one pick. Henry ran for 84-yards and one score on 18 carries. For Buffalo, Allen only needed 127 passing yards but rushed for a pair of scores on 10 carries.
The Chiefs are looking to become the first-ever three-peat Super Bowl champs. The Bills are searching for their first Super Bowl victory after losing their previous four attempts. Buffalo has lost to Kansas City in the playoffs in 2020, 2021 and 2023.
Since 2013, the Ravens had made just one AFC Title Game, falling last year to the Chiefs. Their last Super Bowl came in 2012.
