ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WKBW) — In less than five minutes, the Buffalo Bills turned a 15-point deficit into an instant classic victory to start their season 1-0. The Bills, in the unlikeliest of ways, topped the Baltimore Ravens 41-40 in the final home opener inside the current Highmark Stadium. It was an absolutely ridiculous game that won’t soon be forgotten.
So, where do we even begin from a game that was filled with so much chaos? Let’s fast forward to the end and work our way back.
With less than five minutes on the clock, the Bills were trailing 40 to 25, and according to NFL Next Gen Stats, had just a one percent chance of pulling out a victory. The Bills scored a touchdown to make it a one-possession game, but then needed a stop.
Instead of just getting a stop, they got their first and only takeaway of the game, forcing Derick Henry to fumble on an unbelievable play by Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver. Oliver stopped Henry behind the line of scrimmage and pulled the ball right out of his hands. The Bills' defensive tackle was easily their most impactful defender the entire game.
Buffalo quickly turned the fumble into a touchdown and had a chance to tie the game with a two-point conversion with two minutes left on the clock.
The Bills elected to throw a fade in the corner of the end zone to second-year wide receiver Keon Coleman. The ball hit the ground, and it looked like the Bills were going to come up just short.
However, the same defense that had been gashed all day made another stop, giving their offense the ball with about 90 seconds left on the clock. Allen moved the Bills down the field with ease and put the Bills into field goal range. Practice squad kicker Matt Prater made no mistake, drilling the 32-yard field goal to give the Bills an utterly ridiculous win. Prater joined the practice squad on Thursday after flying in on a red-eye flight from Arizona. He was the unlikeliest of heroes for the Bills and said after the game he felt like he was on Cloud 9.
The Bills deserve so much credit for staying in this game, but it certainly wasn’t a perfect evening, especially for their defense. Up until the final five minutes, it looked like the big story from this game was going to be Buffalo‘s inability to stop Baltimore’s rushing attack. They had no answers for Henry, quarterback Lamar Jackson, and the Ravens' weapons on offense. Moving forward, that is certainly a concern and something that needs to improve. But those are much easier things for a team to address and evaluate following a win, especially when it’s a win against an elite opponent like the Ravens.
On offense, Allen was truly spectacular. The reigning MVP played like it in the fourth quarter, throwing for 251 yards in the final 15 minutes of the game. The aforementioned Coleman was Allen’s top target, making several big plays in his best performance as a professional.
Newly signed wide receiver Joshua Palmer also had a huge catch on the Bills' final offensive drive to put the team in field goal range. Coleman led the way with eight catches for 112 yards, but Palmer also had five catches for 61 yards.
So how can you summarize a game so insane? Well, we tried, and you can watch the entire conversation with 7 Sports Director Matt Bove and 7 Sports reporter Dom Tibbetts at the top of the page!
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