Orchard Park, NY — Baltimore coach John Harbaugh had the good fortune of competing on the NFL’s biggest stage to assess the setup and scale of Sunday’s game between the Ravens and Bills in Buffalo.
There’s a quarterback matchup featuring the NFL’s two leading MVP candidates, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen.
They are two division champions with a total of 27 wins and two spots out of a Super Bowl spot.
As the third-seeded Ravens (13-5) travel to take on the Bills (14-4) in the divisional playoffs, temperatures are expected to drop below 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 12 degrees Celsius). Predictions for are also included in the equation. round.
“I can imagine John Facenda coming down from the sky and narrating game previews.” Harbaugh said, referencing the late NFL Films narrator whose deep, resonant voice brought gravitas to the league’s classic matchups. “It’s a privilege to be a part of a game like this.”
The quarterback matchup alone is worthy of a week of hype and primetime setup involving two dual threats selected in the first round of the 2018 draft, and the focus of a heated debate about who is more valuable to each team.
“That’s why you play this game in moments like these,” Allen said, ignoring the personal aspect of facing Jackson. “I’ve never played with another quarterback in the history of football.”
Allen, 28, has totaled 40 touchdowns for the fifth straight season while overseeing the first offense in the NFL to score 30 touchdowns both passing and rushing.
Jackson, 28, similarly refused to take it personally.
“I’m sorry everyone is watching, but I really don’t care who’s watching,” Jackson said of his fight with Allen. “We don’t really care what people think about it. We’re trying to go in there and win.”
Jackson scored a career-high 45 touchdowns and led the league in numerous passing categories while running an offense that became the NFL’s first to have 4,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing.
What still remains for Jackson is that his last visit to Buffalo ended in a 17-3 loss in the 2020 divisional round, with Taron Johnson sealing the win with a 101-yard interception return.
“Of course.” Jackson said. “That’s all I have to say.”
There’s also an underlying theme of redemption in Buffalo after the Ravens crushed the Bills in Week 4 with a 35-10 win.
The Bills are having trouble finding a way to slow down Derrick Henry, who had a season-high 199 yards in September, including an 87-yard touchdown run on the Ravens’ first offensive snap.
“I think we’re a lot better,” said Johnson, one of three Bills defensive starters scheduled to play after missing September’s game against Baltimore. “Today is a new day. Things are different. It’s just the way it is.”
The test for the Ravens will be understanding how Buffalo’s offense has adapted while also gaining a more balanced identity.
Running back James Cook matched Henry with 16 TD runs this season. 13 of them are after week 5. Buffalo also added receiver Amari Cooper, acquired in a mid-October trade, giving the passing attack another weapon. 13 players with touchdown catches.
“We’re obviously two very different teams than we were in that game,” Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton said. “The biggest takeaway for us is that it is possible. We need to replicate that success. But I know Buffalo has a sour taste for that game.”
It tastes really sour.
Defensive tackle DaQuan Jones immediately turned his attention to the game against Baltimore after Buffalo’s 31-7 wild card win over Denver on Sunday.
“It’s going to be a bloody war,” Jones said. “It’s just a matter of mindset. At the end of the day, to dominate you have to have the right mindset to be physically present in any game.”
The Ravens continued to raise the bar for their running game, setting a regular season record of 5.76 yards per attempt. The previous record stood for 60 years, since the Browns’ average of 5.74 in 1963.
In eight career playoff games, Henry has topped 150 yards four times. This is tied with Hall of Famer Terrell Davis for the most in NFL postseason history.
These are the two teams in the AFC over the past four years that have featured in the secondary against the two-time defending Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals.
Meanwhile, Buffalo was eliminated by Kansas City three times and Cincinnati once. The Ravens’ last two playoff losses came in the wild-card round against Cincinnati in 2022 and the conference championship game against Kansas City last year.
Bills edge rusher Von Miller was inspired by linebacker Terrel Bernard when he quoted Greek philosopher Heraclitus to discuss how the past never repeats itself because the world is constantly changing.
“The man was saying that if a man goes into the river once and the next time he goes into the river, it is not the same person and it is not the same river. The past is the past,” Miller said. “There is a tremendous opportunity ahead of us to go out and achieve all of our dreams.”
Both teams’ kickers have experienced inconsistencies this season.
In his 13th season, Baltimore’s Justin Tucker shot a career-worst 73.3 percent on 22-of-30 field goal attempts, including 6 of 11 from 50 yards or more. He also missed two extra point attempts.
Buffalo’s Tyler Bass finished his fifth season going 24 of 29 on field goal attempts for the second straight year and missed a career-worst five extra point attempts.
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AP Sports Writer Noah Trister contributed.
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