The Ravens set the tone early in their win over the Bills and showed what they are capable of

BALTIMORE – Long before quarterback Lamar Jackson took the field and the Baltimore Ravens ran their first offensive play from their 13-yard line, they had decided exactly how they wanted to start.

At the team's offensive meetings the week the script was unveiled on the first possession, coordinator Todd Monken said if the Buffalo Bills aligned themselves a certain way, the Ravens would start with a “crunch” run concept , which, if implemented, can benefit from an aggressive defensive front that quickly advances into the field.

Standing in line with running back Derrick Henry 2 yards behind him, Jackson and his teammates scanned the line of scrimmage and immediately realized they had the correct play order.

“If we have the look, we’ll execute,” center Tyler Linderbaum said. “If we haven’t done it, we will. We got the look and I think everyone did a good job of blocking their opponent and then Derrick made a guy miss.”

87 yards later and after the 30-year-old, 247-pound Henry reached a top speed of 21.29 mph on the longest run in Ravens history, the tone was set.

DERRICK FREAKIN' HENRY!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/xhYv0apEQu

– NFL (@NFL) September 30, 2024

The Ravens never gave up in their 35-10 win over the previously undefeated Bills in front of a prime-time crowd of 70,636 at M&T Bank Stadium, a result that not only stabilized the team after its rocky start but also showed what it was capable of could be able to move forward.

“This is the beginning,” Jackson said, wearing a broad smile during his postgame media availability. “We got the running game going, but the receivers did their part. It was precisely in this type of game that we had to run the ball more. They played two high (safeties) and Derrick just did what he was supposed to do and so did the offensive line.”

The Ravens were at their best in all three phases and showed form that, if maintained, will make them a significant threat in the fight for the Lombardi Trophy. They totaled 427 yards of offense, 271 of which were on the ground, including 199 by Henry, who had a rushing and receiving touchdown. Baltimore scored touchdowns on its first three possessions, endured a lull late in the second quarter that carried into the third, and then put the hammer down on the Bills with back-to-back touchdown drives in the third and fourth quarters.

Defensively, the Ravens constantly harassed Josh Allen, who played the quarterback position perhaps better than anyone in football in the first three weeks, until Bills coach Sean McDermott waived the white flag and left Allen with his team trailing 35-10 and just over seven subtracted minutes remaining. The Bills had a glimmer of hope when they cut the Ravens' lead to 21-10 early in the third quarter, but Kyle Van Noy's strip-sack of Allen on a Buffalo trick play nearly wiped it out.

“It was a little bit like the last fight they had,” Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton said.

There would be no late game disappointment for Baltimore that night.

“A tremendous win,” said Ravens outside linebacker Odafe Oweh, who had one of the team’s three sacks and two of its eight quarterback hits. “I’m just glad we started dominant and ended dominant.”

The Ravens held a Bills team that averaged 37.3 points and 329 yards per game to a touchdown in the third quarter – and it took a miraculous 52-yard throw from Allen as he fell out of bounds to win to achieve balance. Buffalo had just 236 yards on offense and an average of just 4.1 yards per play. In comparison, the Ravens averaged 7.9.

Scoop City Newsletter

Free, daily NFL updates delivered straight to your inbox.

Free, daily NFL updates delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign in

Baltimore's special teams also contributed and never let Buffalo lose momentum. The performance was thorough and resounding. The Ravens led by seven points just over four minutes into the game, by 11 points after the first play of the second quarter, by 18 points at halftime and by 25 points less than four minutes into the fourth quarter.

“I really think it shows what a group of men — a group of people — is capable of,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “First of all, they just put their heads down, they don't care what people say, and they decided to go to work every day. They will meet, they will work on football and they will train the way they are supposed to. And when you do that as a football team, you have a chance to improve, and we did that. Now we know that we are getting better and better. We know what’s possible, we know what we’re capable of, but we still have a long way to go and a lot of work ahead of us.”

At 2-2, the Ravens have put their worst start to the season since 2015 behind them. Another test awaits them in the Queen City in six days in the form of the division rival Cincinnati Bengals. But Sunday provided the template for 2024 for the Ravens, who were always at their best when following the lead of their running game. Jackson just happens to have an extremely dynamic backfield partner this year: Henry, who is gaining traction with his new team every week.

“That’s what we’ve always been about when you look back at the history of the organization,” Harbaugh said. “Running the ball and playing great defense, and then we have weapons. We are blessed with weapons. (Lamar) just came in here. He's the best weapon in football right there, and everyone rallies around him, and he distributes everything to everyone else. That’s where it starts, but the running game is extremely important for us.”

Can the Ravens win a Super Bowl while relying so heavily on their running game? Maybe not. But that's not what it's been about in the last two weeks. It was about finding an offensive identity to free the team from its difficult start and exploit the opponents' weaknesses. The Dallas Cowboys had a broken interior defensive line and struggled to stop the run. So the Ravens ran the ball 45 times for 274 yards and scored a 28-25 victory that shouldn't have been that close.

The Bills like to fill the field with defensive backs and rely heavily on their nickel and dime packages. They were also missing their top two inside linebackers and nickel corner. So the Ravens ran the ball early and often. When they passed – Jackson was 13 of 18 for 156 yards, two touchdowns and a passer rating of 135.4 – they attacked Buffalo in the middle of the field.

“I like what Coach (Monken) did tonight,” said Jackson, who added 54 rushing yards and a touchdown on just six carries. “He kept the defense honest. We wanted to (shoot) and were the focus of the play-action game, the running game. Just consistently good.”

The Jackson 6️⃣

📺: #BUFvsBAL on NBC/Peacock
📱: Keep streaming #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/vrIBBmHsgW

– NFL (@NFL) September 30, 2024

And physically. Nowhere was that more evident than on Henry's 87-yard run that got the party started. It was a blocking clinic from the offensive line to the fullback to the tight ends to the receivers. It seemed that Henry was not affected at all.

“I felt pretty good about this play all week,” Henry said. “Justice (Hill) and everyone in the room talked about how this play has always been successful since they've been here – it's always been explosive. I expected it, but I'm glad they did a great job. All I had to do was make a cut and get into the end zone.”

On the play, rookie Roger Rosengarten, making his first career start at right tackle, stopped the Bills' Greg Rousseau from filling a hole inside. Right guard Daniel Faalele penetrated defensive tackle Ed Oliver and slid across to tackle DaQuan Jones. Full-back Patrick Ricard picked up an onrushing Oliver. Linderbaum moved on to the next level, where he mentored linebacker Dorian Williams.

Patrick Mekari, making his first career start at left guard, slid left and worked AJ Epenesa, allowing left tackle Ronnie Stanley to come up and pick off linebacker Baylon Spector. Tight end Mark Andrews then made sure Taylor Rapp couldn't make the play. Now all Henry had to do was outrun defensive backs Damar Hamlin, Christian Benford and Cam Lewis into the end zone.

Through four weeks, Henry leads the NFL with 480 rushing yards. His 6.0 yards per carry is a career high. He also already has a total of six touchdowns.

“If today doesn’t show me feeling good, then I don’t know what else to say,” Henry said. “It was fun. We didn't start out the way we wanted to, but like I told people, I came here for that reason, for the culture. Our backs are against the wall, 0-2. We just kept believing. We kept fighting and now we’re back to where we want to be and let’s just keep building on that in all three phases.”

(Photo: Tommy Gilligan / Imagn Images)