8 studs, 4 duds in Bills’ 17-3 win over the Ravens
The Buffalo Bills won by fine margins against the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional round of the playoffs, 17-3. It also came in the reserve fashion that we’re used to.
The Bills defense led the way while the offense did just enough. Buffalo had become accustomed doing to the opposite in 2020. But a win is a win.
With that, Bills Wire had eight studs and four duds from the Bills’ Divisional win over the Ravens here:
Bills defensive end Jerry Hughes. (AP Photo/John Munson)
Studs
CB Taron Johnson
What do we need to say? You know the entire story here. Taron Johnson’s interception could go down as one of the biggest play in Bills history depending on how far this team goes moving forward.
WR Stefon Diggs
Bills quarterback Josh Allen had 206 passing yards and 106 of them went to Stefon Diggs via eight catches. Diggs also scored Buffalo’s lone touchdown on offense. Diggs was impressive, in particular, moving the chains with his catches.
WR John Brown
John Brown had a big block with Gabe Davis on Diggs’ touchdown catch. Brown also kind of took Davis’ job from last week, didn’t he? After not having a catch last week, Brown had eight for 62 yards against the Ravens, often working the sideline on his routes in an impressive manner.
DC Leslie Frazier
We’ll get to some individual players on defense, but defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier deserves some love first and foremost. He, and head coach Sean McDermott, schemed up a perfect plan to contain Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson. In addition, Frazier is also Buffalo’s play-caller for the defense. Masterful job at that as well by Frazier.
LB Matt Milano
Jack Doyle, Mo Alie-Cox, and Trey Burton combined for 14 catches for 136 yards, a touchdown, and a two-point conversion catch against the Bills last week. Matt Milano didn’t do a good job against any of them. He turned it around in a massive way against the Ravens, helping shutdown tight end Mark Andrews. On a massive 11 targets, Andrews had four catches for 28 yards.
Milano ended up contributing two passes defended in the game. One huge one against Andrews came on third down near midfield.
LB Tremaine Edmunds
Tremaine Edmunds led the Bills with nine total tackles and his sideline-to-sideline skills were on display early. He tracked down Jackson to end two early drives quickly and was a big part in shutting down the quarterback all game long.
OL Mitch Morse
Kudos to Mitch Morse for his bounce-back effort. He had a tough game vs. the Colts, but held Calais Campbell at bay for most of the game against the Ravens. While the Bills didn’t really run the ball much, Morse did put his mobility on display when they did, getting to the second-level to help multiple time. The entire interior of the Bills’ offensive line preformed well in pass protection, not allowing a single sack. Both of the Ravens’ takeaways came off the edge.
DE Jerry Hughes
The longest tenured member of the Bills had two sacks on Jackson and pressured him throughout the game. It was poetic justice to see a guy that’s been around Buffalo for so long have such an impact in a huge game.
Push: Brian Daboll
The Bills offense only had one touchdown in the game. Passing the ball a ton is fine, but the Bills ran the ball once in the first half, just before halftime. In the red zone the Bills didn’t have the best play calls, either. This falls on Brian Daboll … but the Bills did win, after all.
Push: QB Josh Allen
Josh Allen has set the bar high for himself. In keeping him up to that standard, he didn’t play well. But if we’re going to toss the flow of the game into the equation, the Bills QB did do a good enough job managing and winning the game. Overall, Allen was 23-for-37 passing for 206 yards. He only rushed the ball for three yards on seven carries.
Bills kicker Tyler Bass (Gannett photo)
K Tyler Bass
Tough day at the office for Tyler Bass and Justin Tucker alike. Both kickers were 1-for-3 in the game. Bass also missed from 44 in the fourth quarter. Not a gimme, but that one would’ve iced the game. Buffalo went on to win anyway, but we’ll need those ones in the future.
WR Cole Beasley
Cole Beasley had a huge effort a week ago while playing on an injured knee. Even if he was playing on it again, he still was a dud considering he was doing the same last week and had seven catches for 57 yards in that one. Against the Ravens, Beasley only had two targets.
Continued third-down troubles
At no point in this offseason has the Bills offense been good on third down. Buffalo was only 2-for-9 on third down and didn’t convert a single one in the second half last week. Against the Ravens, the Bills were only 4-for-13 and didn’t convert a one in the first half. Beasley’s struggles perhaps played a part here.
Meanwhile on defense, the Bills allowed the Ravens offense to convert on 7-of-17 attempts.
RB Devin Singletary
Devin Singletary didn’t get many opportunities despite taking the bulk of the work without Zack Moss. Overall, Singletary \had 25 yards rushing on seven carries. He had one nice 12-yard gainer but that was it. In addition, on three catches including one in the red zone, Singletary only had 12 yards receiving.
WR Gabriel Davis
Not only was Davis 0-for-4 on his targets against the Ravens, one miss was bad. A touchdown pass went off his hands and the Bills are very lucky that didn’t come back to bite them. The rookie was on top of the world last week to only lay a stinker vs. Baltimore.
