Bills-Ravens Reactions: Buffalo Rolls 36-10 and Grabs the AFC’s Top Seed

The Bills beat the Ravens 36-10 on Sunday, climbed to 6-1, and woke up Monday as the AFC’s number one seed. The path there was uglier than the final score, with Buffalo burying itself in penalties and turning it over twice before Josh Allen and the offense took over in the second half. By the end, Allen had passed Jim Kelly for the most touchdown passes in franchise history, and the defense had held Baltimore to 10 points.

• Why the offense looked broken for a half, then unstoppable
• The record Josh Allen just took from Jim Kelly
• Whether the defense turned a corner or just caught a break
• The freak injury that changed the whole game
• What the AFC’s top seed finally means for Buffalo

What Was Wrong With the Bills Offense in the First Half?

The Bills jumped out to a 10-0 lead and then spent the rest of the half getting in their own way. Buffalo’s offense, the league’s most productive, moved in fits and settled for a touchdown and three field goals, giving it back twice along the way. For a half, the only thing slowing the Bills down was the Bills.

That started up front, where Dion Dawkins jumped early more than once, including a false start at the goal line that wiped out a scoring chance, and the offense kept drowning drives in illegal formation and illegal motion flags. Joe Brady’s plan did it no favors, loaded with new motions and pre-snap window dressing the group hadn’t yet mastered, and a two-point try that lined Keon Coleman up tight and sent Austin Corbett out of the backfield was the clearest sign of a coach reaching for too much, too soon.

Allen felt every bit of it, pressing through a 6-of-17 half, forcing balls into coverage and spiking his helmet after a Jackson Hawes drop turned into an interception that was never his fault. Afterward, he put the half on himself for forcing the issue, saying he spent halftime doing nothing more complicated than settling his feet and letting the game come back to him.

How Did Josh Allen Flip the Game After Halftime?

Allen came out of halftime a different quarterback, going 13 of 15 for 187 yards and two scores with a passer rating north of 158 while Buffalo scored on three of its first four second-half possessions. The team that spent a half tripping over itself finally looked like the one everyone expected.

Most of the turnaround came from Brady getting out of his own head, shelving the first-half clutter and leaning on James Cook to churn out eight and 12 yards at a clip, using that rhythm to open the shots downfield. Cook’s rushing line stayed modest, but he moved the chains on every drive that mattered.

The downfield game, missing all half, finally broke open. DJ Moore skied for a deep ball and ripped it away from the defender, the kind of contested grab Greg likened to Brandon Cooks, and Allen later feathered a 23-yard touchdown to Dalton Kincaid. Keon Coleman came open on another shot that Allen sailed, the one that got away on a near-perfect day, and Moore, Kincaid, and Khalil Shakir combined for more than 230 receiving yards.

Allen’s two scoring throws rewrote a piece of the franchise record book, pushing him to 260 for his career, including the playoffs, one past Jim Kelly’s 258, and the win was his 102nd, nudging him past Tom Brady for the third-most by any quarterback through nine seasons. Even a 36-point day needed the offense to be near-perfect once it woke up, which is the bar Dave and Greg keep measuring this team against.

Did the Bills Defense Turn a Corner, or Just Catch a Break?

The defense turned in its best line of the year, and the show spent the day refusing to buy it. Baltimore lost Lamar Jackson on the opening snap and backup Tyler Huntley early in the second quarter, which left undrafted third-stringer Joe Fagnano steering the offense the rest of the way. Grading a unit against that is almost pointless.

The Bills still made the gift count, dialing up their heaviest pressure of the season, sacking the Ravens four times, and nearly adding a fifth before a Deone Walker takedown was ruled an incomplete pass. Three takeaways and a fourth-down stop followed, and Baltimore finished with 144 total yards and those 10 early points.

Cole Bishop blew up Huntley for a sack and the forced fumble that Kaleb Elarms-Orr scooped, the kind of individual flash that’s been invisible most of the year. Davison Igbinosun came down with an interception, and Deone Walker spent the afternoon living in Baltimore’s backfield. Zay Flowers, fifth in the NFL in receiving yards coming in, never caught a pass, and Christian Benford didn’t give up a reception.

Jim Leonhard ran the game from the booth for the first time, a move the show had been begging for, and the coverage changed with him. Buffalo played close to 80 percent man in the second half after a near-even split before the break, and banking those reps, even against a third-stringer, hands Leonhard something real to build on.

Making a quarterback with zero NFL experience look overmatched is the job, not a breakthrough, so the whole performance stays under an asterisk until Justin Jefferson and the Vikings test it next week. The tackling is the one thing that travels, a quiet season-long upgrade even on the nights the coverage has let go.

»» Check out Week 8’s good and poor performances in this week’s Stock Up, Stock Down

What Happened to Lamar Jackson?

The game’s whole shape changed on Baltimore’s first snap, when Jackson jammed his throwing thumb on Greg Rousseau’s arm, an injury the Ravens later said needs surgery and a stint on injured reserve, with a real chance it ends his season. Huntley’s toe gave out a quarter later, and Baltimore was suddenly down to a quarterback who had never taken a meaningful NFL snap.

Dave and Greg both refused to pile on Jackson for it, since jamming a thumb on a rusher is dumb luck that could happen to anyone. The nastier moment belonged to Roquan Smith, who reached well past the ball to drag Allen down by the facemask at the goal line, a play both read as an attempt to injure. Their money is on a fine, not the suspension they think it deserves.

Is Joe Brady Growing Into the Head Coach Job?

Brady is the first coach in Bills history to open a tenure 6-1 through seven games, a resume line worth keeping for a first-timer calling his own plays, even after a first half that made him look like one.

Brady still shows his inexperience in the situational moments, like the end of the second quarter, when he let the clock drain before spending Buffalo’s last timeout, a sequence that drew boos and a confused look from Allen before it ended in a Tyler Bass field goal. Running a play before the timeout keeps the whole field open, and these are the reps Brady needs banked before January.

Bass has quietly turned automatic again, drilling all three attempts, including a 56-yarder and running his streak to 21 straight, a franchise record, after missing all of last season with pelvis and groin trouble. None of Brady’s growing pains cost Buffalo much, which is the point of going through them now, while the wins keep coming and the margin forgives a mistake.

What Does the AFC’s Top Seed Mean for Buffalo?

Buffalo backed into the AFC’s top seed at the best possible time, sitting 6-1 atop the division and the conference after Kansas City fell in Denver on a last-second goal-line stand that ended with Patrick Mahomes on his back. Josh Allen has chased this spot his entire career without ever holding it.

The one seed is the only path to a first-round bye, and a week off means everything for a team that has limped into past Januaries on bad legs. A home game in a Buffalo winter only sweetens the deal.

For nine years the weird stuff broke against Buffalo at the cruelest times, and this season it keeps breaking the other way. Rousseau blocked a field goal to beat the Rams, the defense has ripped away late strip-sacks, and two linemen hustled downfield to recover a James Cook fumble on a game-winning drive. Greg keeps poking at the pattern, and it holds up. The breaks that once buried the Bills are falling their way.

The deadline next Tuesday hands Brandon Bean a real decision, with safety the loudest need after another shaky stretch from that group and receiver climbing the list once Joshua Palmer went down with a hamstring that could sideline him a month. The full breakdown is tomorrow’s show, and the injury picture is on the BIB injury report.

Allen set the tone after the final whistle, opening his on-field interview by asking about Jackson and hoping he was okay. That instinct is a big reason the show trusts the culture around this team as long as he is the one carrying it.

Bills-Ravens: What 6-1 and the Top Seed Say About Buffalo

A 6-1 record and the AFC’s top seed sit on top of a win that was equal parts dominant and unconvincing, built on a half of self-sabotage and an afternoon spent beating up a third-string quarterback. The cleaner football still has to come, and Minnesota on Monday night will ask for it. For now, the breaks are finally falling Buffalo’s way, and a 6-1 start with this much room left to grow is a problem worth having.

Is this the most complete 6-1 team of the Josh Allen era, or does that first-half offense still keep you up at night heading into the stretch?

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