Baltimore denied a fifth conference title game.
Saturday, January 16, 2021, Orchard Park, NY: To be fair, the cries of the Buffalo Bills’ fan base for another championship are more legitimate than Baltimore-based complaints. After all, Buffalo’s two titles came in 1964 and 1965 over the San Diego Chargers in the American Football League. The Ravens won Super Bowl 35 over the New York Giants and, eight years ago, they won Super Bowl 47 over the San Francisco 49ers.
And on this windy night, change blew the Bills’ way as the Ravens saw another outstanding season end short of their Super Bowl quest. With a 17-3 defeat at the hands of the host Bills in front of 6,772 Bills Stadium fans, Baltimore (12-6) was denied in its attempt to advance to the AFC Championship Game for the fifth time in team history.
John Harbaugh: It’s a tough loss, But I’m proud of the guys, nonetheless. Congratulations to the Bills. They were mistake-free and capitalized on opportunities. We just talked to our guys. It’s a tough loss.
Now the big news in Buffalo is this: if the Browns manage to pull an upset over the Chiefs today, the AFC title game will be in Buffalo for the first time since the Bills’ halcyon days of the early ’90s that saw the Bills reach four straight Super Bowls.
For the Ravens, what they thought would be this Saturday night wasn’t to be. They expected to dictate the pace/ tempo and exert their will upon their hosts. Lamar Jackson would be the turnkey, spearheading a varied, wide-open scheme.
But the way this game turned out, reliance on Jackson in the short run led to problems in the long run, as Jackson was responsible for the game’s biggest play. Trailing by 10-3, and with the third quarter winding down, Jackson drove the Ravens into the Bills’ red zone–a place where he had never thrown an interception in his career, connecting instead on 49 touchdown passes. But he stared down tight end Mark Andrews and tried to shove the ball into a tight goal-line window. Bills slot corner Teron Johnson grabbed it and ran 101 yards for a league-record-tying playoff interception-return score to put away the game.
Mark Andrews: “The guy (Johnson) popped out and made a great play.
It was one in a string of Ravens’ miscues. In the first half alone, kicker Justin Tucker had two field-goal tries bounce off the uprights. It was the first time in Tucker’s career he had multiple misses of under 50 yards in the same game. In addition to Tucker’s misses, Sam Koch dribbled a punt that went a mere 23 yards, several passes were dropped, and the Ravens committed five fumbles–none of which, miraculously, was recovered by the Bills.
Baltimore also went 1-for-6 on third-down plays in the first half and 7-for-17 in the game. And with no points after halftime, the team’s streak of 70 straight halves with points ended. At one point, penalties on three straight plays left the Ravens backed up against their goal line with 35 yards to go for a first down.
Despite all of that, Baltimore ran 73 plays to Buffalo’s 55, held the ball for 11 more minutes, and outgained their hosts, 340-220.
The Ravens’ defense played well enough to limit Buffalo’s league-best third-down crew to a 4-for-13 performance. The Bills, who also missed two field goals on a very windy night, didn’t have run-pass balance (passing far more than running), but they managed to get key plays at exactly the right time.
For the Ravens, the night culminated in Jackson being concussed, leaving the game, and never returning. Jackson lay in the end zone after hitting his head against the turf on a play that had the center snap sail over his head. Rookie Tyler Huntley relieved him and played well, but he missed a wide-open fourth-down pass that would have kept a flicker of hope alive.
Shortly thereafter, Malik Harrison ran into the Bills’ punter, and that penalty gave the Bills a first down and ultimately ended the Ravens’ season. Now it’s Buffalo’s fans that get to see their team play in the AFC Championship game.
As for the Ravens, defensive end Calais Campbell put the situation in context: “We have to go back to work and try to do it again next year.” That’s because Baltimore’s season–COVID and all–has come to an end.
