BALTIMORE — Tyler Bass kicked a 21-yard field goal on the game’s final play, and Josh Allen rallied the Buffalo Bills from a 17-point deficit to beat the Baltimore Ravens, 23-20, on Sunday.
With the score tied at 20 in the final quarter, the Ravens (2-2) had second down from the Buffalo 1-yard line. Two straight runs failed to reach the end zone, and Baltimore decided to go for it on fourth down from the 2.
Lamar Jackson had to scramble a bit, then threw a pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Jordan Poyer for a touchback with 4:09 remaining — a disastrous result for the Ravens because it meant the Bills (3-1) weren’t pinned deep like they would have been following an incompletion.
From there, Allen calmly guided Buffalo into field-goal range, capping his team’s comeback from a 20-3 deficit late in the second quarter. It was the second straight home game in which Baltimore let a sizeable lead slip away. Miami rallied from a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Ravens, 42-38, two weekends ago.
Allen threw for 213 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and Jackson passed for 144 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. The matchup of star quarterbacks didn’t really live up to its potential on a rainy day near the Chesapeake Bay. Jackson and Allen did their usual damage with their legs but were largely limited to short completions.
J.K. Dobbins scored two early touchdowns for the Ravens, but they allowed a 4-yard touchdown pass from Allen to Isaiah McKenzie in the waning seconds of the first half to make it 20-10.
Buffalo controlled the third quarter and tied it on Allen’s 11-yard touchdown run. The Ravens didn’t do much offensively in the second half until Jackson led them from their own 5 all the way to Buffalo’s 1 in the fourth. It looked like Baltimore was poised to take the lead, but then it all went terribly wrong for the Ravens.
Buffalo had scored a touchdown on its opening possession in eight straight games, playoffs included, but that streak ended when the Allen was intercepted in the first minute of the game. Dobbins opened the scoring with a 1-yard TD pass from Jackson, and after the Bills kicked a field goal, Dobbins ran 4 yards for a touchdown to cap a 15-play, 81-yard drive that took 9:08.
Buffalo caught a break in the second quarter when Baltimore tight end Mark Andrews was called for offensive pass interference, negating a reception near the Buffalo goal line. The Ravens settled for a field goal and a 17-3 lead.
The Bills host the Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday, and the Ravens host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday night.
