ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — What is even real?

“I literally feel like I’m in a dream state right now,” Joey Bosa said after his first Buffalo Bills game experience.

Dazed as he was, Bosa was plenty self-aware. The veteran edge rusher was disappointed in himself. There were times in the fourth quarter Sunday night against the Baltimore Ravens that he felt the game was lost already. He admitted he thought at one time the Bills were down by 25 points, when it was merely 15. There was rah-rah chatter on the sideline to “just finish strong” and to “put good things on tape.” The stuff you say when you’re playing out the clock.

Bosa shouldn’t feel guilty, though. He spent nine sometimes-grueling seasons with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers and won a single playoff game.

Besides, thousands upon thousands of Bills fans felt equally defeated, filing out the Highmark Stadium early. Didn’t matter that it was the final home opener in the old ballpark — nostalgia be damned. NFL NextGen Stats calculated Baltimore had a 94 percent chance of winning late in the third quarter and a 98 percent chance with 3:50 to play.

“I’m sure people are going to wake up — some Buffalonians maybe, and maybe people just around the country — and be, like, ‘Wait. That happened?’” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “People will talk about it for a long time.”

Buffalo somehow scrambled to win 41-40 on new-old kicker Matt Prater’s 32-yard field goal as time expired. The defense was putrid most of the game, and the offense scored two touchdowns through three quarters, but defensive tackle Ed Oliver finally stopped Derrick Henry from leaving cleat marks on their carcasses by forcing a fumble that helped Buffalo ring up 16 points inside the final four minutes.

“It was special to watch,” a bewildered Bosa said at his locker stall. “Every text I have is, ‘I’ve never seen anything like that.’ I’ve been a part of a lot of close games like that, and most (of) the time, when it’s within three points, it’s went the other way.

“It’s just shock right now.”

In a showdown between the NFL’s last two MVPs, Josh Allen struggled to keep up with Henry and Lamar Jackson — not because Allen didn’t perform amazingly well, but because the Bills’ defense got julienned. Whatever the Ravens tried, it worked big-time.

Henry’s runs were demoralizing, snuff-the-light-out-of-your-eyes humiliating. On his 30-yard run touchdown early in the second quarter, he stiff-armed safety Cole Bishop into the artificial turf, beneath the rubber pellets, under the concrete floor, down past the shale that lies below and deep into the earth’s mantle.

Henry carried 18 times for 169 yards and two touchdowns. He recorded three runs of at least 30 yards for the first time in his career.

“We didn’t play well at all,” Bills linebacker Terrel Bernard said. “It was bad. They had some misdirection runs that got out on us, some miscommunication where we gave up big plays, explosive plays.”

The only time he seemed stoppable was when Jackson made plays. The two-time MVP completed 14 of his 19 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. Zay Flowers had seven catches for 143 yards, while DeAndre Hopkins made one of the most obnoxious one-handed catches you’ll ever see, snagging the football by its point in the end zone despite cornerback Christian Benford’s coverage late in the third quarter.

That’s when Bills fans started to leave, but the seats emptied faster when Henry erupted through the left side of the line, hit the sideline and chugged 46 yards to put the Ravens up 40-25 with 11:42 remaining.

Through three quarters, Buffalo’s offense was pedestrian by its standards but kept pace enough, apparently. A scant 69 seconds after Henry’s TD, Allen connected with Keon Coleman for a 10-yard touchdown.

Then the defense finally made a dramatic stop.

Oliver, who played an inspired game all night, proved Henry was human by forcing a fumble. The Bills blitzed and forced Henry to the sideline. Oliver punched the ball loose.

Derrick Henry’s fourth-quarter fumble changed the game. (Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)

“That was going to be our only shot — to get the ball back to the offense as soon as possible,” Bernard said. “Ed did it.”

Benford tried to scoop and score, but couldn’t corral the dribble.

“I was pursuing backside,” Bosa said, “and saw he went for the scoop and said, ‘Please, don’t give this up.’”

Bernard was the next one there and lunged after the prize.

“You see the ball and you just try to jump on it and squeeze it as hard as you can,” Bernard said. “We’re fighting for it. They’re fighting for it. You don’t know who’s who. You’re trying to rip it from wherever.”

The other “who’s who” was Bosa, who dove on top of Bernard to protect the game’s only takeaway.

“I was yelling in his ear, some expletives, but all good stuff,” Bosa said. “You start to believe after that.”

And that’s what Bosa was referring to earlier. All those ugly losses with the Chargers and so many years of frustration conditioned him to assume such storybook moments are for other athletes. Lest we overlook the expansive sports background this man’s family possesses. His grandfather, Palmer Pyle, was an NFL offensive lineman in the 1960s. His father, John Bosa, was a Miami Dolphins defensive tackle. Younger brother Nick Bosa is an All-Pro edge rusher for the San Francisco 49ers. Their mom’s brother, Eric Kumerow, also played for the Dolphins.

They’ve seen a lot of football, this family. But the way these Bills play?

Bosa sounded like he still didn’t fully comprehend what transpired a half hour earlier.

“I need to work on that,” Bosa said. “It’s a lesson for me to know it’s never over until it’s over.”

Allen has that effect. He turned Henry’s turnover into a touchdown within four plays. On first down from Baltimore’s 30-yard line, he spotted rookie blocking tight end Jackson Hawes up the seam for 29 yards. Allen eventually stretched over a goal-line pile for a touchdown with 1:58 left.

Buffalo, with three timeouts, forced a punt as Baltimore focused on draining the clock.

Needing only a field goal, Allen at the Bills’ 20-yard line and 1:26 to work with felt like victory for regular witnesses. The Bills didn’t even need all that time. On consecutive plays, Allen hit Joshua Palmer for 32 yards and Coleman for 25 yards to reach the Ravens’ 9-yard line with 38 seconds to go.

“Josh did what Josh does,” said Bernard, “and ended up making some crazy plays.”

The Ravens started to use their timeouts, but three kneeldowns gave the Bills plenty of time to rush Prater onto the field and make the winning kick.

Allen made an emphatic, early case for repeating as MVP, going 33-of-46 for 394 yards and two TDs while running 14 times for 30 yards and two TDs against a defense with bona fides. In doing so, he broke Thurman Thomas’ franchise record for career rushing touchdowns.

“It was unbelievable,” Bosa said. “I’m still buzzing. But it’s the first game. We’ve got to get back to work tomorrow, unfortunately. Too bad that wasn’t the Super Bowl, but …”

Bosa laughed and seemed to think about not finishing the sentence, but couldn’t help it.

“Felt like it.”

(Top photo: Timothy T Ludwig / Getty)