ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. \u2014 Josh Allen had a message to the few thousands fans \u2014 and perhaps the entire NFL, for that matter \u2014 who left the stadium early to beat the traffic on Sunday night.<\/p>\n
Maybe they should\u2019ve stuck around.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur team didn\u2019t quit,\u201d Allen said, his voice almost hoarse after rallying the Bills from a 15-point deficit in the final four minutes to a thrilling season-opening 41-40 win over the Baltimore Ravens. \u201cI think there\u2019s people who left the stadium. That\u2019s OK. We\u2019ll be fine. But have some faith next time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allen refused to let up in scoring two touchdowns and throwing another \u2014 with\u00a0Keon Coleman catching a tipped pass in the end zone\u00a0\u2014 in a frantic fourth quarter alone. The NFL\u2019s reigning MVP then capped the win by overseeing a nine-play, 66-yard drive over the final 86 seconds in setting up\u00a0Matt Prater\u2019s 32-yard field goal\u00a0as time expired.<\/p>\n
Josh Allen walks off the field after the Bills defeated the Ravens on Sept. 7. AP<\/p>\n
Derrick Henry fumbles the ball during the Ravens\u2019 loss to the Bills on Sept. 7. AP<\/p>\n
\u201cJosh, he\u2019s always been like that though. He wants the ball in key moments of the game,\u201d coach Sean McDermott said. \u201cThat\u2019s what the great ones, that\u2019s their mindset. That\u2019s what they want, that\u2019s what they do. And he\u2019s never out of it in his mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allen finished going 33 of 46 for 394 yards and two touchdowns and earned his 77th win, tying Joe Ferguson for second on the Bills list.<\/p>\n
Josh Allen rushes for a touchdown during the Bills\u2019 win against the Ravens on Sept. 7. Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Bills\u2019 defense bent but didn\u2019t break in an outing it was being trampled by Derrick Henry, who finished with 169 yards rushing and scored twice. Meantime, Lamar Jackson combined for three touchdowns, including two passing, in steering an offense that scored on seven of its first eight possessions.<\/p>\n
Henry, however, contributed to the loss\u00a0by losing a fumble with 3:06 left,\u00a0which opened the door for Buffalo\u2019s comeback.<\/p>\n
Allen scored on a 1-yard run two minutes later in cutting the lead to 40-38. And the Bills then got the ball back after the defense forced a three-and-out on what became Baltimore\u2019s final possession.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest thing I saw when we got down early, no one blinked,\u201d Prater said. The 41-year-old made his Bills debut, replacing Tyler Bass, who\u2019s on injured reserve with hip and groin issues.<\/p>\n
Lamar Jackson runs with the ball during the Bills\u2019 win over the Ravens on Sept. 7. AP<\/p>\n
Buffalo overcame a fourth-quarter 15-point deficit for just the fourth time in team history. Baltimore became the first team in NFL history to lose when scoring 40 or more points and rushing for 235 yards or more.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just got to finish the game,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cIt\u2019s not over until there is zero, zero, zero on the clock. And we found that out tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry blamed himself for the fumble, which was forced by Ed Oliver and recovered by Terrel Bernard at Baltimore\u2019s 30.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI told my teammates after the game, put the loss on me. I own it like a man,\u201d Henry said. \u201cGot lackadaisical and they made a play. \u2026 If I take care of the ball, I feel like it would be a different situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The game appeared over when Henry\u00a0scored on a 46-yard run\u00a0to put Baltimore ahead 40-25 with 11:42 remaining.<\/p>\n
This prime-time matchup lived up to the preseason hype as a rematch of Buffalo\u2019s 27-25 win over Baltimore the divisional round of last season\u2019s AFC playoffs.<\/p>\n
Buffalo finished with 497 yards of offense. The teams combined for 929.<\/p>\n
Derrick Henry runs for a touchdown during the Ravens\u2019 loss to the Bills on Sept. 7. AP<\/p>\n
James Cook scores a touchdown during the Bills\u2019 win against the Ravens on Sept. 8. Getty Images<\/p>\n
The fans even got involved, with Jackson shoving back at a man in the end zone while celebrating DeAndre Hopkins\u2019 29-yard touchdown catch late in the third quarter. The man struck Hopkins in the helmet, and attempted to do so to Jackson, who responded by shoving the man back into his seat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI seen him slap D-Hop, then he slapped me, and he was talking and I just forgot where I was for a little bit,\u201d Jackson said, noting he should have let security officials handle the fans. \u201cI just let my emotions get the best of me there. I\u2019ll handle it better next time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The atmosphere was electric on a night the Bills marked their 53rd and final home opener at Highmark Stadium, affectionally called \u201cThe Ralph.\u201d Next season, the team is set to move into a $2.1 billion facility being constructed across the street.<\/p>\n
Allen oversaw last-minute scoring drives to close each half, with Prater hitting a 43-yard field goal on the final play of the second quarter.<\/p>\n
Ravens rookie Tyler Loop made two field goals in his debut but missed an extra point that proved costly. Loop was a sixth-round draft pick and replaced Justin Tucker, who was released in the offseason after he was accused of inappropriate sexual behavior by massage therapists.<\/p>\n
Baltimore\u2019s Zay Flowers had seven catches for a career-high 143 yards and a touchdown.<\/p>\n
Henry passed Jim Brown to move into sixth on the career rushing TD list with 108. And he matched Brown\u2019s record by posting his 13th game with at least 150 yards rushing and two scores.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. \u2014 Josh Allen had a message to the few thousands fans \u2014 and perhaps the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":209573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,532,8995,29308,29288,405,403,5226,5225,1232,5228,5227,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-209572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-baltimore-ravens","10":"tag-buffalo-bills","11":"tag-josh-allen","12":"tag-lamar-jackson","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115167343586321532","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}