\u201cIt was special to watch,\u201d a bewildered Bosa said at his locker stall. \u201cEvery text I have is, \u2018I\u2019ve never seen anything like that.\u2019 I\u2019ve been a part of a lot of close games like that, and most (of) the time, when it\u2019s within three points, it\u2019s went the other way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just shock right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a showdown between the NFL\u2019s last two MVPs, Josh Allen struggled to keep up with Henry and Lamar Jackson \u2014 not because Allen didn\u2019t perform amazingly well, but because the Bills\u2019 defense got julienned. Whatever the Ravens tried, it worked big-time.<\/p>\n
Henry\u2019s 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\u2019s mantle.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t play well at all,\u201d Bills linebacker Terrel Bernard said. \u201cIt was bad. They had some misdirection runs that got out on us, some miscommunication where we gave up big plays, explosive plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019ll ever see, snagging the football by its point in the end zone despite cornerback Christian Benford\u2019s coverage late in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Through three quarters, Buffalo\u2019s offense was pedestrian by its standards but kept pace enough, apparently. A scant 69 seconds after Henry\u2019s TD, Allen connected with Keon Coleman for a 10-yard touchdown.<\/p>\n
Then the defense finally made a dramatic stop.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2234232487-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Derrick Henry\u2019s fourth-quarter fumble changed the game. (Timothy T Ludwig\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was going to be our only shot \u2014 to get the ball back to the offense as soon as possible,\u201d Bernard said. \u201cEd did it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Benford tried to scoop and score, but couldn\u2019t corral the dribble.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was pursuing backside,\u201d Bosa said, \u201cand saw he went for the scoop and said, \u2018Please, don\u2019t give this up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Bernard was the next one there and lunged after the prize.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see the ball and you just try to jump on it and squeeze it as hard as you can,\u201d Bernard said. \u201cWe\u2019re fighting for it. They\u2019re fighting for it. You don\u2019t know who\u2019s who. You\u2019re trying to rip it from wherever.\u201d<\/p>\n
The other \u201cwho\u2019s who\u201d was Bosa, who dove on top of Bernard to protect the game\u2019s only takeaway.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was yelling in his ear, some expletives, but all good stuff,\u201d Bosa said. \u201cYou start to believe after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s brother, Eric Kumerow, also played for the Dolphins.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve seen a lot of football, this family. But the way these Bills play?<\/p>\n
Bosa sounded like he still didn\u2019t fully comprehend what transpired a half hour earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to work on that,\u201d Bosa said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lesson for me to know it\u2019s never over until it\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allen has that effect. He turned Henry\u2019s turnover into a touchdown within four plays. On first down from Baltimore\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Buffalo, with three timeouts, forced a punt as Baltimore focused on draining the clock.<\/p>\n
Needing only a field goal, Allen at the Bills\u2019 20-yard line and 1:26 to work with felt like victory for regular witnesses. The Bills didn\u2019t even need all that time. On consecutive plays, Allen hit Joshua Palmer for 32 yards and Coleman for 25 yards to reach the Ravens\u2019 9-yard line with 38 seconds to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cJosh did what Josh does,\u201d said Bernard, \u201cand ended up making some crazy plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019 franchise record for career rushing touchdowns.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was unbelievable,\u201d Bosa said. \u201cI\u2019m still buzzing. But it\u2019s the first game. We\u2019ve got to get back to work tomorrow, unfortunately. Too bad that wasn\u2019t the Super Bowl, but \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Bosa laughed and seemed to think about not finishing the sentence, but couldn\u2019t help it.<\/p>\n
\u201cFelt like it.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Top photo: Timothy T Ludwig \/ Getty)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. \u2014 What is even real? \u201cI literally feel like I\u2019m in a dream state right…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":210430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[532,8995,1232,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-210429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-baltimore-ravens","9":"tag-buffalo-bills","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115169207743875090","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210429","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=210429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}