Revisiting five Baltimore Ravens to watch against Buffalo Bills

The Baltimore Ravens entered Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills having won eight straight match-ups. They exited the game with their ninth consecutive victory, a 24-17 victory over a tough Buffalo club. Baltimore led 10-0 in the first half, and they opened up a 24-9 lead in the fourth quarter before Buffalo mounted a rally that was ultimately too little, too late.

The Bills were tasked with slowing the league’s top scoring offense, and they were able to do so. Which Ravens that we focused on played well? Let’s review...

QB Lamar Jackson

Baltimore’s dynamic quarterback was contained on Sunday, but he still broke through and led his team to victory. Entering play, Jackson was averaging a combined 292 total yards per game (211 passing and 81 rushing) to go with three touchdowns per game. On Sunday, Buffalo was able to hold Jackson to only 185 total yards; however, he still put up three passing touchdowns. One of those touchdowns accounted for one-third of his total yardage for the day, as he hit tight end Hayden Hurst on a 61-yard strike on the third play of the second half. Jackson looked human when Buffalo forced him to throw the ball outside, and the Bills did a great job containing him as a runner, as well. Ultimately, Jackson was able to make enough plays, especially when gifted a short field by turnovers (a Josh Allen fumble) or bad special teams (multiple Corey Bojorquez shanked punts).

RB Mark Ingram

The workhorse runner had a far less effective day than he did in his last trip to Orchard Park, when he rushed for 131 yards and three touchdowns as a member of the New Orleans Saints against the Bills in 2017. Ingram carried the ball 15 times on Sunday, gaining a season-low 3.3 yards per attempt en route to a 50-yard day. He also made three catches for 29 yards. That reception total was tied for the team lead.

TE Mark Andrews

Jackson’s favorite target only saw three passes thrown his way on Sunday, catching one for 14 yards. Why the low total? Andrews was injured early in the contest, as he hurt his leg diving for a ball in the end zone during the first quarter. His backup, Hurst, fared well, as he was able to make the aforementioned long catch, but it was clear that Jackson missed his top gun in the passing game. Andrews has 54 catches for 707 yards and seven touchdowns on the season, and his injury is not considered to be serious. He was limited in practice on Monday and is expected to play on Thursday night against the New York Jets.

G Marshall Yanda

I really only noticed Yanda once. Early in the game, Buffalo stuffed Baltimore on a run, and Yanda mixed it up with one of Buffalo’s defensive linemen. That’s it. That’s the only time I noticed the stud guard, which is really a good thing for any offensive lineman. Baltimore’s running game wasn’t up to the same standards as it has been all year, but much of that is because of how good Buffalo is defensively, not because of anything Baltimore’s offensive linemen failed to do. Yanda was his usual solid self on Sunday.

CB Marlon Humphery

I’ll admit that I underestimated just how good Baltimore is on defense. After watching their corners, including Humphery and Marcus Peters, blanket Buffalo’s smaller wideouts in man coverage throughout the day, they won me over. Humphery found himself guarding both John Brown and Cole Beasley at different points in the game, and he was successful manning both players. Humphery is a physical corner who, at 6’ tall and a touch under 200 lbs, is much bigger than both Brown (5’11” and 179 pounds) and Beasley (5’8” and 174 pounds). Humphery finished with six tackles (one for a loss) and two pass breakups.