Plays That Defined 2022: Buffalo Bills at Baltimore Ravens

The 2022 season is in the books but there’s one little thing missing. Illustrations. Let’s pretend the 2022 season is an actual book, with each game a chapter. It’s up to us to find one play or “illustration” for each that best shows us the theme of that chapter. Make sense? I hope so because we’re about to take a look at some plays and vote. Let’s find an illustration for...

Chapter 4: Buffalo Bills at Baltimore Ravens

The Buffalo Bills were coming off their first loss of the season, a tight contest against the rival Miami Dolphins. Up next was a highly-anticipated tilt with the Baltimore Ravens. A quick look at the stat box shows an incredibly even contest in most measures. The first half went mostly Baltimore’s way. The second half went to Buffalo with the final result coming determined as time expired.

Josh Allen interception (Q1; 14:23)

On the first drive of the game, Buffalo couldn’t even get started before giving the ball up. Excellent defensive play from both teams was a major facet of the day and started early as seen here. Buffalo miscues such as this allowed the Ravens to build a 17 point lead in the first half. Before the second quarter ended the Bills cut this to ten points, but things looked pretty grim.

Ravens taking their sweet time (Q1; 9:32)

The actual play is irrelevant here. Baltimore came with a deliberate strategy to keep the ball away from Josh Allen and the Buffalo offense. While yardage and efficiency stats were pretty even for the teams, time of possession was not. Baltimore held the ball for 38:10, over sixteen minutes longer than Buffalo did.

Josh Allen touchdown (Q3; 3:32)

With the teams trading defensive blows most of the day, the QBs and their legs were the biggest bright spots on offense. Since we’re Bills fans, naturally the highlight is of Josh Allen. This touchdown tied the game at 20. There wouldn’t be another score for another 18 minutes and 30-ish seconds, aka “the end of the game” highlighting the defensive nature of the contest even further.

Jordan Poyer interception (Q4; 4:15)

With the game tied, Baltimore was looking to pull ahead. While Buffalo would still get the ball back with about four minutes left to go, no one wants to be trailing this late. This was the second interception of the day. Both by Jordan Poyer. Two drives in a row. Now with that same four minutes to go, the game was still tied and the ball was in Buffalo’s hands.

Tyler Bass Field Goal (Q4; 0:03)

The Bills put together what would arguably be the best drive of the game, taking off the entire rest of the clock and setting Tyler Bass up with a gimme field goal to come away with the win. The Ravens may have had the ball the longest, but Buffalo had it last. In the end, that’s what mattered.