THE Buffalo Bills pulled off a stunner to take down the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1 in an offensive shootout.
The two Super Bowl-caliber teams clashed on Sunday night, with Josh Allen’s Bills coming out on top thanks to a game-winning field goal.
With that win, the Bills leapt to the top of the AFC East and are already in prime position to return to the playoffs.
Despite a monster game from Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, the Ravens were unable to leave Buffalo with a win even after putting up 40 points of offense.
However, their offense showed plenty of signs of life that should give fans optimism for the Ravens’ odds the rest of the season.
With how well both teams played, either one could be picked as a favorite to win the Super Bowl this season.
But what exactly happened during the game that led to such an explosion of offense in just the first week of the season.
That question was answered on the latest episode of The U.S. SunSports Football X’s and O’s.
TIGHT WINDOW TIGHT END
Before falling behind by 15 points to the Ravens, the Bills struck first to take a 7-0 lead.
Buffalo marched down the field fairly quickly, and drew up a smart play in the red zone to bust open the Ravens’ zone coverage.
Allen connected with his tight end Dalton Kincaid on a corner route into the end zone that perfectly split the two safeties lurking high above the defense.
The duo was able to connect thanks to the routes surrounding them.
A wide receiver and running back James Cook swung to the left to the play while two other receivers ran short routes on the right side of the play.
That pulled most of the coverage away from Kincaid, who was able to effectively split the zone in the end zone.
Kincaid and Allen linked up multiple times throughout the night, with the tight end notching 48 yards to go along with his touchdown.
SUPER SCREEN PLAY
Zay Flowers had possibly his biggest game as a member of the Ravens during the opening loss.
He caught seven passes for 143 yards, with his longest reception going for 39 yards.
However, it was a short pass that got Flowers into the end zone on Sunday night.
The Ravens used some trickery in order to effectively score
JOSH-TO-JOSH CONNECTION
Allen has a new receiver this year in the form of Josh Palmer, and they already appear to have formed a decent connection.
In the opening game, Allen and Palmer hooked up five times, gaining 61 yards in the process.
While they didn’t connect for any touchdowns, Palmer’s final reception of the game was arguably the most important.
The play that the Bills drew up for Allen wasn’t all that special, but it produced a great result due to how Allen manipulated it.
Rather than clearing a space using the play design, Allen moved the cornerbacks around with his eyes.
By looking at an underneath route, he convinced a cornerback to commit to that route, abandoning his assignment.
That gave Allen the space to fit a pass in to Palmer outside of the numbers.
The play put the Bills in field goal range, ultimately giving them the win against the Ravens.
MOTION MAYHEM
The Ravens dominated most of the Sunday Night Football game by utilizing motion.
With such a prolific rushing attack, the Ravens have the ability to move pieces around to discombobulate defenses.
There were multiple plays on Sunday night in which the Ravens put one or more players in motion, only for the ball to go to none of them.
One of those plays was a Jackson rushing touchdown, which saw three players go in motion at the same time.
None of those players saw the ball. Instead, Jackson ran the ball in by himself thanks to the massive hole that was created
With such speed on offense, the Ravens have a difficult playbook to read, and it is why they were able to put 40 points on the Bills.
While they didn’t get the win, their performance should give fans optimism for the rest of the season.
KING HENRY
Derrick Henry might be the best running back in the NFL, even after Saquon Barkley went for 2,000 yards last season.
Henry has elite speed paired with elite size, and it makes him so difficult to get down.
At 31 years old, Henry’s 108 career touchdowns is good for sixth all time.
His 11,592 rushing yards are 18th in NFL history.
The Ravens got him for a steal, just around $15 million per season, and Henry isn’t showing any signs of slowing down soon.
Paired with Jackson, the Ravens should have an elite rushing offense for years to come.
MVP MATCHUP
Week 1’s iteration of Sunday Night Football might go down as the best game of the year.
It is also undoubtedly the best quarterback matchup that we will see all season.
Two MVPs faced off and produced spectacular statlines.
Jackson passed for 209 yards with two touchdowns while rushing for 70 yards and another touchdown.
Meanwhile, Allen passed for an unreal 394 yards with two touchdowns while rushing for 30 yards and two more touchdowns.
It feels likely that one of these two players will end up as the NFL MVP at the end of the season if they keep up this pace.
Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson might be the new Tom Brady-Peyton Manning rivalry[/caption]
