The Bills’ 48 offensive snaps is the fewest among the 28 teams who had completed Week One of the season going into the Monday night games. For analyst Matt Sabuda, the play calling and ineffective performance by quarterback Tyrod Taylor were surprisingly similar to the poor efforts that have been so common in recent years for the Bills.
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Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker (9) celebrates his field goal as he walks off the field with teammate Sam Koch (4) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in Baltimore, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016.
While he didn’t play a down during his first year in the league, Perriman got his second season off to a strong start with a spectacular catch late in the first quarter of Sunday’s season opener against the Buffalo Bills. The team showed that they can work efficiently, now they just need to do that consistently.
Flacco completed 23-34 passes for 258 yards and a score in his first game since his knee injury on November 22. He said he knew Ryan’s scheme would be challenging, and felt well prepared. Once Glenn went down with his ankle injury, I think the offense packed it in. “It wasn’t flawless and it wasn’t always pretty, but we got a win”. This group has the potential to create matchup problems throughout the season if they can get their timing down with Flacco … and stay on the field. Now, after skipping the preseason, he returned to grab a team-high five passes. Baltimore had no running game.
“I think if we would have lost somebody maybe the question would be different”, he said. “I am excited to keep it rolling”. “Words can’t really explain it all”.
This goes hand-in-hand with what I just wrote above. Taylor’s top targets, Sammy Watkins (43 yards, four catches) and Robert Woods (20, four), were held in check.
NEWCOMERS SHINE: Two of the Ravens’ free agent additions during the off-season contributed heavily to the victory.
Nick Folk kicked a go-ahead 23-yard field goal with 3:23 remaining, but Dalton marched the Bengals (1-0) downfield for the winning drive. “It was really an easy throw; nobody was back there”, Flacco said. He was a great guy. Were it not for a missed sack in the second quarter, Baltimore could’ve recorded a shutout against Buffalo. He said it started with the phenomenal job done by secondary coaches Leslie Frazier, the former Minnesota head coach, and Chris Hewitt. “We have the ability on the outside. We knew it was going to be tough sledding, we knew it, (but) we thought we were going to make more plays than we did”. Although LeSean McCoy scored the Bills lone touchdown, the duo of McCoy and Reggie Bush only combined for 69 rushing yards on 19 carries. Several times, the Ravens were able to push McCoy laterally on a run, preventing him from turning the corner and making a big gain.
Here’s a look at how all of Buffalo’s 13 third downs turned out. “We didn’t get nothing going sideways”, McCoy said. “I had a lousy day, especially in the first half, on third-down protection”.
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The news was even better after the game when each of those players emerged healthy and should be ready for a big divisional matchup in Week 2.
