Taylor has to figure out how to seek, then complete, passes to intermediate-range targets, away from the sidelines. Though the Bills committed ten, the Ravens accepted only eight for a total of 89 yards. Each of the players had a key role in the win and none of them appeared to be hampered by last year’s ailments. However, they led only 3-0 on a 50-yard field goal by Justin Tucker. The Ravens have moved the ball but turned it over once. Joe Flacco, who is the starting quarterback, didn’t play.
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Taylor, 27, played in 14 games for the Bills last season, completing 63.7 percent of his passes for 3,035 yards with 20 touchdowns and six interceptions.
2nd Quarter- The Bills found their offense. Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor was hit and harassed throughout. Its more than fair to wonder why the tight end, Clay, a high priced free agent isn’t targeted more often.
Last season, the Bills had the second fewest sacks in the league with 21. Duke Williams was beat on the play. That it blanketed Buffalo’s receivers so well might say more about how poor that Bills unit is, rather than how good the Ravens’ defensive backs are. In the air the Ravens have 178 yards passing. At the time, Buffalo trailed 10-7. The Ravens have the home field advantage today.
On the other hand, the Baltimore offense – at least at first – showed the kind of run-pass balance it lacked a year ago, running the ball eight times and passing it ten in a fast-paced first quarter. Most notably, Terrance West finished with 32 yards on 12 carries.
Defensively, the Bills looked much better. The Bills were held to just 65 yards rushing. But over the next two quarters, the Ravens ran the ball seven times and passed it on 18 occasions.
THE PENALTY that irritated Ryan, though, was a 15-yard leveraging infraction on a Baltimore field goal attempt by defensive tackle Jerel Worthy. I reached out to my friends and friends from Buffalo that will be making the drive to see the game.
The Baltimore Ravens played defense in a fashion Rex Ryan could surely appreciate – even if the performance came at his team’s expense. “Sometimes he got out of there, but not too many times”.
By the second half, the Bills gave Baltimore the appearance of surrendering on the ground, going with shotgun-spread formations on all but two plays, in lieu of their usual mix with two-back formations.
If these Buffalo Bills can’t run, these Buffalo Bills can’t pass. They seem reluctant to try to force the ball into Watkins hands. Why? “It was all about, ‘Don’t let Tyrod Taylor make an explosive play”.
In a nutshell: The Baltimore Ravens scored the first 10 points of the game, but it was a defensive struggle after that. The Patriots can’t be expected to lose all four of those games, but the Bills (not to mention the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins) have a golden opportunity to make some early headway in the division if they can score some wins.
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Flacco completed 23-34 passes for 258 yards and a score in his first game since his knee injury on November 22. It’s something that, hopefully, we can get the film from this one day and watch it when we’re sitting old somewhere.
