The Buffalo Bills opened their 2025 NFL season with the Baltimore Ravens. This game will most likely be in the running for one of the toughest the Bills have to play all season.
With this being the final home opener of the historic Highmark Stadium and a playoff rematch, emotions ran high. The Ravens in this current season and in previous are a nightmare matchup for the Bills. Baltimore’s secondary is arguably the best in the league and with the type of wide receivers that make up the Bills’ core, Baltimore often leaves no man open. The Ravens’ offensive is exceptional as well, with their strength mainly coming from the running ability of quarterback Lamar Jackson and running back Derrick Henry. This is not all however, as with their strong run game and Jackson’s year after year improvement in accuracy and throwing efficiency has led to Baltimore also having a lethal passing game. With the Bills’ secondary being held back because of injury and their youth, this game was gearing up to be a Bills throttling. The only thing standing in the way, Josh Allen.
The game began with a crisp drive coming from the Bills. The Ravens responded with a solid drive ending with a field goal after a great 3rd down stop because of an Ed Oliver sack. Following this it was a Ravens dominant game. By the time there was a minute left on the clock in the second half the Ravens would be kicking their second field goal of the day with 2 extra touchdowns in their back pocket. The score was 20-10 and the Bills would receive the kickoff with only 25 seconds remaining in the half.
This is when we see the true momentum turn in this game. Josh Allen throws for a 26-yard completion to wide receiver Khalil Shakir and sprints to the ball in order to get a spike off to stop the clock with 8 seconds remaining. With time running down Josh Allen would heave the ball down to tight end Dalton Kincaid on the sideline for a completion, but it had seemed to be all for nothing because the clock read 0. While the camera had panned to the Ravens running off to their respective locker room, we heard a voice coming from the head official saying the play was under review. We then can see a review of Dalton Kincaid getting out of bounds just in time to save a second on the clock and the Bills get a field goal off to cut the lead to 7.
From the start of the second half, we thought it would be more of the same in the first with the Ravens dominating but the Bills never quite letting them out of range. Then the 4th quarter came and its there we would see the reason Josh Allen was named MVP last season and the true potential of this Buffalo Bills football team.
It began with the Ravens scoring a touchdown now making the score 40-25 then after the 2 following drives resulting in punts from both teams. The Bills would then march down and score a touchdown to cut the lead to an 8 point game however with only 4 minutes left and Buffalos’ poor run stopping ability it seemed as though the Ravens could run the ball for a couple of first downs and put the Bills rally to bed. Ed Oliver had a different thought, on the second play of the drive Oliver would punch the ball out of Derrick Henry’s hands and be recovered by the Bills on the Ravens 30-yard line. The Bills would drive and on 3rd and goal Josh Allen would throw a ball that would be tipped by the defense and as every Bills fan in the stadium began to watch the end of a once in a lifetime comeback, 2nd year receiver Keon Coleman would make a diving catch and score the touchdown.
With the Bills only down 2 points and an opportunity to tie the game they would opt to throw a fade back to receiver Keon Coleman only for him to be unable to make the catch, and once again the fans would lose the hope they had held out for a win and begin to exit the stadium. This seemed to influence this Bills team however because on the next offensive drive for the Ravens the defense of the Buffalo Bills played unbelievably well. With it being 4th and 3 at their own 38-yard line Baltimore Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh would opt to make a decision that would most likely keep him up for the rest of the night. Even though the Ravens offense had dominated the Bills all night they would punt the ball to Josh Allen with 1 minute and 26 seconds left, which put quite simply is too much time to give Josh Allen. The Bills would drive down the field and with the remaining seconds kick a walk off field goal to win the comeback, surely to be remembered in history not only for the comeback but for being the last home opener at Highmark Stadium.
