Top 3 Things We Learned

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Top 3 things we learned from Bills epic comeback vs Ravens | Week 1

Sep 08, 2025 at 07:15 AM

Alec White

Content Manager

The Bills rallied from down 40-25 with less than five minutes remaining to stun the Ravens 41-40 on a 32-yard field goal from Matt Prater as time expired to complete one of the most improbable comebacks in recent memory.

Buffalo begins the Farewell Season at Highmark Stadium 1-0 and will head to face the Jets next week. QB Josh Allen had a heroic performance in the comeback with over 400 yards and four total touchdowns.

Here are the top three things we learned from Bills vs Ravens:

1 — Never lose faith when you have the MVP

As Josh Allen collected himself for his post game interview at midfield amid a frenzied, bewildered scene at Highmark Stadium, he looked around and noticed a few more empty seats than usual. If there's anything Bills fans have learned these last seven-plus seasons, it's never leave a game early when 17 is your quarterback.

"Have some faith next time," Allen smirked on NBC's post game broadcast. Hopefully, Allen's absurd fourth quarter statline of 269 total yards, three total touchdowns and a game-winning drive serves as a permanent reminder.

But considering how the first 55 minutes of the game had gone, who could blame them? The Bills looked beaten, blungened by the Raven's tour de force of Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry. The pair combined for nearly 400 total yards and averaged a first down (9.95) each time they rushed the ball.

Henry's 46-yard touchdown run with 11:42 remaining felt like a dagger to the heart as the Ravens extended their lead to 40-25. Aside from an opening drive score, the Bills were outplayed — at times badly — by their AFC counterpart. Baltimore had built leads of 27-13 and 34-19 prior to Henry's second TD rush of the night.

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Luckily, the blade didn't pierce deep enough. Whatever remained of the Bills' pulse after that moment was enough to spark one of the most improbable comebacks in league history. 16 unanswered points later and the Bills became the first team in NFL history to be down by 15+ points with under 4 minutes left and win the game in regulation.

"You got to play this game for 60 minutes," Allen said.

The reigning MVP became the first player this century to throw for 250+ yards in the 4th quarter of a win. "It took everybody out there, just proud of our team for staying in it. No one on the sideline blinked," Allen said.

Allen ended the night with 424 total yards, two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns. According to NextGenStats, The Bills' win probability was as low as 1.1% with 8:37 remaining in the game and trailing 40-25. Sunday marked the most improbable comeback by the Bills with Allen at QB, and the 13th-most improbable comeback by any team over the last decade.

Have some faith, indeed.

2 — Game of inches swings Buffalo's way

In a game of inches, the Bills found a way to end up on the right side of momentum-swinging plays. After the Henry fourth-quarter TD, Allen had an interception over-turned as replay assist showed the ball sliding under the hands of Ravens CB Chidobe Awuzie.

With four minutes remaining, the Bills still trailed 40-25. On 4th and 2 from the Ravens 10 yard line, Allen pulled the game to within one possession with a miraculous touchdown that ricocheted backward off Dawson Knox's fingers at the three-yard line and into the arms of Keon Coleman in the end zone.

"He scrambled around and gave us a chance to continue to try to get open. And he gave us a chance and threw a ball and it just happened to fall in my hands and made the play," Coleman said.

The Bills got their big break of the night when Henry fumbled on the ensuing drive. DT Ed Oliver broke through the line to punch the ball out and LB Terrel Bernard jumped on the loose ball at the Ravens 32. Prior to Sunday's game, Henry had lost just one fumble in his last 605 carries.

Bills head coach Sean McDermott said that takeaway was the turning point. A win was now possible.

"Big moment. Big momentum shift. And then when we got the ball, when we made that third down stop before they punted. I mean, that was a big stop right there, if they convert that game is over. Bobby made a great call. Players executed," he said.

Allen connected with rookie TE Jackson Hawes for 29 yards and then the QB took it in himself two plays later for the TD. The Ravens still led 40-38 after Buffalo's unsuccessful two-point play, their third missed try of the night.

Buffalo needed one more favor to swing their way and it did with the Ravens going three and out to give the Bills the ball back. The Ravens, an often aggressive team on fourth down, opted to punt on 4th and 3 from their own 38 yard line.

"If you don't make it, you hand us the ball basically, almost in field goal range. So obviously, he (John Harbaugh) is a great coach, and you never know until you're in that situation what you'd really do," McDermott said.

Lamar Jackson said he was dealing with cramping on the final drive otherwise he would've pushed the team to go for it instead.

"If I wasn't, I would've let everyone know I was trying to go for it on fourth-and-3," he said.

With 1:26 to go, Allen calmly drove the Bills down the field in nine plays, driving all the way inside the Baltimore 10-yard line. That set Prater up for the game-winning field goal as time expired. Ravens All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton was inches away from blocking the kick.

Prater is now 24 of 25 in his illustrious career on field goals in the last two minutes of regulation or in overtime.

"'I'm still on cloud nine," Prater said. It was just such a fun experience and awesome just to be a part of it."

3 — About that run defense

There was ample celebration in the Bills' locker room following one of the craziest endings in recent memory. Buffalo will soon enough reset and look at what they need to fix moving forward.

Top of the list will be their run defense; Buffalo surrendered 238 rushing yards on 29 carries, an average of 8.2 yards a pop.

"We'll go back and get it corrected. It's the first week of the season," LB Terrel Bernard said. "Obviously a lot of stuff to clean up, but we're leaving with a win. So we can look at it with a different view than what it felt like before the game was over."

Perhaps an even bigger indictment than the overall yardage is the amount of explosive plays given up. Baltimore had 10 runs of at least 10 yards and three runs of at least 30 yards. It was also Henry's first career game in his 10 years of service with three or more 30+ yard runs.

And if you can believe it: the Bills still managed to out-gain the Ravens 497-432 thanks to the outrageous fourth quarter.