Josh Allen had a message to the few thousands fans – and perhaps the entire NFL, for that matter – who left the Buffalo Bills-Baltimore Ravens early to beat the traffic on Sunday night: maybe they should’ve stuck around.
Allen rallied his team to a thrilling comeback, helping the Bills to 16 points in last four minutes to stun Ravens 41-40 in Sunday’s prime-time thriller.
Allen scored two touchdowns and threw another — with Keon Coleman catching a tipped pass in the end zone — in a frantic fourth quarter alone. The NFL’s reigning MVP then capped the win by overseeing a nine-play, 66-yard drive over the final 86 seconds in setting up Matt Prater’s 32-yard field goal as time expired.
“Josh, he’s always been like that though. He wants the ball in key moments of the game,” coach Sean McDermott said. “That’s what the great ones, that’s their mindset. That’s what they want, that's what they do. And he’s never out of it in his mind.”
It’s a huge win for the Bills, who’ve lost to the Chiefs in the playoffs four times in five years. They’re the class of the AFC East, but another division title isn’t the goal. Buffalo won’t be satisfied with anything less than a trip to the Super Bowl.
Same goes for Baltimore.
The Ravens have fallen short in the playoffs six times with Jackson.
It comes as the NFL’s two No. 1 seeds last season began this campaign with a 0-1 start.
The Detroit Lions were no contest for Jordan Love, Micah Parsons and the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
They joined the Kansas City Chiefs, who opened with a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil on Friday night.
The Houston Texans also lost, falling to the Los Angeles Rams 14-9.
Jared Goff and Detroit’s dynamic offense sputtered in the first game since offensive coordinator Ben Johnson left for Chicago. The Lions didn’t score a touchdown until the final minute in a 27-13 loss at Green Bay.
After winning a franchise-record 15 games last season, the Lions were eliminated in the divisional round by Washington. They lost Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, who went to the New York Jets.
Expectations were still high for Detroit despite losing both assistants and center Frank Ragnow to retirement. With star pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson coming back to boost the defense, the Lions were focused on unfinished business.
A lopsided loss in Green Bay doesn’t signal their two-year reign atop the tough NFC North is over.
It’s one game. Of course, the Packers proved they’re a real contender.
“I thought we’d be much cleaner than we were, and it wasn’t as clean,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “But there again, you’re talking about a few plays that were critical. But like I told the team, these are all so correctable. Everything that showed up is so correctable, and we will, we’ll hit it head on. Our players are accountable man; they’re ready. And nobody takes it worse than they do, so that’s the good news. We got the right dudes.”
The Chiefs, who also went 15-2 last season and were denied a three-peat by the Philadelphia Eagles, lost 27-21 to the Chargers.
Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Andy Reid’s Chiefs are staring at the possibility of their first 0-2 start since 2014 with the Eagles coming to Kansas City for a Super Bowl rematch.
But it’s way too early to claim the Chiefs’ run of dominance — they’ve won nine straight AFC West titles — has ended. It may be near but it’s not here after just one game 3,500 miles away.
Until another team proves they can defeat Mahomes in January, the Chiefs are still the team to beat in the AFC.
Also, two of the three teams — Ravens and Texans — considered to be their biggest threat in the conference also lost.
Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and the Ravens looked unstoppable against Buffalo for 3 1/2 quarters. Then Henry fumbled, opening the door for Allen to pull off a stunning comeback capped by Matt Prater’s 32-yard field goal as time expired.
Houston faced a team that nearly knocked off Philadelphia in the playoffs last season. C.J. Stroud had a tough time against a formidable defense. He was sacked three times and threw an interception.
The Texans, who’ve won the AFC South two straight seasons, overcame an 0-2 start in 2023. They’ll have a difficult task trying to avoid that when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers visit next Monday night.
“I think it’s good, it’s early, there’s a bunch of upside I think we could possibly have," Stroud said. "I always try to think positively and give ourselves a little grace, but also there’s an urgency and there’s some things we need to fix so I know conversations will be hard. We’ll be hard on each other, but I think it’s a good thing. It’s what friction is. I think that’s love. So I want to see all my teammates do well. I think when there’s friction in that, I think sometimes is a good thing in a positive way.”
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