Lamar Jackson came close to leading the Baltimore Ravens to a dramatic comeback win, giving them a shot at their second consecutive AFC Championship game appearance. However, their hopes were dashed in a 27-25 loss to the Buffalo Bills in the divisional playoff round on Sunday night.
The game was decided with just 1:33 left, when Mark Andrews, who is typically reliable, failed to catch a pass from Jackson that would have tied the game with a 2-point conversion. The ball glanced off Andrews’ hands and chest, falling incomplete. The Ravens missed a crucial chance to change their playoff history and head to the next round, leaving them with more questions than answers.
“We’ve got to get over this,” Jackson said. “Because we’re right there. I’m tired of being right there. We need to punch that ticket.” Jackson, who had thrown an interception and lost a fumble in the first half, did not blame Andrews for the loss.
“I don’t think it’s his fault,” Jackson said. “All of us played a factor in the game. It’s a team effort. We’re not going to put that on Mark. Because he’s been battling all season. All the great things he’s been doing all season. It don’t always go our way. We win as a team. But the times when it’s not going our way, we need to figure that out.”
Three turnovers, an 11-point halftime deficit, and two failed 2-point conversion attempts were too much for Jackson and the Ravens to recover from. Jackson’s postseason record dropped to 3-5, with a 1-5 record when committing turnovers.
This marked the Ravens’ failure to reach the AFC Championship game for the fourth time in their last five playoff appearances since Jackson became the starting quarterback in 2018.
This season, the Ravens wasted an opportunity in which they achieved remarkable stats, including the third-most yards in NFL history. They were the first team to exceed 4,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards, and had the best rush defense in the league.
“We didn’t end up doing the things we needed to do to win the game. We played well enough to win, but we didn’t make the plays in certain circumstances,” said head coach John Harbaugh. Harbaugh was confident that Andrews would bounce back from the mistake.
“There’s nobody that has more heart and cares more or fights more than Mark. We wouldn’t be here without Mark Andrews,” Harbaugh said. “Mark will handle it fantastic like he always does, because he’s a high-character person, he’s a tough person, and he’s a good person. I’m proud of him just like I’m proud of all the guys.”
Despite having more total yards (416 to 273) and never punting during the game, the Ravens struggled to finish drives. Jackson’s opening drive ended with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Rashod Bateman, but the next two drives ended in turnovers by Jackson.
Meanwhile, Andrews lost a fumble at Buffalo’s 44-yard line when linebacker Terrel Bernard knocked the ball out with 8:41 left in the game, with Buffalo leading 24-19. That turnover set up a 21-yard field goal by Tyler Bass with 3:29 remaining.
“It was uncharacteristic of us to have turnovers like that,” Harbaugh said. “There’s plenty of games we’ve had that we didn’t turn the ball over. You usually win those.”
Andrews finished the game with five catches for 61 yards. He was also the target on Baltimore’s first failed 2-point attempt, after Derrick Henry’s 5-yard touchdown run made the score 21-19. Buffalo linebacker Matt Milano blocked Jackson’s pass attempt to Andrews.
Andrews left the locker room without talking to reporters after the game.
“I would say how it’s a team effort. It’s not on (Andrews). We’re all in this together,” said Derrick Henry, who ran for 84 yards.
The Ravens have now fallen to 0-10 under Jackson when they trail by 10 or more points at halftime, including playoff games.
Baltimore’s defense also struggled, giving up a season-high 147 rushing yards to Buffalo. Quarterback Josh Allen scored on 1- and 4-yard runs, and rookie Ray Davis added another touchdown from the 1-yard line.
“I didn’t think we were physical enough in the first half,” said safety Kyle Hamilton. “We could’ve done better throughout the whole game, but I think they ran the same duo play like 10-plus times tonight, and that honestly is just not a good showing of what we can do as a defense.
I feel like that’s somewhat disrespectful, and for us to allow them to do that, that’s just out of character for us. We can pinpoint different things that happened this and there. At the end of the day, it just wasn’t enough to get the job done.”
