Will the Baltimore Ravens have Zay Flowers against the Bills? If so, that could make him even more of a Super Bowl favorite. With a Baltimore Ravens Divisional Round playoff game scheduled against the Buffalo Bills, it’s a battle of quarterback superstars. Before the Ravens-Bills game, we will make our predictions for the Ravens divisional rounds.
The Ravens, with Lamar Jackson at the helm, will meet the Bills, led by Josh Allen, on Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m. Baltimore has its work cut out for it as the Bills are undefeated at home, including a blowout against the Denver Broncos in the wild-card round. Meanwhile, the Ravens ran through the Steelers with relative ease.
If the Ravens want to win, making key defensive plays could make the difference. So we’ll start with this side of the ball.
CB Brandon Stephens will make a big play against Allen
The Ravens’ opponents are going after Stephens, who finished the regular season as the fifth-most targeted cornerback in the NFL this season. But with goals come opportunities, and John Harbaugh said he loved Stephens’ chances, according to baltimoreravens.com.
“When you get a lot of goals, you’ll definitely have more successes,” Harbaugh said. “That’s how it happens. But you also play more games. He made a very good number of plays. If we have a feeling that an attack is targeting a particular part of the field…we now have an idea of where you are going to target. We can expand our coverage this way. We can also put our coverage strength there, so it’s kind of a two-way street.
RB Derrick Henry to rush for over 100 yards with two touchdowns
This game is going to be a shootout. But that doesn’t mean both teams are going to throw the ball all over the field. The Ravens will weigh down the Bills’ run defense with heavy doses of Henry.
Bills defensive tackle DaQuan Jones says battle will go down be difficultaccording to syracuse.com.
“It’s going to be a bloodbath, man,” JOnes said. “They run the ball. Derrick is a hell of a player, a hell of a ball carrier. It’s going to take 11 people, like I’ve been saying all year, to stop the race. Make sure you don’t reach the second level. Stop him early, put him in the backfield and go from there.
Bills defensive end Greg Rousseau said the team is still improving in its run defense.
“You have to (continue) working on it,” Rousseau said. “You’re not just going to magically get better, but just by being intentional, by feeling the sense of urgency. At times this season we felt a sense of urgency for the running game. It’s playoff football, so we’re up for the challenge. We are excited. So there is no urgency, no carelessness, none of that. We’re going to go there.
Bills nickel back Taron Johnson said the strong performance against the Broncos won’t matter after kickoff.
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“It was an important message, but ultimately we have to start again,” Johnson said. “We do what we did. Moved on. At this point, it’s about starting again. I feel like we watch the tape, see what happens, what did we achieve, what do we still need to work on? I feel like if we do this, we’ll repeat it.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson won’t have 300 total yards but will account for two scores
Jackson will likely have tame passing numbers, but only because Henry will punish the Bills defense.
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said Jackson’s leadership continues to be visible, according to Sports Illustrated.
“I continue to be amazed at who he is as a person,” Harbaugh said. “Of course, the plays he makes and how tough he is. I mean, you can’t forget how tough he is – how physically (and) mentally tough he is. I mean, he’s there, running the ball, (and) he gets hit. And he shoots, and he gets up. Then he steps in, plays, runs and throws a touchdown pass.
ESPN commentator Dan Orlovsky apparently doesn’t have the same respect for Jackson as most people. He said all Buffalo had to do to beat Jackson and the Ravens were play like they did against the Broncos, according to espn.com.
“If they play this weekend against the Ravens like they did (against the Broncos), Buffalo will win this game,” Orlovsky said. “Absolutely.”
Translation? Lamar Jackson can’t do anything. If the Bills succeed, the Ravens lose. Wow, Dan. Really?
Fortunately, Stephen A. Smith put an end to Orlovsky’s nonsense.
“Baltimore is coming,” Smith said. “(The Ravens) are not the Denver Broncos. I need to see more for (the Bills) to beat Baltimore.
