4 takeaways from Bills' embarrassing Week 4 loss to Ravens

Almost nothing seemed to go right for the Buffalo Bills in their ugly Week 4 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Here are four takeaways from the contest.

Ronnie Eastham | Sep 30, 2024

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We've seen this story before.

The Buffalo Bills start the season strong, fans get excited, and the national media begins to again talk about the team as a Super Bowl contender. Then they fall flat in an ugly loss, prompting both local and national football minds to question their feasibility as a contender. Such is the case again following Buffalo's embarrassing 35-10 Week 4 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

The Bills will ultimately recover, especially once their injury-riddled defense recovers. That said, the loss still stings at this time. With that, here are four takeaways from Buffalo's Week 4 loss.

Ravens exposed Bills' depleted defense

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For all the kudos that depth linebackers Baylon Spector and Dorian Williams have received playing in place of Terrel Bernard and Matt Milano to start the season, they looked like backups against the Ravens. Baltimore took advantage of the injuries and attacked the Bills' linebackers, who were out of position and overmatched. The Ravens put up nearly 300 yards of offense in the first half alone as they averaged 10 yards per play over the first two frames.

The two each showed signs of life as the game progressed, each coming up with a few impact plays in the second half, but they were the focus point of Baltimore's offensive attack to start the game. The Ravens' strategy worked, building a heavy lead by both running and passing toward the middle of the defense; hopefully this was just an outlier game for the two depth linebackers who haven't necessarily looked out of place prior to this game.

Offensive miscues

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Buffalo's offense was firing on all cylinders throughout the first part of the season, but miscues were frequent on Sunday, starting on the first drive when Dalton Kincaid had an uncharacteristic drop on a third down play that would've kept the series alive. Later in the half, a target to Khalil Shakir fell incomplete for the first time in 30 attempts. The miscues continued with a beautiful deep throw to Keon Coleman going through his hands and falling to the ground. The general gaffes resulted in the Bills putting just 10 points on the board in Baltimore, this after averaging north of 37 points per contest over the first three weeks of the season.

Offense gets too cute

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Momentum was shifting in the Bills' favor to start the second half despite entering halftime down 21-3; Buffalo forced a Baltimore three and out to open the second half, got the ball, and took it down the field for six. The Bills followed that up by forcing another three and out; however, after a few plays to move the ball down the field, offensive coordinator Joe Brady called what looked like a reverse flea-flicker in which Curtis Samuel took a direct snap before running to the sideline and throwing the ball to his quarterback, who was lined up at receiver. The play resulted in Josh Allen getting hit as he was throwing and fumbled. Allen took a hard hit after the attempted throw and was slow to rise. This was by far the worst call of the night and the worst-called game since Joe Brady took over as offensive coordinator last season. This play killed any momentum Buffalo was building, as the Ravens promptly scored a touchdown after the turnover.

The Bills will be fine

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Buffalo was bullied and embarrassed on Sunday night against the Ravens. This game serves as a reminder that the NFL is a week-to-week league, and you have to be ready to play every game. Buffalo looked like Super Bowl frontrunners a week ago and a cellar-dwelling team tonight. It's okay; the Bills will be fine. All-Pro nickel defender Taron Johnson and starting middle linebacker Terrel Bernard will be back soon, potentially this week; this should mitigate much of the defensive concerns moving forward. It's on to the Houston Texans in Week 5 and a chance to get back on track. This loss was ugly, but there's absolutely no need to press the panic button.

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