Bills Central

Jordan Poyer - 'No Finger-Pointing!' - Leads Buffalo Bills in Furious Comeback Win at Ravens

Poyer returned to the Buffalo Bills after a one-week absence and made a major difference in the comeback win over the Ravens.

Geoff Maggliocchetti

In this story:

Some might've been ready to count the Buffalo Bills out of the AFC contenders' picture after both a divisional loss to Miami and the realization of a 20-3 deficit on the road, the first half work of the Baltimore Ravens when Western New York descended upon M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Fortunately for the Buffalo faithful, someone named Jordan opted to "take that personally."

"I think there's been a lot of talk about the Bills not being able to win the close games," Bills defender Jordan Poyer said in the aftermath of Week 3's contest, per WROC. "We're a good football team, we understand that. We made some mistakes early on in the game. We were able to correct it, nobody was pointing fingers."

Poyer returned to the Buffalo lineup on Sunday, making his way back in time to play a prominent role in a character-building comeback. The defending All-Pro safety took away two crucial Lamar Jackson passes, including one that became the spark that ignited a 12-play, 77-yard drive that yielded Tyler Bass' game-winning 21-yard field goal, capping a run of 20 unanswered points in the 23-20 triumph.

"He’s an amazing player,” fellow secondary defender Taron Johnson said of Poyer's impact, per Syracuse.com. “(On) the first (interception), I was covering my guy and all I see is the ball in the air and he right there. Just a great awareness play by him. Then the second one, Lamar is just scrambling and (Poyer) is just following the look of the quarterback and he made a mistake to throw it over there to (Poyer). He made the play."

Poyer did not play in last week's heartbreaker in South Beach, his departure part of a brutal week for a secondary that also lost Christian Benford and Micah Hyde, the latter lost for the season with a neck injury.

But once it was clear that Poyer would be able to partake in Sunday's game, expectations were heightened as he oversaw a group of substitutes against a powerful Baltimore offense. As a star attraction among the understudies, he was flat out expecting to provide All-Pro antics upon his return.

The defender made sure not to disappoint or fall short of his self-assessed expectations, partly inspired by the way the newcomers stepped up. It was a tip from Prince Emili, an undrafted free agent in just his second NFL contest, that made Poyer a prophet.

"The play before the first pick when Prince tipped it up, he was like, ‘I’m gonna make a play here, I’m gonna make a play.’ Then, boom, he went and actually just makes the play," pass rusher Gregory Rousseau said. "That (stuff) was crazy because he said he was going to do it and he does it.”

Poyer is one of the most prominent difference-makers in a defense that has sometimes struggled to make the most important stops, but his timely turnovers placed the Bills (3-1) on the right path. Detractors could perhaps discount Buffalo's latest victory but claiming it was more of a Baltimore loss, as the Ravens' dumbfounding decision to go for a two-yard scoring punch on fourth-and-goal in a tie game.

Such mistakes, however, mean nothing unless the bystander does something with them. Poyer made sure the opportunity wouldn't pass the Bills by.

With a scrambling Jackson forced into a desperation scramble and toss, Poyer beat out Devin Duvernay to the wet ball, hanging onto the prize into a 17-yard swing: had he dropped the ball after Duvernay's ensuing hit, Buffalo would've had to start at its own five rather than the 20 brought about by the interception touchback. The offense rewarded his effort with the aforementioned push to glory that put the Bills back in the win column.

The Bills' modern star-crossed medical fortunes almost struck again, Poyer was shaken up on the play and was analyzed for a rib injury afterward. Anything Duvernay and the Ravens did to him, however, was nothing that couldn't be solved by a combination of the thrill of victory and conversing with a fallen comrade.

Hyde was among the first people to grace Poyer's phone in the aftermath. He declined to share his teammate's words but had some of his own, notably calling out anyone that implied the Bills were unable to win big games.

"As soon as I peeked at (Duvernay), he was kind of raising his hands up like he wanted the ball. So, I just took off, and Lamar saw him open and he kind of floated one in the air and I just went to go make a play on it," Poyer said of his fateful takeaway on the team's website before praising the effort his teammates made upfront. "Our D-line, like they've been doing all year, just getting hands up and being able to get hands on the football.

"As we got through the game, and you started to see plays repeat themselves, we were able to kind of settle down and see the same plays over and over again. We were able to make the plays when we had to."

Through three games, Poyer has earned at least one interception in all of his 2022 appearances to date, with Sunday serving as his first multi-takeaway game. As a major architect of Buffalo's recent success, Poyer faces a major season on both a personal and team level: he's slated to become a free agent next offseason and could well move on as the Bills have major checks to write to some of their other core members.

For now, however, he's content with putting in valuable when called upon, as the Bills look to reclaim their AFC East crown en route to even larger endeavors.

"Having him on the field is actually a huge, huge, huge difference maker for us," defensive tackle DaQuan Jones said. "We love having him out there."

Poyer and the Bills return to action next Sunday when they battle the Pittsburgh Steelers (1 p.m. ET, CBS).

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

You're a member of Bills Mafia hungry for more Buffalo coverage? Read here.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

You're a member of Bills Mafia hungry for more Buffalo coverage? Read here.

Published
Geoff Maggliocchetti
GEOFF MAGGLIOCCHETTI

Home/News