Baltimore Ravens 25-27 Buffalo Bills: Josh Allen and Bills book AFC Championship meeting with Kansas City Chiefs | NFL news
Josh Allen rushed for two touchdowns and Lamar Jackson had two fumbles as the Buffalo Bills beat the Baltimore Ravens 27-25 to set up an AFC Championship matchup with the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Scrutiny of Jackson’s playoff record will only increase as he falls to 3-5 in the postseason, but while he threw an interception and lost a fumble in the first half, he also helped rally the Ravens from a 21-10 halftime deficit. and gave them a chance to equalize with a minute and a half to go.
Jackson’s second touchdown pass of the night, a 24-yarder to Isaiah Likely, brought Baltimore within two points of Buffalo, but veteran tight end Mark Andrews — who lost a fumble earlier in the fourth quarter — dropped the resulting two-point pass by his quarterback.
The Bills recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the rest of the period to end a three-year losing streak in the Divisional Round and book another playoff meeting with the Chiefs.
Buffalo has been swept by Kansas City in three of the past four postseasons, including the AFC title game four years ago.
Statistics leaders
Baltimore Ravens
- Passage: Lamar Jackson, 18/25, 254 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT
- hurry: Derrick Henry, 16 carries, 84 yards, 1 TD
- Receiving: Isaiah Likely, 4 catches, 73 yards, 1 TD
Buffalo Bills
- Passage: Josh Allen, 16/22, 127 yards
- hurry: James Cook, 17 carries, 67 yards
- Receiving: Khalil Shakir, 6 catches, 67 yards
Allen had two rushing touchdowns in the first half to help Buffalo build an 11-point lead at the break, and Ray Davis also recorded a score on the ground — answering Baltimore’s first drive of the game.
The Ravens got off to a perfect start when Jackson caught the ball eight plays and 73 yards with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Rashod Bateman. But the Bills responded immediately with an impressive 11-play 70-yarder to tie the game.
Two plays later, Jackson was picked off by Taylor Rapp when he looked for Bateman again only to bring down his receiver with his deep throw downfield.
Buffalo failed to capitalize on the turnover, but they would score after a Jackson fumble — the ball was cleared by Damar Hamlin and picked off by Von Miller — on Baltimore’s next possession, which Allen converted on his first of two rushing touchdowns.
Justin Tucker and Tyler Bass each made multiple field goals in cold and snowy conditions in Buffalo, and Tucker’s second goal brought the Ravens back within eight of their opponents in the third quarter.
Derrick Henry then cut that deficit even further with a five-yard TD run later in the same quarter, but Baltimore — not for the last time — failed to capitalize on a two-point attempt to tie the game.
Bass’ two field goals, the first of which was a 51-yarder, came on either side of a Terrelle Bernard forced Andrews fumble that pushed the Bills’ lead back to eight.
Jackson and the Ravens battled until the very end, creating a flurry of scoring in the final two minutes of the contest, but Andrews will have to rue another mistake as, when he was open, he failed to hit a two-point attempt that would have tied the game late .
What’s next?
Sunday, January 26 is the NFL Conference Championships – live Sky Sports NFL – with the Philadelphia Eagles first hosting the Washington Commanders in the NFC title game at 8 p.m., followed by the Chiefs taking on the Bills at 11:30 p.m.
Super Bowl LIX takes place on Sunday, February 9 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, live on Sky Sports NFL.
