Baltimore vs. Buffalo

Defense Carries Baltimore to Season-Opening 13-7 Win Over Rex Ryan's Bills

Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco had a successful return from a knee injury that ended his season prematurely in 2015, but the star of the show in the season opener on Sunday was the vaunted Baltimore defense.

Playing against a Rex Ryan-coached Buffalo Bills team and in front of a raucous crowd of 71,104 at M&T Bank Stadium, the defense looked like the unit that Ryan coached from 1999-2008, leading the franchise to its first Super Bowl title in that span, in a 13-7 win on Sunday afternoon. 

Ryan couldn't help but be in awe of a defense that held the Bills to 160 yards on offense after averaging 401 yards a year ago.

"It's a pretty darn good defense over there," Ryan said after the game. "I'm probably one of the only coaches that'll give credit to the opponent because they deserve it. That defense played extremely well; they're well coached, and they got after us." 

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Ravens (1-0) head coach Jim Harbaugh said that he expects a close, low-scoring game whenever he lines up against Ryan on the opposing sideline.

"I guess it's always going to be like this against a Rex Ryan team," Harbaugh told reporters in his postgame press conference. "We've played these guys a few times now, and it has been like this every single time. It has been right down to the wire; it has been a defensive football game. That's what you expect—very well coached, very creative."

The Ravens won despite turning the ball over once compared to zero for Buffalo (0-1). Terrell Suggs and Timmy Jernigan each had a sack of Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who was 15-of-22 passing for just 111 yards. Taylor was also held to 11 yards on the ground. It was a productive return to the lineup for Suggs, who tore his Achilles last season. Meanwhile, Shareece Wright had 11 tackles to lead Baltimore, including three tackles for a loss. 

"I do whatever I can—whatever I can to help this team win," Wright said in the locker room after the game. "I was in position to make tackles, and we emphasized that, making tackles on [LeSean] McCoy and being able to get those guys down and eliminate big plays. We know they're explosive when they're making guys miss tackles, so that was important today, and I was able to get that done." 

McCoy was held to 58 yards on the ground, and was responsible for Buffalo's only touchdown of the game.

For the Ravens offense, Flacco was a solid 22-for-33 passing for 258 yards and a touchdown pass. He did, however, lose a fumble to account for the game's only turnover. Mike Wallace led the team with 91 receiving yards and caught a touchdown pass on a 66-yard passing play after getting behind the Bills secondary. 

"That [touchdown pass] was well-schemed—that was a check that Joe went to in the line. They did a great job with that," Harbaugh said.

"We had a run called; Joe just checked the play," Wallace recalled after the game. "We have a veteran quarterback that has been around for so long and has been in every situation. He knows the right thing to do every time, and it just came into effect. It was a great throw."

Breshad Perriman, who didn't play due to injury last year after being drafted in 2015, only had one catch for 35 yards, but his presence helped open things up for Wallace; in fact, Perriman was double-teamed on the long touchdown play, which left just one defender covering Wallace.

"We had two big plays with them; it was a good start," Flacco said. "It was really an easy throw; nobody was back there. [Wallace] did a great job beating the guy with his speed."

Justin Tucker had field goals of 50 and 37 yards to account for the rest of the scoring. Elsewhere on special teams, offseason acquisition Devin Hester did not factor into the result despite coming in as one of the best kick and punt returners in NFL history. Hester had 18 yards on two kickoffs and zero yards gained on two punt returns. 

Baltimore was victorious in its season-opening game for the first time since 2012. 

GAME RECAP

Hester took the opening kickoff out of the end zone, but was only able to return the ball to the 14-yard line. Baltimore got one first down but couldn't move the ball too far before punting. After a three-and-out by Buffalo, the Ravens got the ball to midfield before Flacco fumbled it away. Fortunately for Baltimore, the defense kept the Bills from getting another first down and forced a punt. 

Starting the next drive on their own 9-yard line, the Ravens were able to move the ball, advancing all the way to the Bills 32 before stalling out. Tucker nailed the 50-yard field goal here to put Baltimore on top 3-0.

After yet another three-and-out opened the second quarter, Flacco performed the check on the next drive that led to the 66-yard touchdown connection to Wallace, giving the Ravens a 10-0 lead. 

The Bills got into gear on the following possession, running six times with McCoy, including a one-yard touchdown run to get on the board and cut the Ravens' lead to 10-7.

The score remained as such into the fourth quarter, as the only scoring attempt in the third was a missed 49-yard field goal by Dan Carpenter. 

In the fourth, Tucker hit a 45-yard field goal with 7:43 left in the game, but a leverage penalty on Buffalo gave the Ravens a first down, so Harbaugh elected to take the points off the board and continue the drive. They had to settle for a 37-yarder by Tucker, but the drive chewed up two more minutes off the clock. 

The Bills punted it back to the Ravens with 4:29 left, but Terrance West ran up the middle for three yards on third-and-1 with 2:00 left on the clock, and the Flacco was able to take three knees to run out the rest of the time. 

UP NEXT

The Ravens hit the road next week to take on AFC North rival Cleveland, who lost at Philadelphia on Sunday by a score of 29-10. 

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