ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh has enjoyed the fortune of competing on the NFL’s biggest stages to appreciate the setting and magnitude of what’s on the line for his team and the host Buffalo Bills this weekend.
There’s the quarterback matchup pitting arguably the NFL’s two leading MVP candidates in Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson and Buffalo’s Josh Allen.
These are two AFC division champions (the Bills of the East and the Ravens of the North) with a combined 27 wins two steps from a Super Bowl berth.
Even the forecast of frigid conditions — temperatures are expected to dip below 10 degrees at Highmark Stadium — enters the equation as the third-seeded Ravens (13-5) travel to face the second-seeded Bills (14-4) in the divisional round of the playoffs on Sunday (6:30 p.m. on CBS/Paramount Plus).
“I can just kind of picture John Facenda coming down from the heavens and narrating the preview to the game,” Harbaugh said, referring to the late NFL Films narrator whose deep, resonant voice brought gravitas to the league’s classic showdowns. “It’s a privilege to be a part of a game like this.”
The quarterback matchup alone is worthy of the weeklong hype and prime-time setting involving two dual threats, both selected in the first round of the 2018 draft, and the focus of a high-pitched debate over who is more valuable to his team.
“That’s why you play this game, to be in moments like these,” said Allen, before playing down the individual aspect of Jackson being in the same game. “In the history of football, I’ve never really played against another quarterback.”
During the regular season, the 28-year-old Allen topped 40 combined touchdowns for a fifth consecutive year while overseeing an offense that was the NFL’s first to score 30 touchdowns both passing and rushing.
The 28-year-old Jackson, similarly, refused to make it personal.
“Excuse me for everybody watching, but I really don’t care who’s watching,” Jackson said of facing Allen. “We really don’t care how people feel about it. We’re trying to go in there and just win.”
Jackson totaled a career-best 45 touchdowns combined, leading the league in numerous passing categories while running an offense that was the NFL’s first to top 4,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing.
What still sticks with Jackson is how his last visit to Buffalo ended in a 17-3 loss in the divisional round five years ago, with Taron Johnson sealing the win with a 101-yard interception return.
“Hell, yes,” Jackson said. “That’s all I’m going to say about that.”
In Buffalo, there’s an underlying theme of redemption, too, after the Ravens trampled the Bills in a 35-10 win on Sept. 29 in Baltimore.
The Bills are challenged in finding a way to slow veteran running back Derrick Henry, who had a season-best 199 rushing yards against them in September, including an 87-yard touchdown run on Baltimore’s first snap.
“I think we’re a lot better,” said Johnson, one of three Buffalo defensive starters who are set to play after being sidelined against Baltimore during the regular-season matchup. “This is a new day. Things are just going to be different. That’s just the way they are.”
The Ravens’ test is understanding how Buffalo’s offense has adapted while gaining a more balanced identity.
Running back James Cook matched Henry with 16 touchdown runs this season, with 13 of them after the fifth week for the Bills rusher. Buffalo also features the addition of receiver Amari Cooper, who was acquired in a trade in mid-October and provides another weapon in a passing attack that had 13 players with a touchdown catch.
“We are obviously two very different teams than we were whenever that game was,” Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton said. “The biggest thing we take away from that is that it can be done, we just have to replicate that success. But I know Buffalo has a sour taste in their mouth about that game.”
Sour, indeed. Defensive tackle DaQuan Jones immediately turned his attention to facing Baltimore after Buffalo’s 31-7 wild-card win over the seventh-seeded Denver Broncos last Sunday.
“It’s going to be a bloodbath,” Jones said. “It’s just a mindset thing. At the end of the day, you just have to have the right mindset to go into any game to be physical in order to dominate.
Bills edge rusher Von Miller was inspired by linebacker Terrel Bernard citing Greek philosopher Heraclitus in discussing how the past doesn’t repeat itself because the world is ever-changing.
“He was saying that the man gets in the river once, and the next time he gets in the river, it’s not the same man, and it’s not the same river. The past is the past,” Miller said. “We have a huge opportunity in front of us to go out there and achieve all of our dreams.”
Still, the Ravens continue to raise the bar for their running game, which set a regular-season record with 5.76 yards per attempt. The previous mark lasted six decades after the 1963 Cleveland Browns averaged 5.74.
In eight career playoff games, Henry has surpassed 150 rushing yards four times — that’s tied with Pro Football Hall of Fame back Terrell Davis for the most in NFL postseason history — including 186 in last Saturday’s 28-14 win against the sixth-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild-card round.
“He’s moving a lot faster than what he looks,” Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey said of the 6-foot-2, 247-pounder. “That’s probably what really messes up the corners and linebackers when he hits the edge.
“He’s definitely one of one. But I think the visual and what’s actually happening doesn’t really match up. It’s like, ‘Oh, I have a perfect angle,’ and then he gets around you. He’s just different.”