Bills’ biggest problem against Ravens isn’t what it appears to be and it’s easy to see why
It's definitely not a good morning in Bills Mafia. Sunday Night Football against the Baltimore Ravens saw the Bills lose their first game of the year in butt kicking fashion, 35-10. And while many are clamoring about the sky falling and how Baltimore's rushing attack showcased an issue that will be detrimental to this team's longterm […]
It's definitely not a good morning in Bills Mafia. Sunday Night Football against the Baltimore Ravens saw the Bills lose their first game of the year in butt kicking fashion, 35-10.
And while many are clamoring about the sky falling and how Baltimore's rushing attack showcased an issue that will be detrimental to this team's longterm success, it's pretty easy to point out how this is a rare performance.
Let's back up and take a look at what happened, starting with Derrick Henry.
Henry took his first carry of the game for an 87-yard touchdown, and the game was all downhill from there. He finished the game one yard shy of 200 rushing yards, and the Ravens totaled 271 yards on the ground.
It's important to keep some context on the greatness and the athletic marvel that is Derrick Henry. He's 6'3" 247 lbs. That's three inches taller and 26 pounds heavier than Matt Milano. He's built like a mack truck, and on his first carry of the game, Henry hit 21.29 mph according to Next Gen Stats. Henry has also hit 20+ MPH 27 times since 2018, which is second most in the league behind only Tyreek Hill.
That combination of size and speed is essentially unheard of in the NFL. Henry is a unicorn, and as Bills' head coach Sean McDermott referred to Henry earlier in the week, he's a future first-ballot Hall of Famer.
On the game, Henry forced seven missed tackles, and gained +119 rushing yards over expected. Again, context. This is important.
Next Gen Stats calculates Rushing Yards Over Expected by taking into account field position, defensive alignment, and player tracking data to calculate what and average rusher would gain in any given situation. Henry's +119 rushing yards over expected is the third-most ROYE in a game since 2018. All of this happened without Terrel Bernard, Matt Milano, or Taron Johnson manning the defense for Buffalo.
Don't get me wrong – when watching the game, there's still plenty of room for improvement, especially from the linebacker position. Buffalo had to utilize more three linebacker sets in this game to account for the run, and Baylon Spector in particular found himself out of position or unable to shed blocks for quite a bit of the game. Dorian Williams missed some opportunities as well.
Sean McDermott said after the game that the defense as a whole needs to do better, and that he felt like they can improve in identifying their keys. He was clear that the team did not live up to their standard on Sunday night.
Getting Bernard back in the coming weeks will be a huge boost, and the run game does need to improve, but there isn't another running back in the league like Henry. When you consider the pair of he and Lamar Jackson, that's a lethal problem that the NFL will struggle to solve all year.
So please, let's not panic and say the season is going up in flames after just one game. This team is still 3-1 and has every opportunity in front of them. Give Henry his flowers for an outstanding performance, and let's move on to next week.
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Follow along all season for all the latest Buffalo Bills news. You can also find me on X @JonHelmkamp.
