The Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens will meet for Sunday Night Football in what many are saying could be the first true test this season for the Bills. While the Ravens only have one win under their wings, they definitely will bring a more-physical type of play to the field than Buffalo has faced in their first three outings. The question for the Bills is how well can their roster handle the middle-of-the-field beating that Baltimore likes to dish out?
Injuries have been talked about ad nauseam at this point in the week and there’s nothing new to report. That said, it makes sense now for us to diagnose how those injuries could affect the game-planning of head coaches Sean McDermott and John Harbaugh.
For the Bills, missing both of their starting linebackers is going to be problematic in stopping a two-pronged rushing attack from running back Derrick Henry and quarterback Lamar Jackson. While Buffalo has been very successful in stopping the deep-passing threats of their first three opponents, this will be a whole different type of test Sunday evening.
Between Henry and Jackson, they have run the ball for 535 yards and five touchdowns in three games. Tasked with stopping them will be linebackers Baylon Spector and Dorian Williams along with defensive back Cam Lewis who has been playing in the nickel corner spot due to the absence of Taron Johnson (out since Week 1 with a forearm injury).
The Bills will have to play very physical football in hopes of forcing Jackson to spend more time throwing the football and disrupting his timing. The key to that will be Buffalo’s pass rush — which has been very good in the first three weeks of this young season and is not, currently, dealing with any injuries.
For the first time this season, McDermott and defensive coordinator Bobby Babich will have a full arsenal of big bodies at their disposal to try and stop Jackson, Henry, and crew. For Buffalo, edge rusher Von Miller has rebounded well this season — now two campaigns removed from a season-ending ACL injury— with three sacks in three weeks.
Defensive end Greg Rousseau has matured and learned to use all of his 6’6”, 266-pound frame to disrupt plays and add sacks to his resume. Defensive end A.J. Epenesa got the starting nod over Von Miller and has been disruptive.
Elswhere on the D-line, defensive tackle DaQuan Jones has occupied more than his share of offensive linemen each play, and Ed Oliver has quietly amassed five solo tackles and a sack already. Add to this wrecking crew the fact that Dawuane Smoot, Casey Toohill, and Javon Solomon (who recorded his first sack Week 3) have all had a healthy week of practice, and the Bills might just be ready to cause some problems for the Ravens.
The Ravens will have their hands full keeping the Bills’ defense out of their backfield, especially when considering the potential situation with their starting line offensive line. Offensive guard Andrew Vorhees is listed as doubtful with an ankle injury that’s kept him from practicing all week, and while he only has three games of NFL experience under his belt, his understudy — Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu, has zero.
That’s not exactly promising when trying to stop a Buffalo defense that has throttled Jackson in their past two meetings forcing him to throw interceptions, limiting his running to minimal yardage, and sacking him five times — and keeping his passer rating under 65 in both games.
Compounding issues for Baltimore’s offensive line is the fact that center Tyler Linderbaum is questionable with a knee injury. Unlike Vorhees, Linderbaum has practiced this week, but how strong or mobile he will be should he get the okay to suit up on Sunday night will definitely be tested by DaQuan Jones and Ed Oliver.
Linderbaum’s replacement is Nick Samac, a rookie with no NFL snaps. That’s not a good recipe for clean exchanges or stopping a defense intent on proving they can stop run-heavy teams like the Ravens along with pass-heavy teams like the Miami Dolphins and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
On offense, the Bills are healthy. No worries about Josh Allen’s injury to his left hand. It didn’t stop him from earning the AFC’s Offensive Player of the Week award last week as he led the Bills to five touchdowns in their first five drives before slowing things down a little in the second half and then turning the game over to backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky, who also isn’t hampered by the knee injury he suffered in the preseason.
The Ravens are missing a depth piece in their defensive secondary with cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis out due to a hamstring injury. However, Baltimore has plenty of defensive backs, as they carry five corners and six safeties on their active roster. The bigger concern comes from a mid-day Saturday announcement that the Ravens downgraded nose tackle Michael Pierce to doubtful for Sunday night’s game.
Pierce, a veteran who has played all eight years of his career in Baltimore, isn’t known for padding his stats with sacks — although he does have credit for half of one this season already. Instead, like Jones for Buffalo, Pierce uses his 335-pound frame to occupy opposing offensive linemen and create opportunities for his teammates to disrupt quarterbacks.
Pierce was a non-participant in Wednesday’s practice with a shoulder injury, but skipped a step and was listed as a full participant in the team’s final two practices of the week. When the Ravens broke practice on Friday, there was no designation attached to the veteran, but something changed on Saturday.
If Pierce is unable to go on Sunday night, Baltimore will have to rely on defensive tackle Broderick Washington. Washington is two inches taller but 20 pounds lighter than Pierce. He also brings five years of experience along with 37 tackles and four sacks to the line. The bigger issue for Baltimore is that he’s listed as the only back-up defensive tackle on the team — second behind both Pierce and tackle Nnamdi Madubuike.
While I’ve talked heavily about the Bills’ pass rush making it a long night for Ravens’ front line, the fact that Buffalo is playing without linebackers Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard, plus nickel cornerback Taron Johnson presents a massive challenge for Babich in containing Jackson and Henry. You may recall that Henry has given the Bills’ plenty of problems while he was a member of the Tennessee Titans.
Williams and Spector, along with Lewis and Ja’Marcus Ingram, have done a more than adequate job of proving that Buffalo’s next-man-up philosophy works, but they haven’t had to play a duo as physical as Jackson and Henry yet — at least not as a group and without the help of a bigger, more experienced name beside them. This will be a true test for Babich’s defense and the Bills’ commitment to investing in depth and youth this season.
I believe, however, that this week’s injury advantage is actually a stalemate. Buffalo’s defensive secondary is depleted but their front line is going to play big against a young, inexperienced, and beat up Baltimore offensive line.
The game will be won, and maybe even dominated, by one team. But it will be done because of how well one coaching staff or the other can game plan and adjust, not because there is an advantage due to injuries they had to adjust to before entering the game.
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