Ravens' season ends with mistake-filled 27-25 loss to Bills in AFC divisional round

Brian Wacker, The Baltimore Sun on Jan 19, 2025

Published in Football

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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — It was dubbed the latest Game of the Century.

The Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson vs. the Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen.

And on a cold, snowy night at Highmark Stadium and with a trip to the AFC championship game on the line, Jackson, the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player and the favorite to win the award for a third time this year, nearly delivered. Until his favorite target and career security blanket, tight end Mark Andrews, didn’t.

Trailing 27-19 with just over three minutes remaining in a divisional round playoff game, Jackson drove Baltimore 88 yards in 1:56 and connected with tight end Isaiah Likely on a 24-yard touchdown pass.

But on the ensuing 2-point attempt, a sliding Andrews dropped the would-be game-tying pass in the front right corner of the end zone.

The Bills recovered the Ravens’ onside kick moments later, converted a first down and held on in a thriller to advance to next Sunday’s AFC championship game against the host and two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. The winner will advance to the Super Bowl to face either the Philadelphia Eagles or Washington Commanders in New Orleans.

The Ravens will clean out their lockers Monday and disperse, their season ending in the same frustrating manner it has so many times before with regular-season magic ending in postseason misery.

Jackson finished 18-of-25 passing for 254 yards and two touchdowns and turned the ball over twice in the same game for the first time all season. Running back Derrick Henry, a free agent splash in the offseason brought in to be a difference-maker at this time of year, had 84 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen, meanwhile, was an efficient 16-of-22 passing for 127 yards, was sacked just once and rushed for two scores, while running back James Cook finished with 67 yards on 17 carries.

Buffalo, which was second in the league in takeaways and tied for the fewest turnovers, was mistake-free again.

The Ravens were not. Again.

Four years after Jackson threw a costly interception that was returned 101 yards for a backbreaking touchdown in a divisional round loss to the Bills, turnovers cost Baltimore once more on the same field.

After throwing four interceptions in the regular season, including just two in the past two months, Jackson was intercepted once and fumbled once in the first half of the frigid game. Then, with the Ravens driving midway through the fourth quarter for a potential go-ahead score and just after crossing into Buffalo territory, Andrews had the ball punched free after a first-down catch. The Bills recovered near midfield.

It was one of a series of self-inflicted mistakes, once again when it mattered most.

In the coldest game of Jackson’s career at 20 degrees at kickoff, the Ravens’ league-leading offense froze up when it counted. Jackson entered the game 7-3 with 17 touchdown passes and three interceptions in games 35 degrees or colder in his seven-year career.

But facing their largest halftime deficit of the season at 21-10, the hole was too big to dig out from.

Still, the Ravens came close.

Justin Tucker, who made a 26-yard field goal in the second quarter and faced a swirl of noise on a slippery field, knocked in a 47-yard kick to make it 21-13. Then Henry finished off Baltimore’s next series with a 5-yard touchdown run to get within two.

But Baltimore’s would-be game-tying 2-point conversion attempt went by the wayside as Jackson’s pass to an open Likely in the left side of the end zone got knocked down at the line.

Buffalo chewed up 4:33 on its next possession, which ended in a 51-yard field goal by Tyler Bass. Andrews fumbled on Baltimore’s next series, setting up the Bills again. Buffalo drove 52 yards in 5:12 with Bass tacking on a 21-yard field goal with 3:31 remaining.

That left enough time for Jackson’s near heroics.

But in the end, it wasn’t enough. Jackson and the Ravens’ season came to an end without a trip to the Super Bowl, just as it has the past seven years.

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