At last, Lamar Jackson finally got his first career playoff win after he steered the Baltimore Ravens to a victory last week over the Tennessee Titans. Will the Ravens take down another heavyweight in the form of the Buffalo Bills? The Bills are certainly no pushovers and will be looking to stop Jackson and company on their tracks.
The Ravens took care of business in the wild-card round, as they dominated the Tennessee Titans on the road last Sunday, 20-13. The Ravens executed their game plan on how to slow down Titans running back Derrick Henry to near perfection. Henry, the league’s top rusher this season, rushed for only 40 yards on 18 carries for an average of 2.2 yards per rushing attempt. Buffalo doesn’t have a single dominant force on the ground, but the Ravens just showed the Bills that they have the ability to shut down opposing rushing attacks. On offense, Lamar Jackson will look to take advantage of Buffalo’s defense that didn’t look good against the run in the wild-card round. Jackson had 136 rushing yards and a touchdown on 16 carries against the Titans and will be dealing with Buffalo’s defense that ranked just 20th against the run in the regular season.
The Ravens are 8-2 against the spread in their last 10 games overall.
The Bills are advancing into the divisional round after beating the Indianapolis Colts at home last Saturday, 27-24. However, the Bills failed to cover the spread as favorites by 6.5 points. That was the first time in nine games in which Buffalo did not cover. Bills quarterback Josh Allen was simply sensational in the Colts game. He passed for 324 yards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions on 26-of-35 completions while also rushing for 54 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. After an entire week of uncertainty with regards to their availabilities, Stefon Diggs and Cole Beasly showed how ready their bodies are for the playoffs by finishing the Colts game with 128 receiving yards (1 touchdown) and 57 receiving yards, respectively. The Bills were not able to record a sack in the wild-card round, so their pass rush will have to step up in that area against the Ravens, who allowed five sacks to Tennessee.
The over is 3-0-1 in the Bills’ last four games overall.
