5 things we learned from Ravens’ Week 4 statement win over the Bills

Some questions were answered while others came into focus on Sunday.

There were numerous revealing takeaways from the Baltimore Ravens’ dominant 35-10 win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night in Week 4 of the 2024 regular season.

Under the bright lights of Sunday Night Football on a national stage, they proved they are shaping into the kind of team that is not only capable of finishing games but establishing and extending big leads over any opponent. For the second week in a row, they didn’t let a double-digit lead slip from their grasp as they never let the Bills back within a single-digit margin after going up two scores.

There were several encouraging performances by players and units on both sides of the ball that were vital in securing this victory to improve their overall record to 2-2, just a game back from the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North standings after they lost to a Joe Flacco-led Indianapolis Colts team earlier in the day.

Here are five of the main things that can be learned from Sunday’s resounding triumph.

---

Winning formula on offense remains abundantly clear

If it wasn’t made obvious last week, there is no denying that the Ravens’ best path to success offensively and ultimately to victory is by staying true to who they are and have always been, a team that relies on a strong run game power by a stout offensive line to set up everything else and control the clock.

“That’s kind of always what we’ve been about,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “If you look back at the history of the organization, even before [I was the head coach]. Running the ball and playing great defense, and then we have weapons. We’re blessed with weapons.”

For the second week in a row, the offense produced over 270 yards on the ground and dominated in the trenches from literal start to finish. Four-time Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry set the tone on the Ravens’ very first play from scrimmage when he took his first carry 87 yards to the house for a franchise-record-breaking touchdown.

Henry and the rest of the team’s ball carriers continued to find success all night long and averaged eight yards per carry as a team on 34 combined attempts and he finished as the team’s leading rusher for the second week in a row. His 199 rushing yards was one more shy of what would’ve been his seventh career 200-yard game, which would have broken his tie with O.J. Simpson, Chris Johnson, and Adrian Peterson.

“The reality is he doesn’t need much room to run,” rookie tackle Roger Rosengarten said. “If you give him a little sliver of space, he’s going to take advantage of it. He’s ‘22’ for a reason. He’s ‘King Henry’ for a reason. He shows it week in and week out and we just have to give him a chance. He’ll do the rest.”

Justice Hill continues to emerge as a dynamic weapon

Henry wasn’t the only Ravens running back who balled out in this game as his fellow veteran made several big plays as well but did most of his damage as a pass catcher out of the backfield. Hill set a new single-game career-high in both receptions and receiving yards by hauling in all six of his targets for a team-leading 78 yards—both of which were also game highs—and a touchdown. On his scoring reception, Hill put a filthy move on the Bills’ linebacker fake as if he was running an option route and blew past him instead to get wide open in the endzone for a 19-yard connection.

“We’re just trying to find matchups where I can succeed and use everyone to the best of their abilities,” Hill said. “That’s what they’ve done with me, and we’ve been able to scheme up some things to get me into space.”

Hill picked up several crucial drive-extending first downs for the Ravens on Sunday night on both screens and checkdowns where he didn’t waste any time getting north upfield and made defenders miss in space when he needed to move the chains. He was also a nice change of pace option in the running game who picked up some nice chunks on draws and other rushing plays to record 18 yards on four attempts to bring his scrimmage total to 96 yards on 10 total touches.

“Whatever plays the coach draws up, we’re willing and able to do whatever we can do to help the team win,” Hill said. “So, that’s what we did. He [Henry] got a lot of carries, made them count. I got some receptions out of the backfield and was able to do what I did with that.”

Ravens are NFL’s most dangerous team and still just scratching the surface

Coming into this game, the Bills were the national media darling whose praises were being sung louder than those of the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs who remained undefeated after squeaking out a one-possession win over the Los Angeles Chargers earlier in the day. However, the Ravens proved that they are not just the most dangerous team in the league after dismantling them but the fact that they did so despite making some mistakes and leaving some plays out there on both sides of the ball shows that they are still far from a finished product despite how dominant they looked on Sunday night.

“Our back [was] against the wall, [and] we can prevail,” Jackson said. “We come out there and fight. All phases played great tonight.”

On offense, the Ravens outgained their opponent for the fourth straight game to open the season with their third outing of racking up over 400 total yards. The only thing that stopped their momentum after scoring touchdowns in each of their first three drives was a fumble by quarterback Lamar Jackson in the second quarter that gave the Bills some life heading into halftime and coming out in the third quarter. After the defense snuffed it out with some big plays, they turned it back on and got back to scoring points with touchdowns on their next two positions to put the game out of reach for good.

Offensive coordinator Todd Monken called an excellent game with great answers to pressures and different looks the Bills’ defense trotted out throughout the game. The fact that his unit could still be prolific without their other skill position players outside of quarterback and running back touching the ball an excessive amount suggests that there is still another level of productivity they are capable of reaching.

After watching the Chiefs continue to barely edge out wins and lose key pieces on their offense along the way with wide receiver Rashee Rice expected to join running back Isiah Pacheco on the shelf due to injury, the Ravens would certainly have an edge in a potential rematch as currently constructed and given both trajectory and overall healthy status moving forward.

The real MVP stood up and showed out

Heading into this highly-anticipated matchup, a lot of excitement circled around the two franchise quarterbacks as it marked the fourth career head-to-head meeting between the 2018 first-rounders as full-time starters. The Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen had the edge 2-1 after winning their last two contests and was widely viewed as the early favorite to be named league MVP for the first time in his career. However, it was Jackson, the reigning and two-time winner of the prestigious honor who shined the brightest under the primetime lights and looked every part of a potential three-time league MVP, a feat not even Patrick Mahomes has achieved yet and likely won’t this year given how vulnerable the Chiefs offense looks right now.

“[Lamar is the] best weapon in football right there, and everybody rallies around him, and he distributes to everybody else,” Harbaugh said. “That’s where it starts, but the run game is massively important to us.”

Jackson was surgical and precise throwing both outside and between the hashes, completing 13-of-18 passes for 156 passing yards, a pair of touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 135.4. He also finished second on the team in rushing for the second week in a row with 54 yards on six carries including a touchdown and a team-leading average of nine yards per carry. Meanwhile, Allen was held to his worst outing of the season and the second-worst game of his entire career in terms of success rate according to NextGenStats. He completed 16-of-29 attempts for 180 passing yards, no touchdowns or interceptions and a passer rating of 73.9 while only picking up 21 rushing yards on five attempts.

Defense is recapturing dominant form

Monken wasn’t the only Ravens playcaller who was in his bag and putting his players in the best position to succeed. In just his third game on the job, first-year defensive coordinator Zach Orr called a great game as well and his unit dominated what was the most efficient and among the most prolific offenses to start the year. They gave up their fewest yards (236) and points (10) of the season thus far while recording multiple sacks and holding their opponent to under four yards per carry on the ground for the fourth straight game.

Leading the charge for the pass rush was the ageless wonder that is veteran outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy. He extended his streak of recording two sacks in consecutive games to three in a row against a pass-blocking unit that had only given up two in their first three games with his second resulting in a huge momentum-shifting forced fumble. He finished with a pair of solo tackles for loss and a team-leading three quarterback hits.

“I thought Kyle had a fabulous game,” Harbaugh said. “[He] gets the turnover, and it kind of gets it sparked a little bit, and then our offense takes over from there.”

Fourth-year outside linebacker Odafe Oweh was also highly disruptive in this game and recorded the only other sack of Allen which resulted in a huge 16-yard loss that would be followed by a missed 48-yard field goal by Bills kicker Tyler Bass.

The secondary was also sensational with how they continued to improve and be even more stingy in coverage. They consistently made Allen pass into tight windows or make the perfect back-shoulder throw to get the ball to his targets. No Bills pass catcher recorded more than five receptions or 62 receiving yards as their aerial attack was grounded for only a couple of shots down the field. Led by Pro Bowlers Kyle Hamilton and Marlon Humphrey, the cornerbacks and safeties were extremely physical in run support, tenacious pass rushers when sent on blitzes and lights out in coverage for most of the night.

“I think we played a good game as a whole,” Hamilton said. “[The] pass rush kept [Josh Allen] contained for the most part. I thought DBs [defensive backs] covered really well, even though Nate [Wiggins] dropped some money today – ‘B-Steve’ [Brandon Stephens], too, so we have two culprits.

“I think it all started up front. I think we were controlling the line of scrimmage really well. Travis [Jones], ‘Beeks’ [Nnamdi Madubuike], ‘Broddy’ [Broderick Washington], all those guys – ‘Urb’ [Brent Urban] – and once you get that shut down, then your defensive playbook opens up, so ‘Z.O.’ [Zach Orr] could just call whatever he wanted to.”