Bills' “Everyone Eats” recipe breaks and Buffalo looks for a new recipe

BALTIMORE — Maybe the Buffalo Bills had a blood test appointment Monday morning.

A week after the Bills showed how much they believe in their “everyone eats” offense, too many of them fasted Sunday night at M&T Bank Stadium.

Even when the Baltimore Ravens tried to provide their visitors with wellness at the beginning of the second half, the Bills were not dissuaded from a 35:10 defeat.

The hungry Ravens proved hungry from the jump, feasting on what was left of the Bills' carcass by the end of the game. Derrick Henry set a club record by running 87 yards for a touchdown on the first snap. Deep into the fourth quarter, when Josh Allen was chased out of the game for a long time, the only unsolved mystery was whether Henry would exceed 200 yards on a Bills defense that looked like an invincible next man up in Week 4 but now fans are asking. who is GM Brandon Beane Maybe speed dial is on.

The Bills have been chattering about their cleats. A series of fumbles by the Ravens provided ample opportunity to recover just before halftime and throughout the third quarter, but one ploy failed — ridiculous in timing and execution — took away the Bills' pride. Last but not least, Tyler Bass missed a 48-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.

A week after Bills fans were amazed by Allen's ability to hit 10 different targets in just under two quarters against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he had as many pressured ejections (four) as attempts against Keon Coleman and more than he had against James Cook (one), Curtis Samuel (one) and Dawson Knox (one).

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Disastrous trick play, defensive deficiencies doom Bills against Ravens: “They blew our asses”

Feast or famine, food or diet, these Bills have a lot to think about before visiting old friend Stefon Diggs and the Houston Texans next Sunday.

“We have to come out and be ready to play sooner,” Bills linebacker Baylon Spector said. “Tonight they had our numbers, they kept coming out, calling us physical and dominating the line of scrimmage. That’s one of our goals every week: to get out and be physically active, and they came out and did it to us.”

An hour after kickoff, the Bills ate their lunch on both sides of the ball and trailed 21-3 with 7:43 left in the second quarter. I texted a friend: “Here Josh Allen decides to do everything himself, commits three turnovers and injures his elbow.”

Allen failed to pass the ball three times, but was anything but error-free. Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton said of cornerbacks Brandon Stephens and Nate Wiggins, “They lost some money today.” Coleman also dropped a pass, a perfectly placed bomb down the left sideline that would have gained 34 yards and Buffalo's 60 14 yards from the goal line seconds before halftime. Instead, the Bills ended up with zero points and dragged themselves into the locker room trailing 21-3. Coleman's drop looked like Diggs' long shot against the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs, where the ball went through his arms.

Dropping a perfectly placed ball was emblematic of the Bills' performance against the Ravens. (Geoff Burke/Imagn Images)

But the moment that symbolized Buffalo's anemic evening was that bilious tackle game. Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady doesn't have a mumbo-jumbo story. What happened with 6:29 left in the third quarter would relieve him of any further temptation for a while.

Samuel, who had thrown zero passes in the NFL or at Ohio State, trailed by just 11 points and took a shotgun snap on second-and-7 from the Ravens' 44-yard line. Allen stood to Samuel's left. Samuel threw the ball to him poorly, which put even more pressure on Allen as he ended up throwing himself into the air. Ravens linebacker Kyle Van Noy hit Allen's arm, forcing a fumble. Defensive end Travis Jones crushed Allen on the spot.

The dust settled to find that Hamilton had recovered the ball, Allen was on the ground, and tight end Dalton Kincaid was also on the ground as M&T Stadium went crazy. Allen and Kincaid didn't miss a beat, but the absurdity of the scene was unmistakable.

“It was a trick game, similar to their last fight,” Hamilton said. “We got a big play at the end and our offense went back and scored after that. Putting out the fire, so to speak.”

Allen's best play was as low as possible. He scrambled to the right and just a yard from the sideline and spotted Khalil Shakir, who had gotten behind the Ravens' secondary, executing a 52-yard pickup three minutes into the third quarter to set up Buffalo's only touchdown. As striking as the connection was, it was symptomatic of a problem.

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The Ravens suffocated the Bills 35-10 behind dominant Derrick Henry and a strong defense

“Josh came off the field a lot tonight,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “He made some great plays along the way, but it’s just not the healthiest way to live there.”

The Ravens sacked Allen three times and recorded eight QB hits.

Last Monday, several outbursts of “MVP!” broke out at Highmark Stadium. Chants for Allen, but those sweet letters resonated Sunday night for two-time honoree Lamar Jackson. Jackson was a modest 13 of 18 for 156 yards but threw two touchdowns. He ran six times for 54 yards and a touchdown. The Bills sacked Jackson once and hit him only three times.

Baltimore offensive coordinator Todd Monken made Buffalo's defense look like what many feared it would a few weeks ago when it lost linebacker Terrel Bernard and nickelback Taron Johnson.

Buffalo's top four tacklers entering Sunday started two combined games last year, and both were played by second-year linebacker Dorian Williams. The other three — Nickelback Cam Lewis, safety Damar Hamlin and Spector — They weren't expected to make the starting lineup in training camp, but injuries pushed them up the rankings.

Bills safety Taylor Rapp suffered a concussion in a tackle on Henry early in the second quarter and did not return. Second-round freshman Cole Bishop replaced him and finished the game with six tackles.

Henry's stat line should have been better, but he fumbled at the goal line. That mistake also benefited Baltimore as fullback Patrick Ricard pounced on it and scored a touchdown with 11:23 left. The game was supposedly over. McDermott gave Allen one more series before bringing in backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky with 7:17 left.

“The flight home is an hour,” McDermott said. “I wish it was a five-hour plane ride because then I would have enough time to find all the things we need to work on. It just wasn't up to our standard tonight. I'm saying we need to do things fundamentally better in terms of execution. It's not just a position. It's us — as a collective, as a team — I have to do a better job fundamentally and do a better job physically.”

Sunday night was the first of three straight away games at Buffalo. The Bills will have played four road games in five weeks and five road games in seven weeks.

No more home cooking for a while. The Bills better find a better recipe than the one they used for Baltimore.

(Top photo by Josh Allen: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)