{"id":351299,"date":"2025-09-08T10:02:59","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T10:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/351299\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T10:02:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T10:02:59","slug":"buffalo-bills-stunning-brilliant-impossible-win-over-the-ravens-is-an-instant-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/351299\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffalo Bills’ stunning, brilliant, impossible win over the Ravens is an instant classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORCHARD PARK, NY \u2013 Instant classic.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what happened at Highmark Stadium on Sunday night. It was one of those games that if you didn\u2019t see it you would not believe it.<\/p>\n

The Buffalo Bills<\/a> trailed by 15 points with less than five minutes to play \u2013 and still won the darned thing. And boy did they ever.<\/p>\n

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Buffalo needed some crazy stuff to happen to rally back against a Baltimore Ravens<\/a> outfit, hell-bent on revenge as their AFC divisional playoff setback on these grounds in January, seemed poised to run the home team out of its own building.<\/p>\n

And crazy stuff happened to define the first 41-40 score in the NFL\u2019s 106-year history.<\/p>\n

Either crazy or divine intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cGlory to God,\u201d Bills coach Sean McDermott, a spiritual man \u2013 and maybe even more so now \u2013 surmised during his postgame revival, er, news conference. When it ended, McDermott could be seen pointing through the night sky to the heavens.<\/p>\n

The Big Guy is a member of Bills Mafia? Who knew?<\/p>\n

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Then again, the way it all went down leaves us all wondering.<\/p>\n

1 \/ 9<\/p>\n

Cheerleaders, celebrities, fans and mascots at NFL games during 2025 season<\/p>\n

Week 1: A Kansas City Chiefs fan flexes and shows that he has singer Taylor Swift’s name written on his arm during the NFL International Series game in S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil.<\/p>\n

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1 \/ 9<\/p>\n

Cheerleaders, celebrities, fans and mascots at NFL games during 2025 season<\/p>\n

Week 1: A Kansas City Chiefs fan flexes and shows that he has singer Taylor Swift’s name written on his arm during the NFL International Series game in S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil.<\/p>\n

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2 \/ 9<\/p>\n

Cheerleaders, celebrities, fans and mascots at NFL games during 2025 season<\/p>\n

Week 1: A fan cheers inside the Corinthians Arena before the NFL International Series game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs in S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil.<\/p>\n

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3 \/ 9<\/p>\n

Cheerleaders, celebrities, fans and mascots at NFL games during 2025 season<\/p>\n

Week 1: Kansas City Chiefs fans cheer the Corinthians Arena before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers in S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil.<\/p>\n

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4 \/ 9<\/p>\n

Cheerleaders, celebrities, fans and mascots at NFL games during 2025 season<\/p>\n

Week 1: Fans pose outside Corinthians Arena before the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers in S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil.<\/p>\n

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5 \/ 9<\/p>\n

Cheerleaders, celebrities, fans and mascots at NFL games during 2025 season<\/p>\n

Week 1: A fan poses inside a oversized Kansas City Chiefs helmet before the NFL International Series game in S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil.<\/p>\n

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6 \/ 9<\/p>\n

Cheerleaders, celebrities, fans and mascots at NFL games during 2025 season<\/p>\n

Week 1: Philadelphia Eagles fans react during the 2025 NFL Kickoff Game against the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field.<\/p>\n

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7 \/ 9<\/p>\n

Cheerleaders, celebrities, fans and mascots at NFL games during 2025 season<\/p>\n

Week 1: The Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders perform prior to the 2025 NFL Kickoff Game at Lincoln Financial Field.<\/p>\n

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8 \/ 9<\/p>\n

Cheerleaders, celebrities, fans and mascots at NFL games during 2025 season<\/p>\n

Week 1: A Dallas Cowboys fan and a Philadelphia Eagles fan smile during the NFL season opener at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

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9 \/ 9<\/p>\n

Cheerleaders, celebrities, fans and mascots at NFL games during 2025 season<\/p>\n

Week 1: Fanatics CEO Mike Rubin, former Philadelphia Eagles player Brandon Graham and musical artist Meek Mill pose for a photo prior to the 2025 NFL Kickoff Game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field.<\/p>\n

Derrick Henry bulldozed the Bills defense for 169 yards and two touchdowns, but fumbled \u2013 take a bow, Ed Oliver, for punching the football out \u2013 in crunch time to set up the Buffalo touchdown that made it a two-point game.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder that Henry apologized to his teammates after the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I put the loss on me,\u201d Henry explained in a somber visitor\u2019s locker room.<\/p>\n

Yes, classic games always come with heroes and clutch performers, and with usual safe bets having mishaps at the worst time. And they often come with some serious luck.<\/p>\n

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Before Henry\u2019s fumble, Keon Coleman caught a 10-yard touchdown pass for the Bills on fourth down that deflected off tight end Dawson Knox, who reached for the pass while running a route in front of Coleman, who caught the pass as he slid across the back of the end zone.<\/p>\n

It was that kind of drama.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt ranks up there,\u201d said Ravens<\/a> linebacker Kyle Van Noy, pondering the wildest games he\u2019s participated in during his 12-year NFL career. \u201cBut it sucks being on the opposite side.\u201d<\/p>\n

One man\u2019s misery is another man\u2019s glory.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to play the game for 60 minutes,\u201d summed up Josh Allen, Buffalo\u2019s MVP quarterback, who passed for 394 yards and two touchdowns \u2013 and nailed 32-and 25-yard completions on the final drive to set up Matt Prater\u2019s 32-yard field goal as time expired.<\/p>\n

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Sixty minutes. Easy for Allen to say, true as it is.<\/p>\n

Of course, the NFL loves it. The first Sunday night showcase game was filled with fireworks, highlights, suspense \u2013 and hey, postgame buzz that had nothing to do with anybody spitting on an opponent.<\/p>\n

If you weren\u2019t buying the 60-minute theme and turned off the TV as the game went deep into the night, you sure missed out. But you can\u2019t be blamed. The Ravens seemed to have the game in the bag. After all, they didn\u2019t punt until 6:25 remained in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

\"ORCHARD<\/p>\n

ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 07: Matt Prater #15 of the Buffalo Bills celebrates with teammates after kicking the game winning field goal against the Baltimore Ravens at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

And Lamar Jackson was in a special kind of zone himself. Jackson passed for 210 yards, ran for 70 and created three TDs. Jackson and Henry demonstrated just how lethal of a 1-2 punch they are during two sequences worth noting. Early in the second quarter, they combined for 48 yards and a TD with back-to-back long-distance jaunts. Then early in the fourth quarter they topped that, combining for 64 yards on alternating runs as Jackson scrambled for 19 yards to set up a 46-yard TD blast from Henry.<\/p>\n

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Classic stuff. Then a classic comeback to set off the farewell season at Highmark Stadium, with the Bills\u2019 new digs under construction across the street.<\/p>\n

For the fans who left in the fourth quarter, shame on them. The place was maybe a third-empty midway through the fourth quarter. You know it happens. Fans want to get an early jump on the traffic as the home team seems destined for a big L.<\/p>\n

Those fans left without getting their money\u2019s worth. Tsk. Tsk.<\/p>\n

The game goes down as one for the ages. No, the stakes weren\u2019t as high as they were the time when Frank Reich, subbing for an injured Jim Kelly, led the Bills to a 32-point comeback against the Houston Oilers to win an AFC wild-card playoff in January 1993 that is the largest postseason comeback in NFL history.<\/p>\n

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Yet that playoff magic came at the same place \u2013 called Rich Stadium at the time \u2013 and I\u2019m guessing that for the Bills fans who experienced it, it had to feel something similar to what went down on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

In other words, it was so special. So classic.<\/p>\n

Prater, signed late last week as an emergency replacement for injured kicker Tyler Bass, kicked three field goals in his Bills debut. In his 19th NFL season, he\u2019s had his share of game-winning kicks that beat the clock.<\/p>\n

But now there\u2019s this fresh classic to welcome him to Buffalo.<\/p>\n

After it was over, after the new teammates that he\u2019s barely met lifted him in a mob celebration on the field, it didn\u2019t matter that he\u2019s a seasoned veteran who has been around the NFL block a few times.<\/p>\n

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Prater said, \u201cI\u2019m still on Cloud Nine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which was one way to sum up a classic.<\/p>\n

Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com<\/a> or follow on social media: On X: @JarrettBell<\/p>\n

On Bluesky: jarrettbell.bsky.social<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Buffalo Bills’ impossible win over the Ravens is an instant classic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORCHARD PARK, NY \u2013 Instant classic. That\u2019s what happened at Highmark Stadium on Sunday night. It was one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2052],"tags":[184,117,2282,53,63026,3029,292,12776,7,4704,63027,872,8100,192,895,9502,6,169,3026,3025,15482],"class_list":{"0":"post-351299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-ravens","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-ravens","10":"tag-baltimoreravens","11":"tag-buffalo-bills","12":"tag-classic-games","13":"tag-dawson-knox","14":"tag-derrick-henry","15":"tag-ed-oliver","16":"tag-football","17":"tag-highmark-stadium","18":"tag-instant-classic","19":"tag-josh-allen","20":"tag-keon-coleman","21":"tag-kyle-van-noy","22":"tag-lamar-jackson","23":"tag-matt-prater","24":"tag-nfl","25":"tag-ravens","26":"tag-sean-mcdermott","27":"tag-the-bills","28":"tag-tyler-bass"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115168110810156392","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}