Apart from a butt-kicking early last season, the Josh Allen-Lamar Jackson rivalry has nearly always produced fireworks. Their prime time matchup in Week 1 this year was no exception.
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At first, it seemed as though we were headed for a repeat of that 35-10 drubbing the Baltimore Ravens put on the Buffalo Bills in Week 4 of the 2024 season. After Derrick Henry’s second rushing TD of 30+ yards put the Ravens up 40-25 early in the fourth quarter, the game seemed all but lost.
Even Dion Dawkins, the starting left tackle and arguably the team’s most vocal leader and captain, wasn’t feeling very positive. Henry’s 46-yard scoring scamper in the fourth quarter — during which he ran right down the Bills’ sideline — made Dawkins think this one was out of reach for good.
“I think it was the third quarter when Derrick Henry ran to the opposite end zone, so the opposite end zone from our tunnel. He’s running up our sideline, stiff arms a guy, touchdown,” Dawkins started his narration on the Fitz and Witz podcast.
“The points looked drastically different… it looked crazy where we’re looking at it… In my mind, I’m like, ‘We are not about to win, this is crazy.’ … I’m thinking that as a competitor, I’m thinking this is going to be tough to come back,” he added.
But Dawkins had forgotten who he was playing with: his favorite “white boy” Josh Allen.
Dawkins went on to reveal how the coaching staff often challenges Allen with an athletic feat to determine whether the team ends practice early or continues. According to Dawkins, he never lets his guys down.
And he wouldn’t do so here, either. Right after Henry’s score and just before the offense returned to the field to avenge a 15-point deficit, Allen walked over to his hogs and gave them five simple words.
“Josh comes over… Josh looks at us, and he goes, ‘We’re still in this game.’ I said, ‘Alright cool, I guess we’re still in the game then.’ … I’m thinking that, this guy just told us that we’re still in the game. Next thing you know, boom, Field Goal.”
And boy, was Allen right. Down just two scores with 10 minutes remaining, Buffalo still had plenty of time to mount a comeback if their defense could get a stop. The funny thing is, the rally didn’t actually start right after Allen and Dawkins’ sideline exchange. They went out and punted despite how fired up Dawkins said they were following Allen’s belief that they could still win.
The Ravens answered with a punt of their own, which set Allen and company up for the comeback. They drove down and scored a TD to make it an eight-point game, then an uncharacteristic fumble by Henry in his own territory gave the Bills another short field for a touchdown.
However, Allen and company missed the two-point conversion that would have tied it. Baltimore went three-and-out again, and Allen then connected with Josh Palmer and Keon Coleman for big gains to set up Matt Prater’s game-winning 32-yarder.
That gives Josh Allen 14 fourth-quarter comebacks in his career, good for sixth in the NFL since he was drafted in 2018. No doubt, this one was the most dramatic.
