The Buffalo Bills completed a perfect 10-0 run of home games this season including the playoffs and Sunday’s ice-cold 27-25 win over the Baltimore Ravens.
While the Bills offense usually grabs headlines, their defense shined in the win.
And they used the doubt and questioning heard in the outside noise of the media to motivate them.
“What were they all saying?” defensive tackle Ed Oliver asked postgame, via The Athletic. “I know you know. So what were they all saying?”
During the week leading into the matchup, the media scrutinized the Bills for not having enough size on defense to stop Ravens running back Derrick Henry or the ability to stop mobile quarterback Lamar Jackson.
“I didn’t hear nothing!” He replied to his own question with a smile. “I’m trying to get it right now. So they said we weren’t big enough, weren’t physical enough?”
The Buffalo defense held Henry to 84 yards while preventing any big breakout plays, and defended and limited Jackson.
The highest-graded Bill in the divisional round by Pro Football Focus (PFF) against the Ravens, defensive end A.J. Epenesa (82.6), commented on the motivation factor as well.
“We have a lot of pride in ourselves, what we do here as a defense,” Epenesa said. “Just speaking as a defense, we were told all week how they were going to do this, how they going to do that, and that just, I’d like to say, fueled us a little bit.”
While the Bills struggled to defend on third down, they forced three turnovers on the day including two on Jackson, and had 10 points off those takeaways.
And a motivational video helped fuel that effort as well.
“Our highlight video this week was all the media people, talking,” fellow defensive tackle Jordan Phillips shared. “They can’t do this. They can’t do that.’ Our coaches suck. We’re too small.
Well, now what?”
In the regular season, Buffalo finished with the third-most takeaways in the NFL in 2024 (32) and was facing the Ravens who were among the top clubs in the NFL at protecting the football. The question was which team would prevail.
“That was our motto all week: Let’s see who’s better,” Phillips added.
Buffalo’s offense seized those opportunities to add 10 points off the turnovers, and the team is now tied for the NFL record for consecutive games with an even or positive turnover margin (21).
All three takeaway plays were made by Buffalo starters who did not play the first meeting between the two teams in NFL Week 4 in Baltimore when the Ravens beat the Bills in the regular season.
Safety Taylor Rapp kicked things off early with an interception, outside linebacker Von Miller recovered a fumble, and linebacker Terrel Bernard caused and recovered a fumble.
“Biggest play of the game, bro. Not even close,” Bills cornerback Rasul Douglas said of the play by Bernard, who Phillips carried off the field in celebration.
“You try your best to ignore outside noise,” Bernard said, “but in games like this, moments like this, sometimes you can’t avoid it. We did see a video of outside people talking about what we can and can’t do.
“To make it this far in your career and to be a professional athlete, at some point you’ve been doubted. Everybody’s felt that. Everybody has had to deal with that. Somebody gives you motivation, you should take it.”
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