Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens’ offense remain work in progress

Quarterback Joe Flacco (23-for-34, 258 yards, touchdown, four sacks, 99.9 rating) checked to a post route that ended up with Wallace gathering in a 66-yard touchdown – 32 yards longer than any of his catches with Minnesota a year ago – for the Ravens’ only six-point play. The game showed that the Ravens defense is ready to compete with the big boys, holding the Bills to a paltry 160 total yards.

Buffalo began its second half offsensive series on the ground with two runs from LeSean McCoy before Sammy Waktins made a 19-yard reception to get the Bills past mid field.

The Ravens jumped to 1-0 on Sunday with a 13-7 victory over the Bills at home and they neutralized Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor in the process.

Incredibly, that was enough to win, because the Ravens defence proved even better than Buffalo’s.

LeSean McCoy rushed 16 times for 58 yards and one touchdown in the Bills’ Week 1 loss to the Ravens.

The Baltimore Ravens begin their 2016 season within the friendly confines of M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday when they host the Bills. Considering the success they had running behind Cordy Glenn and Richie Incognito last season, I’d imagine – pending the health of Glenn – the Bills will pound the rock behind the left side of their offensive line going forward.

Baltimore used a touchdown pass by Joe Flacco, two field goals and a throwback defensive effort to beat the Buffalo Bills 13-7 on Sunday in the season opener.

The second half was less than flattering for the team as they were only able to score a field goal the rest of the way. And when he did get loose, Taylor often looked to throw it and missed his receiver by throwing too high. We couldn’t get any rhythm going. “Ball security is number one; we can’t turn over the football”.

“I was in position to make tackles, and we emphasized that, making tackles on McCoy and being able to get those guys down and eliminate big plays”, Wright said.

The Buffalo Bills are coming from a 31-0 loss to the Detroit Lions last week in a preseason game.

According to oddsmakers from online sports book Bovada.lv, the Ravens are 3.5-point home favorites versus the Bills while the over/under now sits at 44.5 points.

Key stats: The Bills had the ball barely three minutes in the quarter and did not record a first down, a clear indication of how poorly the offense played. We just have to do a good job on defense of doing what we’re supposed to do – having good eyes and doing our technique, following our assignments and being where we’re supposed to be. “If we can play like that in the back end, we’re going to have a chance to win some games”. “We can’t win games if we can’t do that”. “It starts with protection”, coach Rex Ryan said.

It had to make head coach John Harbaugh happy to see Flacco has lost none of his arm strength. It marked the first time the Ravens didn’t allow a first down in the fourth quarter since 2011. Rolling to the left, Taylor found Charles Clay, who was eventually tackled inside the five-yard line. If you have either of the Bills or Ravens defense on your fantasy team, playing them is a bad idea. “They know how to get things done, so it just feels right”.

This goes hand-in-hand with what I just wrote above.

It is just the first week, though. In four of those games, Taylor and the offense were within seven points in the fourth quarter and failed to rise to the occasion.