ExtremeRavens Posted September 3 Posted September 3 Mark Andrews’ brow furrowed. An intensity shot from his eyes like a laser. The Ravens tight end knew what was coming Wednesday afternoon in Owings Mills and he wasn’t having any of it. “At the end of the day this is a new season,” he said, his tone and brevity speaking louder than his words. “For me, it’s just looking at it as two really good teams going against each other.” It is, of course, much more than that. Baltimore will open its 2025 season on Sunday night where its 2024 playoff run ended, at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, against the Buffalo Bills. Put another way, it’s like an art thief who fumbled the Mona Lisa walking out of the Louvre returning to the scene of the crime eight months later. Only it was Andrews, along with quarterback and two-time NFL Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson, who were the central figures in this cast. In that dispiriting 27-25 divisional round defeat at the hands of the Bills, Andrews had a costly fourth quarter fumble and dropped would-be game-tying 2-point conversion with 93 seconds remaining. Jackson added to his and Baltimore’s postseason foibles with a fumble and an interception as well. So how does one get over such mental hurdles and clear the next in a showdown that pits two of the AFC’s best teams against one another with playoff implications potentially determined months from now? “I’m a pro,” Andrews, who will turn 30 Saturday and is in the last year of his contract with the Ravens, said. “This is my whole entire world. “For me, it’s about focusing, doing my job and just knowing the type of player I can be in this offense and for this organization and for this city. I’ve never lost sight of that.” Those around the three-time Pro Bowl selection aren’t worried, either. “[He’s] the same guy,” Jackson said. “Nothing has changed.” “I think he’ll handle it great,” coach John Harbaugh said. “Mark’s a pro. He’s been doing this a long time, he’s been in a lot of tough stadiums, a lot of tough environments to play football.” Ravens tight end Mark Andrews reacts after dropping the game-tying two-point conversion against the Bills in the AFC playoffs. Andrews says he's focused on this season, not the heartbreak of the past year's postseason, entering Sunday's game in Buffalo. (Adrian Kraus/AP) Added left tackle Ronnie Stanley, the longest tenured player on the team: “I know the type of competitor Mark is, and he’s not going to let one moment, one bad thing [that] happened to set him back. He’s a true warrior. He’s going to push forward through those moments, and I know he’s excited to prove himself and everyone else that he’s still that guy.” Jackson’s thought process is even less complex on the matter. Asked what the keys to avoiding a similar outcome in the highly anticipated rematch are, he said, “Don’t turn the ball over, finish drives, put our team in a great position to win. That’s all. “It’s just like another game. Just trying to win. I don’t look at no opponent like we gotta beat them. I feel like we gotta beat everybody.” Starting with not beating themselves. If someone from another planet landed on earth, knew nothing about football and perused most of the details of the box score from that snowy January night save for the final score, there’s a good chance they would come away thinking the Ravens won in a rout. Almost all of the statistical differences were that stark. Baltimore had more total yards (416-273), passing yards (240-126), rushing yards (176-147), yards per play (7.3-4.6), yards per pass (8.9-5.5), yards per rush (5.9-4.1), first downs (23-20), converted 7 of 10 third downs to Buffalo’s 5 of 11 and didn’t have a single punt. Eventually though, an ugly and familiar truth would emerge: The Ravens turned the ball over three times, the Bills none. Bills linebacker Terrel Bernard strips the ball from Ravens tight end Mark Andrews during the fourth quarter of an AFC divisional-round playoff game this past season. (Gene J. Puskar/AP) It wasn’t just that Baltimore couldn’t hold onto the ball on the chilly, slippery evening; it was what happened as a result and the moments bear repeating. Jackson getting strip-sacked in the second quarter at the Bills’ 34-yard line not only ended the chance for Baltimore to forge ahead, it helped set up Buffalo’s second touchdown to go up 14-7. Andrews’ fumble at the Bills’ 44 with just under 9 minutes to go in the fourth quarter not only killed another drive, it led to a field goal that ended up being the decisive score. And when Jackson was intercepted on a deep pass intended for Rashod Bateman that ended up instead in the awaiting arms of safety Taylor Rapp — the only turnover that didn’t lead to points for the Bills — it was because he threw off his back foot to the wrong part of the field while under duress. While the Bills blitzed 15 times on Jackson’s 31 pass attempts, generating nine pressures when bringing at least one extra defender, Baltimore’s defense barely breathed on Bills quarterback Josh Allen. After tallying the second-most sacks in the league during the regular season, it was another departure from the norm in the postseason for Baltimore. The same was true of its run defense, which was gashed for 147 yards and three scores, a point not forgotten by Baltimore linebacker Roquan Smith. When he was asked the key to slowing the Bills, he said it starts with “stopping the run, making the guys one dimensional.” “When you do that, things can go a different direction,” he said. Defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike concurred. “Their backs are really shifty, [so] making them one dimensional, making the QB very uncomfortable,” he said. “When he’s very, very uncomfortable, he starts to do things that are unorthodox of him. So, we want to put him in spots that are very tight and that are very uncomfortable so we can capitalize on those opportunities.” If there is a silver lining for the Ravens, it’s that they have looked comfortable in the regular season. In last season’s opener against the Chiefs in a rematch of the 2024 AFC title game, Baltimore came within an Isaiah Likely toenail of potentially tying — or potentially winning — the game at the buzzer. What will it be like facing the Bills in a similar scenario on Sunday night? “It’s going to be a great motivation,” Madubuike said. “Definitely, you want to get that bad taste out of your mouth from the last game that we played.” Stanley acknowledged there has also been a quiet intensity bubbling under the surface within the team this week. “That team sent us home out of the playoffs, so I don’t think it’s just [like] going into a normal game, per se,” he said. What’s required to bounce back? To vanquish the ghosts of playoffs past and take the first step toward what the Ravens hope to be an eventual run to the Super Bowl? “It’s the guys that you have coming back,” Andrews said. “What type of guys do you have in the locker room? Are they guys that are looking toward the end goal? Are they focused? Are they someone that gets down on themselves? “I don’t think that’s the type of group that we have is people that get down.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article Quote
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