The Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens have a history that stretches back three decades, with plenty of memorable games along the way. From regular-season battles to playoff matchups with a trip to the AFC Championship on the line, these two teams have given fans plenty to talk about over the years.
But as the Bills prepare to host the Ravens on Sunday, we’re taking a slightly different approach to this week’s Time Capsule. While there’s plenty of history between the two franchises, much of their
recent history has been written by three players: Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Derrick Henry.
Allen and Jackson have gone head-to-head since 2018, while Henry was giving Buffalo’s defense headaches long before he traded his Tennessee Titans uniform for Baltimore’s purple and black.
So, rather than looking back at the teams as a whole, we’re going to revisit these matchups through the eyes — or arms and legs, as the case may be — of the players who’ve helped shape them. We’ll look at how Allen and the Bills’ offense has fared against Baltimore’s defense, what Jackson has done against Buffalo, and just how much damage Henry has caused over the years.
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Josh Allen & the Bills’ offense vs. Ravens’ defense
Baltimore’s defense hasn’t always been kind to Josh Allen. Some of his toughest games have come against the Ravens, dating back to his rookie season. However, the Bills have also found ways to beat Baltimore even when the offense wasn’t putting up big numbers.
Allen’s first taste of the Ravens’ defense came in the 2018 season opener when he replaced Nathan Peterman in a game Buffalo lost 47-3. Allen completed just six of 15 passes for 74 yards and he was sacked three times. Things weren’t much easier the following season when he made his first start against Baltimore. The Ravens sacked him six times, held him to 146 passing yards, and limited Buffalo to 17 points.
The Bills finally got the better of Baltimore in the 2020 playoffs, winning 17-3, although the offense didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard. Allen threw for 206 yards and a touchdown, while Buffalo’s defense did much of the heavy lifting.
Two years later, Allen helped the Bills climb out of a 20-3 hole in Baltimore. He threw for 213 yards and a touchdown, added 70 yards and another score on the ground, and Buffalo came away with a 23-20 win. It was the first time Allen had rushed for more than 25 yards against the Ravens, and his ability to make plays with his legs helped turn the game around.
Baltimore got the upper hand during the 2024 regular season, holding Allen to 180 passing yards and no touchdowns in a 35-10 loss. But when the teams met again in the playoffs, Buffalo found a different way to win. Allen threw for just 127 yards, his lowest total in a start against Baltimore, but scored twice on the ground as the Bills won 27-25 to advance to the AFC Championship Game.
Then came the 2025 season opener, and everything Buffalo had struggled to do against Baltimore’s defense seemed to change.
Allen threw for 394 yards and two touchdowns, nearly doubling his previous high of 213 passing yards against the Ravens. He also added two rushing touchdowns, giving him four total scores in a game where Buffalo trailed by 15 points late in the fourth quarter. The Bills scored 16 unanswered points over the final four minutes to pull out a 41-40 win.
Across seven meetings, including the playoffs, Allen has thrown for 1,340 yards, five touchdowns, and just one interception. He’s also rushed for 179 yards and five touchdowns, with four of those rushing scores coming in his last two appearances against Baltimore.
For years, the Ravens managed to keep Allen from doing much damage through the air. His first six appearances against Baltimore produced just 946 passing yards combined, an average of fewer than 158 per game. Then he threw for 394 in one night.
The numbers show how much this matchup has changed. Baltimore has made Allen work for just about everything over the years, but the Ravens have also learned that keeping him quiet early doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll stay that way.
Josh Allen vs. Baltimore Ravens – Career (including playoffs)
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Lamar Jackson vs. Bills’ defense
While Baltimore’s defense has given Josh Allen plenty of headaches over the years, the Bills have returned the favor against Lamar Jackson. Buffalo has managed to keep Jackson’s passing numbers relatively low in most of their meetings, although stopping him from putting points on the board has been another story.
Like Allen, Jackson got his first taste of this matchup as a rookie in 2018. He entered the Ravens’ 47-3 win in relief of Joe Flacco, throwing for just 24 yards. When he returned to Buffalo as Baltimore’s starter in 2019, he threw for only 145 yards but made the most of them, connecting on three touchdown passes in a 24-17 Ravens win.
The Bills had considerably more success against Jackson when the teams met in the 2020 playoffs. Buffalo held him to 162 passing yards and no touchdowns, sacked him three times, and intercepted him once. That interception turned into one of the most memorable plays in Bills playoff history when nickel cornerback Taron Johnson returned it 101 yards for a touchdown. Jackson left the game with a concussion, and Buffalo went on to win 17-3.
Two years later, the Bills again found ways to frustrate Jackson. He threw for 144 yards and a touchdown but was intercepted twice, including a fourth-quarter pick by safety Jordan Poyer in the end zone. Buffalo shut Baltimore out in the second half, erasing a 20-3 deficit to win 23-20. Jackson did manage 73 rushing yards, his highest total against the Bills to that point, but the turnovers proved costly.
Baltimore turned things around in the 2024 regular season. Jackson completed 13 of 18 passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns, then added 54 rushing yards and another score in a 35-10 win. It was the first time he had scored three total touchdowns against Buffalo since 2019, and the Bills struggled to contain him after the Ravens had paired him with Derrick Henry.
But the playoffs were a different story.
When Jackson returned to Buffalo for the divisional round following the 2024 season, he put up his best passing numbers against the Bills to that point, throwing for 254 yards and two touchdowns. However, Buffalo forced him into two turnovers, including an interception by safety Taylor Rapp and a fumble recovered by edge rusher Von Miller. The Ravens lost another fumble later in the game, and the Bills held on for a 27-25 win.
Jackson’s most recent appearance against Buffalo came in the 2025 season opener, and this time the Bills had little success slowing him down. He completed 14 of 19 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns while adding 70 yards and another score on the ground. Jackson’s 144.4 passer rating was his highest against Buffalo, and Baltimore built a 15-point lead late in the fourth quarter.
Of course, Bills fans know how that one ended. As we discussed above regarding Allen, Buffalo scored 16 unanswered points in the final four minutes to win 41-40, handing Jackson a loss despite one of his best-ever performances against the Bills.
Across seven meetings, including the playoffs, Jackson has thrown for 1,094 yards, 10 touchdowns, and five interceptions. He’s been sacked 12 times, and Buffalo has held him below 165 passing yards in five of those seven games.
The numbers tell an interesting story. Jackson has won three of his five regular-season appearances against Buffalo, including his brief rookie outing, but he’s 0-2 in the playoffs. The Bills have found ways to force mistakes when the stakes are highest, even as Jackson has become more effective through the air.
Lamar Jackson vs. Buffalo Bills – Career (including playoffs)
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Derrick Henry vs. Bills’ defense
If there’s one running back who’s given Buffalo’s defense more than its share of headaches over the years, it’s Derrick Henry. And unlike Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, Henry was giving the Bills trouble long before he became part of this rivalry.
Henry has faced the Bills eight times since 2018, including one playoff game. Some of those games have gone Buffalo’s way, with the defense managing to keep him in check. Others have been a completely different story, with Henry running all over the Bills and finding the end zone along the way.
His first meeting with Buffalo came in 2018 as a member of the Titans. Henry carried the ball 11 times for 56 yards without finding the end zone, and the Bills came away with a 13-12 win. A year later, he managed 78 yards and a touchdown, although Buffalo again got the better of Tennessee, winning 14-7.
Henry didn’t put up big yardage numbers in 2020, either. The Bills held him to 57 yards on 19 carries, but he scored twice as Tennessee handed Buffalo a 42-16 loss. It was becoming clear that even when the Bills limited his rushing yards, keeping him out of the end zone was another matter.
Then came 2021.
Henry ran for 143 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-31 Titans win, including a 76-yard touchdown run that left Buffalo’s defense fruitlessly chasing him down the field. It was his first 100-yard game against the Bills, and Buffalo could do almost nothing to stop him that night.
The Bills finally found an answer in 2022. Henry managed just 25 yards on 13 carries, averaging fewer than two yards per attempt. He did score a touchdown, but Buffalo dominated the Titans in a 41-7 win.
Unfortunately for Buffalo, Henry’s move to Baltimore in 2024 brought a whole new set of problems.
In his first game against the Bills wearing purple and black, Henry took Baltimore’s first offensive play 87 yards for a touchdown. He finished with 199 rushing yards on 24 carries, averaging 8.3 yards per attempt, and added a receiving touchdown in a 35-10 Ravens win.
When the teams met again in the playoffs, Buffalo had a little more success slowing Henry down. He still managed 84 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, but the Bills did enough to come away with a 27-25 win and sent Baltimore home for the season.
Then came the 2025 season opener, when Henry once again made Buffalo’s defense look like amateurs, at least for most of the game.
Henry rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns on just 18 carries, averaging an eye-popping 9.4 yards per attempt. It was his third game with at least 140 rushing yards against Buffalo, and for much of the night, the Bills struggled to bring him down.
You may recall that Henry also played a part in Buffalo’s comeback. With Baltimore holding a 40-25 lead late in the fourth quarter, defensive tackle Ed Oliver forced a fumble of Henry, which gave the Bills the ball at the Ravens’ 30-yard line. Buffalo scored three plays later, cutting into the lead on its way to a 41-40 win.
Across eight meetings, including the playoffs, Henry has rushed for 811 yards and 11 touchdowns on 141 carries, averaging 5.8 yards per attempt. He’s also caught seven passes for 42 yards and another touchdown.
But the numbers since he joined Baltimore are even more concerning for Buffalo. In just three games with the Ravens, Henry has rushed for 452 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 7.8 yards per carry. More than half of his career rushing yards against the Bills have come in those three games alone.
Buffalo has shown it can slow Henry down, as it did in 2022 and to a lesser extent in the 2024 playoffs. But with 368 rushing yards in his last two regular-season meetings against the Bills, there’s no question Henry has been a problem for Buffalo’s defense.
Derrick Henry vs. Buffalo Bills – Career (including playoffs)
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The numbers above tell us plenty about what Allen, Jackson, and Henry have done over the years, but they also show the unpredictable nature of this matchup. Allen has put together some of his biggest moments against Baltimore, Jackson has given Buffalo plenty of problems of his own, and Henry has been a headache for the Bills regardless of which uniform he’s wearing.
All three have had games they’d probably like to forget, along with performances that Bills and Ravens fans won’t forget anytime soon. And with another meeting coming Sunday, there’s a good chance at least one of them will have something new to add to this Time Capsule.
