The Buffalo Bills play the Baltimore Ravens this week in a bona fide NFL contest. It is a real football game that actually counts in the standings. Our long wait for real football is about to be over, and it can’t come soon enough.
While there are plenty of new faces on the Buffalo roster, it’s hard to whittle down a list of players to watch for a multitude of reasons. For starters, many of the players we’re anxiously waiting to see are either injured or suspended. Then, once we examine the roster for players who
are active, trying to narrow it down to just five players when we haven’t watched a game that matters since January is a difficult task.
I did the best I could, friends, to compile a list of players I’m watching extra closely this weekend. While that list is below, I’d love to hear yours in the comments!
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QB Josh Allen
For this season, it’s the first time we’ll have a chance to see the reigning MVP, as he did not play a single snap during the preseason. Will there be some rust? The Baltimore defense is a group that has given him some trouble in his career, as Allen is just 1-2 as a starter against the Ravens during regular season games. He’s completed just 48% of his passes in those contests, the only team he’s played against more than once and failed to complete at least half his throws against. He has just two passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown in those games, and a quarterback rating of 66.3. Granted, those numbers include his professional debut in the 2018 opener, a game where an overmatched Buffalo squad was trounced by the Ravens. It also doesn’t include his 2-0 record against them in the playoffs, where he’s completed 66% of his passes and turned in quarterback ratings of 86.1 and 86.7, respectively, in those two contests. Allen has much of the same offense returning, though there will certainly be contributions from at least one new face among the pass-catchers. The Bills will likely go as Allen goes, and if he has a good night, there are plenty of other woes that can be covered.
WR Joshua Palmer
I am very interested to see how the newcomer fares this week. I heard you (or, more accurately, saw you) when many of you questioned my characterization of Palmer as a field-stretcher due to his 4.51-second forty-yard dash time, but looking at his usage with the Los Angeles Chargers over the course of his career, he made a lot of big plays on deep over routes and double-moves, something that offensive coordinator Joe Brady loves to use. Allen particularly loves the deep over route, and it’s something that was not consistently as large a part of the offense last season. They were able to burn the Denver Broncos on it in the playoffs with a healthy Curtis Samuel, for example, but I view Palmer as a replacement for someone else that the Bills recently re-signed in Gabe Davis, who was also used primarily as a field-stretcher despite his timed speed (he was clocked at 4.54 seconds at the NFL Scouting Combine). Some guys play a little faster than they test, and Palmer seems to have that kind of ability. I’m interested to see how Brady utilizes him in the first game against a team that loves to play man coverage.
DT Deone Walker
This spot could go to a host of players, but I’m picking Walker because he’s the newest face of the bunch. Sure, DaQuan Jones is going to need to occupy space to keep Dorian Williams, Terrel Bernard, and Matt Milano clean. But, we’ve seen all four of those guys in action, and we know exactly what they’re capable of doing. Walker popped on film during the preseason, and he is an absolute mammoth of a man. Buffalo has been pushed around by the Ravens at times in the recent past. Can Walker keep his pad level low enough to use his size to his advantage? How many snaps will he see? Obviously, the Bills don’t want to take Ed Oliver out too often, but might the Bills go a little heavier on the defensive front at times and use Walker and Jones together? There are plenty of possibilities with the personnel up front, and while one game won’t signal much, it could hint at ideas the team has for future usage.
CB Dorian Strong
Okay, rookie. The first-round pick, Maxwell Hairston, is on injured reserve. The returned veteran and former first-round pick, Tre’Davious White, is trending towards missing the game with an injury of his own. While some might assume that Ja’Marcus Ingram would be the starter in White’s place, given the amounts of praise defensive coordinator Bobby Babich is tossing Strong’s way, it looks like the Bills will start a sixth-round corner as a rookie for the second time this decade. The last time they did it was in 2022 when Christian Benford beat out Kaiir Elam for a starting gig. Can lightning strike twice? How will Strong hold up in run support? The Ravens have some very good receivers in Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, and DeAndre Hopkins. Strong’s performance could go a long way towards determining the game’s outcome.
S Cole Bishop
As if it isn’t enough to have question marks at corner, we add another question at safety. Second-year man Cole Bishop will start next to Taylor Rapp, and after an inconsistent preseason, the Bills could use some strong play from the 2024 second-round pick. Bishop is tremendously athletic, but he struggled last season in reading the route combinations he saw while playing as a deep-third safety. The Bills love to be multiple with their safety rotations, so it’s not like they’re going to play Bishop in the box and Rapp in centerfield all night, so he’s going to have to make some plays in two-high looks or as the sole safety in a single-high setup. However, it wouldn’t surprise me to see some cover-three looks where Bishop starts looking like a split-field safety before dropping in as a robber or buzzing the flat. Strong and Benford both excel in zone coverage, and Rapp is a better deep safety than Bishop is at this point in his career. Bishop is also perfectly capable of manning up tight end Mark Andrews. How the Bills mitigate the weaknesses of their secondary players will be a big point of emphasis this week.
