The Bills will visit Kansas City to play the Chiefs in the AFC championship game. Kickoff is 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens entered the NFL postseason with dreams of playing in the Super Bowl, led by MVP candidates at quarterback.
Sure enough, both offenses wasted no time revving up in the cold weather Sunday night at Highmark Stadium. In the end, though, Buffalo hung on to win 27-25.
The Bills will visit Kansas City to play the Chiefs in the AFC championship game. Kickoff is 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The Ravens got the ball first and drove 73 yards in eight plays to take an early lead on Lamar Jackson’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Rashod Bateman.
Buffalo countered with an 11-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by rookie running back Ray Davis. The score was tied at 7 a little more than 9 minutes into the game.
The scored stayed that way going into the second quarter, when the Bills capitalized on a crucial mistake by Jackson, who fumbled the ball away. Von Miller scooped it up and raced 39 yards, setting up a first down at the Baltimore 24.
Four plays later, Allen scored on a 1-yard sneak. Suddenly, the Bills led 14-7 with 8:52 left before halftime.
After an interception and a fumble on the previous two drives, Jackson and Bateman connected on a 42-yard pass on the ensuing drive. Justin Tucker kicked a 26-yard field goal to make it 14-10 Buffalo with 3:43 to play before halftime.
Allen had the last word in the first half, though. Buffalo responded with a nine-play, 70-yard drive that ended with Allen scoring on a 4-yard run with only 16 seconds left before the break.
Buffalo led 21-10 at halftime.
The Ravens clawed back into it during the third quarter, with a 47-yard field goal by Tucker and a 5-yard touchdown run by Derrick Henry. They failed to convert the 2-point try, however, so Buffalo led 21-19 through three quarters.
Buffalo pushed the lead to 24-19 on a 51-yard Bass field goal with 12:04 to play.
Bass added another field goal, this one from 21 yards out, to give the Bills a 27-19 lead with 3:29 to go.
Then it got really interesting. The Ravens drove 88 yards in eight plays, ending with tight end Isaiah Likely’s 24-yard touchdown catch from Jackson — but the Ravens dropped the ball on a two-point try, leaving the score 27-25.
Injury report
Players who will not take part in the AFC divisional round game at Highmark Stadium include cornerback Kaiir Elam, quarterback Mike White, cornerback and returner Brandon Codrington, center/guard Sedrick Van-Pran Granger, offensive lineman Ryan Van Demark, defensive tackle DeWayne Carter, and wide receiver Jalen Virgil.
For Baltimore, the big news is that wide receiver Zay Flowers will be inactive.
Flowers injured his knee on Jan. 4, in the team’s regular-season finale against the Cleveland Browns. The second-year pro — who missed Baltimore’s 28-14 wild card victory last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers — had 74 receptions for 1,059 yards and four touchdowns in the regular season.
Flowers is a Pro Bowl pick this season. Wide receiver Deonte Harty (knee) is listed as questionable for Baltimore.