Baltimore Ravens

Ravens Vs. Bills: 3 Things To Look For

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 5:13 p.m. ET

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The Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers had their fun, now it’s time for the Baltimore Ravens to get the season going:

Football is back! Well, we’ve had “football” for the past month or so, but real football is back! This Sunday, the Buffalo Bills are coming to Baltimore to take on the Ravens.

This game is a reunion of sorts for Rex Ryan, Ed Reed, and Tyrod Taylor. Ryan was a coach for the Ravens from 1999 to 2004. Ed Reed, who was the Ravens’ secondary for many years, is now an assistant coach on the Bills. Reed may have been the greatest free safety of all time and he will always be beloved in Baltimore. And of course, Tyrod Taylor, our beloved backup QB until the Bills snatched him away. Another former Raven is cornerback, Corey Graham. Graham gave the Ravens strong quarterback play for a couple of seasons.

This is going to be a gritty game. Both teams play tough, punch you in the nose defense, and both teams love to run the ball. Here are a few things to keep your eye on this Sunday as we begin the season.

The Secondary

A healthy Sammy Watkins is a force to be reckoned with. He’s easily the Bills best player and will be the primary target for Tyrod Taylor in this game. Jimmy Smith doesn’t usually shadow the number 1 receiver, but he will be the primary defender against Watkins.

While the Bills are a run-heavy team, they’re not going to just ignore their most talented player and are likely to use Watkins to stretch the field. Hopefully the Ravens’ revamped secondary will be able to keep the ball out of Watkin’s hand and force the Bills to run.

This is also the regular season debut of Eric Weddle. Weddle has a chance to make a huge impact with his physicality and range. Anthony Levine Sr. who the Ravens bring in as a hybrid player in passing situations, could be an x-factor.

The Passing Attack

This will be Joe Flacco’s first real game since last November. It’s easy to look at the latter part of last season and think the Raven’s don’t have a great passing game. In the 10 games before Flacco’s ACL injury, he passed for 2,791 yards. If we average that out over 16 games, we can see that Flacco was on pace to throw for around 4,500 yards. That would have been his highest yardage total by far. I don’t see any reason for him to regress this year now that he’s fully healthy.

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Too many people are sleeping on the Ravens’ receivers this year too. Steve Smith Sr. is back and ready to lay it all out on the field one last time. Kamar Aiken stepped up big time during the injury-riddled 2015 season and should be able to keep that momentum going.

The addition of speedster Mike Wallace gives the Ravens the ability to stretch the field and spread out the defense. A healthy Breshad Perriman looked great in the final preseason game and should hopefully show that he was a first round draft pick for a reason. What I’m trying to say here is this: the Ravens receiving corps is nothing to scoff at. We’ll see on Sunday how they stack up against the Bills solid defense.

The Running Backs

What a roller coaster of emotions this week has been. Justin Forsett was shockingly cut, then shockingly resigned. Turns out it was all a ploy to get Carl Davis and Michael Campanaro on IR, but at the time we all had no idea what was going on. I can’t recall a time when the Ravens backfield looked better than it does right now.

There’s the veteran Forsett to lead the way. A new-and-improved Terrance West looking like a bulldozer. Buck Allen will most likely be in on passing downs. Unfortunately Kenneth Dixon is still out but even without him the backfield looks great. Keep an eye on the RBs, the Bills defense will be a great test to see if they can live up to their potential.

Stay tuned to Ebony Bird for your every Ravens football need. We have you covered before and after every game. We provide you with more than just the “this is what happened” information. The Ebony Bird team strives to give Ravens fans in depth analysis, interesting opinions and hot takes that bring the fun back into sports blogging.

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