It happened in a minute in New York.
With 58 seconds remaining in the third quarter on Saturday evening, the Ravens were 9 yards from the tying run. When that time was up, the bills had no chance of losing.
Taron Johnson stepped into the end zone for Lamar Jackson’s third downward pass, returning his interception 101 yards for the biggest game of the Bills’ 17-3 win against the Ravens in an AFC Divisional Round playoff game in front of 6,700 boisterous fans. Johnson outpaced fast Jackson on the sidelines and through intermittent winds of 16 mph.
“Emotions are still flying around,” Dion Dawkins said shortly before midnight. ‘It’s a party here. Boys are thrilled. It will hit in half an hour when the boys get into their car that we are [one] game away from the big show. “
Johnson, a third-year Weber State player with two interceptions in his first 41 career games, disguised his spot in the bottom zone and read Jackson’s eyes as he stared at Andrews.
“They always tell us to look at the quarterback’s vision, especially when we’re in the zone,” Johnson said. “It gets you where you want to be.”
The devastating turn of events only multiplied twice later. The Ravens struggled with snaps throughout the match, and a flying ball over Jackson’s head in the shotgun sent him to his own end zone.
Jackson took the ball and threw it out of bounds while being dragged down, taking an intentional penalty to the ground at the 2-yard line to avoid a touchdown or safety.
The bigger problem? The 2019 NFL MVP was concussed during the crazy last game of the quarter and did not return to the game.
“Every time he goes down,” Andrews said, “you know he feels something.”
Tyler Huntley, an undeveloped rookie, had two opportunities to make things interesting. On the fourth and ninth with 6:39 to go, he knocked down a streaking Marquise Brown on what would have been a 71 yards touchdown.
“That was a heckuva throw,” said coach Jim Harbaugh. “I think the wind pushed it a little bit from behind.”
Four minutes later, Huntley threw an incompleteness when a jumping Mark Andrews failed to secure a high pass on the fourth goal.
Despite accumulating just 220 yards of all-out attack and 16 first downs, the Bills are heading to the AFC Championship game for the first time since January 1994, the last of their four consecutive appearances, due to a surprisingly dominant defensive performance (four sacks) against a Ravens foul that averaged 34.6 points per game over the previous six. Buffalo will either host the Browns or visit the Chiefs next weekend.
This was the fourth playoff game since 2000 without touchdowns in the first half. The kickers combined to score 2-of-6 field goals.
Justin Tucker of the Ravens – the most accurate kicker in NFL history – missed two field goals in a game for the first time since 2018. But both attempts were from more than 50 meters. Never before in a nine-year career had he missed 50 twice from the inside.
“We weren’t able to finish the rides as we needed to,” said Harbaugh.
Each team was given only one full possession in the third quarter.
The Bills kicked off, running 66 yards in 11 plays before the tie-breaking touchdown on a drive with more rushes (four) than the entire first half (three). With a better balance between play and call, Allen threw a wide receiver screen at Stefon Diggs, who got low and navigated traffic for a 3-meter touchdown.
The Ravens responded with an eight-minute ride to the Bills’ 9-yard line. Under pressure, Jackson skipped a pass to a wide-open Brown when the potential tying touchdown turned into an incompleteness. The interception came on the next game – the 15th of possession.
“Taron Johnson will be remembered for a long time here in Buffalo,” said quarterback Josh Allen. “One of those potentially franchise-changing plays.”