Griffin convinced Glenn to revive the segment last season after a hiatus from the program for a few years, and it’s relatively simple how it works: on Tuesdays following Sunday’s game, we will sit down and map out the Five Plays That Told The Story Of Sunday’s Game.
It’s as simple as it sounds, if the Ravens lose, we’ll pick the five plays that we perceived embodied the loss, not all necessarily scoring plays, sometimes no scoring plays. And of course on the inverse, when the Ravens win, the five plays that most embodied the win.
The Ravens season unfortunately got off to a rocky start Sunday, falling to the Bills 41-40 in Buffalo, the site of where the prior season ended just eight months earlier–both Glenn and Griffin will count down in sequential order of the five plays they believed to tell the story of Sunday’s game.
Glenn’s Five Plays That Told The Story of Sunday’s Game:
5. 10:52 (4th) – 1st & 10 at BUF 43 (No Huddle, Shotgun) J. Allen pass short left intended for J.Palmer INTERCEPTED by C.Awuzie at BLT 49. C.Awuzie to 50 for 1 yard (J.Palmer). The Replay Official reviewed the interception ruling, and the play was REVERSED. (No Huddle, Shotgun) J.Allen pass incomplete short left to J.Palner.
The Bills ultimately punted on this drive, but the trend continues of the Ravens having chances to make plays defensively and just not making them.
4. 12:50 (1st) – 2nd & 7 at BAL 36 (Shotgun) J. Allen pass incomplete short left to K.Shakir.
Speaking of which, here’s this. What’s missing in the description is that after Shakir couldn’t make the catch, the ball came directly to Malachi Starks, who, also couldn’t make the catch. The dropped interception allowed the Bills to keep the drive going and they would ultimately get a touchdown.
3. 0:07 (2nd) – 2nd & 10 at BAL 47 (Shotgun) J.Allen pass deep left to D.Kincaid pushed ob at BLT 25 for 22 yards (M.Humphrey).
As much as we’ve made about the Ravens running a play with 2:03 remaining, this is just unforgiveable. The only parts of the field that need to be defended on this play are the sidelines and the endzone. Anything in the middle of the field ends the half. You have 52 yards to play with. You just HAVE to defend the sideline. And they knew that, which is why they LITERALLY TOOK A TIMEOUT to explain it…and still failed. Inexcusable.
2. 3:56 (4th) – 4th & 2 at BAL 10 (Shotgun) J.Allen pass short right to K.Coleman for 10 yards, TOUCHDOWN [K.Van Noy]. M. Prater extra point is GOOD, Center-R.Ferguson, Holder-B. Robbins.
It’s flukey, but it still happened. And it was the first opportunity the Ravens had to end the game. Get this stop, the game is (essentially) over.
1. 3:10 (4th) – 4th 1st & 10 at BAL 41 B.Cleveland reported in as eligible. D.Henry left tackle to BLT 38 for -3 yards (E.Oliver). FUMBLES (E.Oliver), touched at BLT 32, RECOVERED by BUF-T.Bernard at BLT 30.
Ultimately the most pivotal moment of the game for sure. The Ravens continue to be the team committing the turnovers instead of the team making the turnovers.
Griffin’s Five Plays That Told The Story of Sunday’s Game:
5. Punt, 7:27 – 4th: J.Stout punts 59 yards to end zone, Touchback. 4th & 4 at BAL 41
It’s Trenton Simpson not downing the punt at the 1-yard line, the missed extra point from Loop was the first of the favors, but they had already scored 40 points, game should be over. Stout has the best punt of his career, until it’s not. You have to execute this play.
4. 25-yd Pass, 0:46 – 4th: (Shotgun) J.Allen pass short middle to K.Coleman to BLT 9 for 25 yards (J.Alexander). 1st & 10 at BAL 34
It’s two-fold, 1. You could’ve gotten a stop there, right after being beat on the play prior 2. Just let him score, then the Ravens have 40 seconds and 3 timeouts to win with Lamar Jackson
3. 10-yd Touchdown Pass, 3:56 – 4th: (Shotgun) J.Allen pass short right to K.Coleman for 10 yards, TOUCHDOWN [K.Van Noy]. M.Prater extra point is GOOD. 4th & 2 at BAL 10
Ridiculous play. Oweh offering nothing, but even still, just knock this ball down and you win the game. Allen makes a cross body throw with three intended WRs–it’s intended for Shakir, tipped by Kincaid, caught by Coleman.
2. 6-yd Pass, 1:40 – 4th: (Shotgun) L.Jackson pass short middle to D.Hopkins to BLT 38 for 6 yards (C.Benford). 3rd & 9 at BAL 32
Gotta credit the Bills here I guess, Lamar gets absolutely blasted, and for one reason or another it makes the Ravens unable to go for it on 4th and short to win the game. I’ll use my word of the week again, unfathomable to give the ball back to Josh Allen with 90 seconds remaining.
1. Fumble Recovery, 3:10 – 4th: B.Cleveland reported in as eligible. D.Henry left tackle to BLT 38 for -3 yards (E.Oliver). FUMBLES (E.Oliver), touched at BLT 32, RECOVERED by BUF-T.Bernard at BLT 30. 1st & 10 at BAL 41
So much goes wrong, Ed Oliver bullying the right side of the line all night, forces Derrick Henry to make an abnormal play, trying to shove Oliver away which exposes the football… Ravens win probability: 96.5% to 83%.
You can listen as Glenn and Griffin recap the loss and go over their identical lists the most significant plays of Sunday’s game here:
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox
