It happened in a minute from New York.
With 58 seconds left in the third quarter on Saturday night, the Ravens were 9 yards from scoring. When that time expired, the Bills had no chance of losing.
Taron Johnson overtook Lamar Jackson’s third pass to the end zone and returned his interception 101 yards for the Bills’ biggest 17-3 win over the Ravens in a divisional round game. AFC in front of 6,700 fans. . Johnson overtook the fast Jackson on the side and with intermittent winds of 16 mph.
“Emotions keep flying,” said Dion Dawkins, a right-handed striker, shortly before midnight. “It’s a party here. The boys are excited. It will happen in half an hour when the guys get in 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 place in the bottom zone and read Jackson’s eyes as he watched Andrews.
“They always tell us to look at the quarterback’s vision, especially when we’re in the area,” Johnson said. “It will take you wherever you want to be.”
The devastating turn of events multiplied only two plays later. The Ravens had trouble with clicks throughout the game and a ball over Jackson’s head in the shotgun sent him running toward his own end zone.
Jackson grabbed the ball and threw it out of bounds as he was dragged, changing an intentional ground penalty to the 2-yard line to avoid a touchdown or safety.
The biggest problem? The 2019 NFL MVP suffered a concussion due to the crazy final play of the quarter and did not return to the game.
“Whenever you go down,” Andrews said, “you know you feel something.”
Rookie quarterback Tyler Huntley, unrecruited, had two chances to make things interesting. The fourth and 9th, with 6:39 remaining, knocked down a Marquise Brown scratch on what would have been a safe 71-yard touchdown.
“It was a heckuva pitch,” coach Jim Harbaugh said. “I think the wind has pushed him from behind a bit.”
Four minutes later, Huntley threw a breach when a Andrew Andrews jump could not get a high pass in the fourth and goal.
Despite compiling only 220 yards of total offense 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 offense that averaged 34.6 points per game over its previous six. Buffalo will 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 over 50 yards. Never before, in a nine-year career, had he twice lost 50.
“We weren’t able to finish the units the way we needed to,” Harbaugh said.
Each team only got a full possession in the third quarter.
The Bills started the throw and drove 66 yards on 11 plays for the tiebreaker touchdown on a unit that featured more rushed plays (four) than the entire first half (three). With a better balance of game calls, Allen threw a wide receiver screen at Stefon Diggs, who got low traffic and sailed for a 3-yard touchdown.
The Ravens responded with an eight-minute drive to the Bills ’9-yard line. Under pressure, Jackson skipped a pass to an open Brown as the potential touchdown touchdown turned into a breach. The interception came on the next play: the 15th of possession.
“Taron Johnson will be remembered for a long time here in Buffalo,” quarterback Josh Allen said. “One of those works that can alter the franchise.”