Bills v Ravens was supposed to be about two stars. It was settled by a brutal drop
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All the talk coming into Sunday was about Josh Allen v Lamar Jackson. But it’s often errors rather than brilliance that decide big games. Josh Allen v Lamar Jackson was set to be an epic. The idea of this season’s MVP favorites sharing a field was chill inducing. Because whichever quarterback punctuated a brilliant individual season with a conference championship berth would do so because he outplayed his counterpart.
![[Jayden Daniels walks to the Commanders locker room after another great game.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/35aa36a1f802bea234ce1e95a02ff4b53abd38ef/0_173_5183_3110/master/5183.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Then the actual game was played in snowy Buffalo. It turns out there’s so much more to a football game than the two men under center, even men as supremely talented as Allen and Jackson. Many will blame Jackson for Buffalo’s 27-25 win over the Ravens, especially as the weeks and months go on. They’ll credit Allen too. But neither player was the key factor in the outcome. It’s often the easy chances players don’t take rather than flashes of brilliance that decide games.
![[Saquon Barkley was way ahead of the competition for much of Sunday.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/ddf044180ce4b6a718f8a07c1b89774fca96f1ba/0_214_4089_2454/master/4089.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Jackson wasn’t perfect on Sunday but he stepped up when it counted. Driving 88 yards in eight plays to set up a game-tying two-point conversion in the final moments of a playoff contest is what MVPs do. But Jackson didn’t dial up the play call for the two-point conversion, and his pass was fine – it was tight end Mark Andrews who dropped the simplest of catches to effectively hand the game to the Bills.
![[Jalen Hurts took plenty of punishment against the Rams.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/ce7e1e1a7da5a49e585e0c4cf8b78f3e95a04629/0_266_3987_2392/master/3987.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
