Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

Sunday Night Football – Josh Allen Leads the Buffalo Bills to Game Winning Drive against Ravens in Season’s First SNF Game

Bills win thriller over Ravens in first SNF game of the season!

Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

The first Sunday Night Football (SNF) game of the 2025-26 NFL season was a massive game between AFC giants, the Buffalo Bills and the Baltimore Ravens. The rematch of last year’s divisional round matchup did not disappoint if you were looking for an offensive showdown.

IT'S A BILLS WIN!!!@MandT_Bank | #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/aFME8dW5R8
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) September 8, 2025

Bills Overcome Ravens in a Score Fest in Buffalo

Sunday Night Football (SNF) got off to a blistering start with the Buffalo Bills hosting the Baltimore Ravens in a high-stakes matchup. With two of the top teams in the AFC meeting in week 1, the intensity could not have been better.

Josh Allen led a fantastic first drive of the game to put the Bills up 7-0 before Buffalo’s defense held the Ravens to a field goal. However, the tide then turned as Buffalo ended up going 3 and out on consecutive drives, while the Ravens took control of the game behind the able running performance of Derrick Henry.

After a couple of huge bursts by ‘King Henry’, the Ravens found themselves ahead and went into halftime high on momentum with a 20-13 lead. Things looked similar in the third quarter as Baltimore started pulling away, mainly through the offensive production from Henry, Lamar Jackson, and wide receiver Zay Flowers.

HOLY HOPKINS. 🤯 UNREAL catch extends the Ravens' lead. pic.twitter.com/kpfgfJ3tby
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) September 8, 2025

Up 34-19 to end the third quarter, Baltimore was in the driver’s seat and looking unstoppable to avenge their loss from last season’s playoff loss. However, Josh Allen kept the Bills within striking distance as Buffalo outscored Baltimore 22-6 in the final quarter.

Allen found his second-year receiver, Keon Coleman, for big gains, and the duo helped the Bills carve out a victory on the final drive of the game that ended in a rather simple field goal to hand Buffalo a 41-40 win.

Derrick Henry’s Costly Fumble Hands Buffalo a Lifeline

Baltimore held a huge advantage in the fourth quarter, and one of the key players of the game was running back Dereck Henry. In just 18 carries, Henry ran for 169 yards and 2 touchdowns, which included multiple long runs in excess of 30 yards.

However, much of the damage was done in the first half as the veteran back had over 120 yards rushing in the first half itself. Of those, Henry broke 3 tackles and ran for 71 yards after being touched, a phenomenal display that was marred only in the fourth quarter when he fumbled the ball at a pivotal juncture of the game.

Get a detailed look at how Derrick Henry slices his way through the defense with #NextGenStats powered by @awscloud. pic.twitter.com/Lf7NDO7BMt
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) September 8, 2025

Having just scored a touchdown in the previous drive, Buffalo managed to put 6 more on the board after Henry’s fumble, which brought them back within 2 points after a failed 2-point conversion.

Nevertheless, with time winding down, Buffalo’s defense and offense rose to the occasion as the Bills completed a comeback for the ages.

Game Stats

In a matchup that featured both the past two NFL MVPs in Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, this game saw an outstanding quarterback duel with Allen coming out on top.

For the Ravens, Jackson finished with 209 passing yards and 2 touchdowns along with 7o yards rushing with 1 touchdown on the ground. Zay Flowers was the pick of the receivers with 143 receiving yards and a touchdown.

On the other hand, Allen finished the game with 394 yards worth of aerial offense and 2 touchdowns, as well as 30 yards rushing with 2 more touchdowns on the ground. Keon Coleman had 112 receiving yards, while Khalil Shakir and Joshua Palmer each had in excess of 60 receiving yards.

JOSH ALLEN IS CLUTCH https://t.co/bzWGCWIZgq
— Real Sports (@realapp_) September 8, 2025

Team Stats

Buffalo Bills	Category	Baltimore Ravens
497	Total yards	432
389	Passing yards	194
108	Rushing yards	238
1	Sacks allowed	2
5 (38)	Penalties (yards)	7 (51)
0	Fumbles lost	1
0	Interceptions	0

Both teams will now quickly turn their attention to week 2 with a long season ahead. The Bills go up against divisional rivals, the Jets in New York, while Baltimore also faces its divisional rival, the Cleveland Browns, in their first home game of the season.

Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

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Devavrat Kulkarni

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I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!