News Bills Team Notes

[Buffalo Bills]

Baltimore run game will be missing key piece on Sunday

Baltimore Ravens fullback Patrick Ricard has not been practicing. In fact, he’s not practiced since August 14, as he’s dealing with a calf injury, making his status for Sunday night’s game with the Buffalo Bills very doubtful. Baltimore declared the 31-year-old Rickard OUT for Sunday’s game on Friday.

On Wednesday, when he was asked about the chances of Ricard being ready to play on Sunday, John Harbaugh avoided giving a direct answer.

“Why don’t we just leave that for later,” the Baltimore head coach said. “I appreciate the question.”

What does that mean for the Ravens? Or more importantly, for the Bills defense? Ricard, who has played in every game for the past three seasons, is a large part of the Baltimore run game. His blocking sets the stage for Derrick Henry’s funs and Lamar Jackson’s scrambles. While Ricard’s usage has gone down over the years, he was still on the field for 39 percent of Baltimore’s offensive snaps.

Derrick Henry made it clear that he appreciated having the 300-pound Ricard clearing the way for him. Henry ran for 1324 yards and 15 touchdowns behind the fullback, who signed a fully guaranteed one-year contract this offseason with the intentions of retiring as a Raven.

Of course, the Ravens could use a third tight end to help with blocking on Sunday. If they had one. However, Isaiah Likely is not going to be suiting up on Sunday. Likely broke his foot in July, had surgery, and was just recently seen practicing off to the side during today’s practice. It will probably be another week or two before he is ready for action.

Replacing Ricard, a five-time Pro Bowler and an 2023-2025 All Pro is not going to be easy. The question is, how will it make either Jackson or Henry less dominant? Let us know your thoughts on whether Buffalo’s defense will have an easier time stopping the Baltimore offense if Ricard is sidelined?

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu...-run-game-will-be-missing-key-piece-on-sunday

 

[Buffalo Bills]

Bills vs. Ravens NFL Week 1 referee assignment

The NFL has a star-studded matchup in primetime for the first Sunday Night Football game of 2025. In a rematch of last season’s AFC Divisional Round playoff game, the Buffalo Bills play host to the Baltimore Ravens to open the regular season. It’s a showdown that features the last two NFL MVPs in Lamar Jackson and reigning MVP Josh Allen. Recently, football fans have taken a keen interest in referee assignments for each game, thanks in large part to what many see as unfair rulings in prior seasons. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the head official assigned to Sunday’s game: John Hussey.

Drawing Hussey assigns Bills-Ravens with the lead official who called the fewest amount of penalties in 2024. Hussey (and his crew) called 184 accepted penalties in 2024. The Ravens weren’t assigned Hussey once during last year’s regular season. The Bills drew Hussey for their game against the Tennessee Titans, where 13 penalties were called. Hussey’s crew has been balanced when calling penalties, with home teams only having a six-penalty advantage.

As you can probably guess, the most common penalty Hussey called last season was offensive holding followed by false starts. Perhaps surprisingly, the next most-called penalty was defensive pass interference, which shows that the crew did let defensive backs get a little physical but they also drew a line in the sand.

With Jackson and Allen being mobile quarterbacks and drawing a lot of contact, perhaps we see some unnecessary roughness penalties. Hussey called 14 of those last season but only two roughing-the-passer penalties.

In a battle between two physical teams I would expect the officials to let the players decide the results on the field and try not to blow the whistle if they can help it. In other words: Treat Sunday night with playoff gloves, and avoid officiating drama at all costs.

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu...bills-vs-ravens-nfl-week-1-referee-assignment

 

[Buffalo Bills]

Carpooling recommended if heading to Bills games at Highmark

With the final construction push for the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium, parking will continue to be an issue for fans of the team. Andy Major, vice president of operations and guest experience met with media to discuss the current parking situation and more. In addition to the problems from last year, there are some new wrinkles when it comes to parking outside and around the current Highmark Stadium.

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Speaking to the media, Major reports that the north end of the lot near where the new stadium is being built (formerly known as Lot 4) was “lost” due to the ongoing construction of the new stadium. Per Majors “That is about 1,000-plus spaces that we’re trying to offset for this season.” That space was popular with the RV crowd, and where a lot of epic tailgating took place.

Major states that the Bills have been working with the county and ECC to use some of their space to help ease that burden. Additionally, One Bills Drive has gotten creative with some of their property, with Major relating “We’ve expanded a little bit of our South lots here, where we removed the house, that was a part of our property for game day staff parking.” Speaking of staff, Major indicated the team has a shuttle service for game day staff, presumably to avoid their cars occupying lot spaces.

That said, Major and the team ask fans to be prepared ahead of time and encourage carpooling. Major felt that fans listened last season and the parking and traffic situations weren’t as bad as they had predicted. Parking at the stadium-owned lots will require a parking pass purchased ahead of time, and Major notes that many private lots outside the team-owned spaces have also started creating permit systems.

As a fan who weathered the chaos last year, I would echo all of the above If you haven’t secured parking at or near the stadium, you might want to make sure you have decent hiking footwear. That’s not meant to scare you though, there’s space but it might not be quite as close as many fans are used to.

Some additional tips:

• Make sure you have snacks and water/drinks in your car, especially if you’re parked closer to the stadium. Traffic flows are also a bit tighter than years past and you could find yourself sitting in the car for long periods of time waiting to hit the road.
• Similarly, make a plan to have a restroom located on the way out. Some private lots will have these set up for fans.
• Be kind and be respectful. We’re all in the same spot.

More information on parking can be found from the team right here, and I’m confident fans will be sharing tips in the comments below.

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu...mmended-if-heading-to-bills-games-at-highmark

 

[Buffalo Bills]

Are the Bills or Ravens under more pressure to win Week 1?

The Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens are set to rekindle their friendship tonight, with an all-eyes-on-us date courtesy of Sunday Night Football on NBC. Carrie Underwood will even be there to introduce the power couple. It’s bound to be a pressure-packed evening, despite the fact that it’s only Week 1.

But which team is under more pressure to win tonight, the Bills or Ravens? Which city’s team stands to gain the most, and whose fan base will be left searching for answers about lost opportunity on the national stage?

Buffalo enters 2025 shouldering lofty expectations from Bills Mafia and analysts nationwide. Another loss in the playoffs against the Kansas City Chiefs kept the Bills from returning to the Super Bowl for the first time in 30 seasons. Quarterback Josh Allen is the reigning NFL MVP, winning after a hotly contested battle against two-time NFL MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson. For Allen, all that’s left to do is to find himself part of the winning equation over the Chiefs in the playoffs. Well, that and winning an AFC Championship game, then playing in and hopefully winning a Super Bowl. There are of course a few remaining personal accolades for Allen to claim, but many will take some time and none outshine his quest to win it all.

Baltimore’s 2024 season came to an end courtesy of the Bills and a rowdy Bills Mafia crowd at Highmark Stadium. For their efforts, the Ravens were granted a déjà vu-enducing rematch in Orchard Park, NY to being their quest at postseason redemption. It’s cruel fate in ways, but plenty view Baltimore as the most complete NFL team this season. The Ravens has given Buffalo fits in the regular season, but they’ve yet to show the world they can knock off the sports best teams in the biggest moments.

The Bills’ AFC East foes all lost in Week 1, which means Buffalo could be in first place alone with a victory tonight. The Ravens need to keep pace with the rest of the AFC North, where the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers picked up wins to each start the season 1-0.

In truth, and despite vastly different systems, the Bills and Ravens are kindred spirits, endlessly chasing equally talented teams that are just a little better than them when the most important games are being decided. As for pressure, who’s under more of it on Sunday Night Football, Buffalo or Baltimore?

Source: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/bu...s-or-ravens-under-more-pressure-to-win-week-1