The Buffalo Bills host the Baltimore Ravens at Highmark Stadium on Sunday, November 1, with kickoff at 1 p.m. ET on CBS. Buffalo returns from its bye week at 5-1 with the highest scoring offence in the NFL, and Baltimore arrives at 4-3 with Lamar Jackson back at quarterback after three games out.
This is a preview of the biggest game of the NFL Sunday in the early window, Toronto adopted Bills against a Ravens team that has lost two straight and cannot afford a third. Buffalo have had 14 days to prepare. Baltimore have had seven days, a quarterback returning from a high ankle sprain, and a pattern of blowing leads that needs to stop in one of the hardest road environments in the league.
Jackson Returns To A Hard Test
Jackson missed three straight games with a high ankle sprain before being cleared for full practice this week, and he will start on Sunday according to the pre game reports. In four appearances before the injury he posted a 119.6 passer rating with 10.1 yards per attempt, with season totals of 967 passing yards and six touchdowns on 68 completions, plus 144 rushing yards and one score on 19 carries. The whole Baltimore offence changes with him in it, and the whole question of this game is how much of his running threat survives the ankle.
The reports around his return carry a warning from last season. After a hamstring return a year ago, Jackson ran for only 71 yards across four games, a shadow of his normal rushing output. If Buffalo can defend him as a pocket passer first, Baltimore lose the dimension that makes their run game, led by Derrick Henry, so hard to stop. Henry has run for 811 yards at 101 per game in eight career meetings with Buffalo, including 169 yards and two touchdowns in the most recent one, so the Bills know exactly what is coming if Jackson is healthy enough to hold the ball on option looks.
Baltimore need a response as a team, too. The Ravens lost 13-10 to Cleveland and then 35-13 to Cincinnati last Sunday, their second straight game in which a double digit halftime lead slipped away according to the pre game analysis. They average 24.1 points and roughly 366 yards per game, numbers that have to rise against a Buffalo team that scores on almost everybody.
Allen, Cook And The League Best Offence
Josh Allen enters with no such uncertainty. Allen has thrown for 1,504 yards and nine touchdowns with four interceptions this season, and he has added 240 rushing yards on 48 carries and eight rushing touchdowns. His career line against Baltimore covers seven meetings, with 1,340 passing yards, five touchdowns and just one interception. Buffalo score 32.8 points per game, the best mark in the NFL, and average close to 388 yards per game, with a running game at close to 149 yards a night that is far more than Allen improvisation.
James Cook is the proof of that. Cook has rushed for 627 yards and six scores on 117 carries, giving Buffalo a true lead back to pair with Allen and forcing defences to defend the whole field. The concern for Buffalo sits on the injury report and on defence. Wide receiver DJ Moore, with a shoulder issue, and tight end Dalton Kincaid, with a chest issue, are both questionable, as is right tackle Spencer Brown with a back problem. Buffalo have given up 28.5 points per game, so this game projects as a scoring contest unless one defence steals it.
There is better news on the Buffalo defensive line. Tackle Ed Oliver was listed without an injury designation and is expected to make his first appearance since Week 4, a major boost against Henry and the Baltimore interior run game. Baltimore safety Jaylinn Hawkins is ruled out, and Buffalo defensive back CJ Gardner-Johnson serves a suspension, so both secondaries go in short handed against quarterbacks who can punish that.
A History Of Late Drama
These teams decide games late. Baltimore won 35-10 in September 2024. Buffalo won 27-25 in a January 2025 playoff game. Buffalo won again 41-40 in September 2025. Three meetings, three completely different scripts, and two of them settled by one score in the final moments. With Buffalo coming off a bye, and the Bills having won 11 straight games immediately following a bye according to Statsalt, the home side hold the structural edges: rest, crowd, and a quarterback at full speed against one feeling his way back.
None of that guarantees anything against Jackson. A fully mobile Jackson is the one player in the league who can match Allen play for play in a game like this, and Baltimore at 4-3 are playing with the urgency of a team that knows a 4-4 hole, with two blown leads already on film, is a bad place to be in November.
What To Watch At Kickoff
Watch Jackson and his first three carries. If he keeps the ball, cuts hard off the ankle and runs with intent, Baltimore have their full offence and this becomes a classic. If he hands off, stays in the pocket and protects the ankle, Buffalo can load up on Henry and rush a stationary target. Watch Cook early for Buffalo, too: a running start for the Bills lets Allen play on schedule, and 32.8 points per game says what happens next when he does.
Kickoff is 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 1 at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, on CBS.
