Bills vs. Ravens: Who would you rather be over the next three years?

New York Times

17-02-2025

The Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens are two teams desperate to get their hands on the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Both have been one game away from a Super Bowl showdown in the past two seasons, yet both were stopped in their tracks by the Kansas City Chiefs. Both teams have MVPs at the quarterback position, and both play in a stacked AFC.
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But which franchise is best placed to take that crucial next step over the next three years?
That was just one of the listener questions Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen dug into during their 'Monday Mailbag' episode of 'The Athletic Football Show.' Let us know which team you'd back in the comments.
A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on YouTube below or in 'The Athletic Football Show' feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Robert: Andrew Constantino (listener) says, 'Both the Bills and Ravens have had heartbreaking endings to their seasons the last few years. Both teams have elite quarterbacks who should keep them in contention every year. Who do you think is closer to contention? How do you contrast the Bills with the Ravens? I think both teams are so close.' The reason I put this question in is that I read it and I was like, 'I'm sure I have an answer.' And then as I started thinking about it I thought, 'I'm not sure I do. I don't think that there's an easy answer.' Did your mind immediately go to one of the two teams when you were thinking about this?
Derrik: No…
Robert: It's really hard.
Derrik: When did the Bills and Chiefs play? Week 13 or something like that? It was right before that when I said that the Bills were the best team in football. Then very shortly after that we started to believe that the Ravens' defense was actually good and this wasn't just a little blip, they were starting to turn things around. But there was one point where I believed the Bills were the best team in football. Then when the Ravens really started to put things together on defense, there was probably a case that they were the best team in football down the stretch there. I really don't know who I think is closer. If you just looked at the rosters today, maybe because of some of the health stuff that the Bills had on defense for a lot of the year you could say, 'If they get a lot of their guys healthy maybe they're a little bit closer.' But even that feels a little bit off. If I really had to make a very fine argument; the Ravens might lose Ronnie Stanley so that makes them a little bit further away than the Bills are.
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Robert: The margins are thin because when you're talking about an impact player at a high-level position — the Ravens are set to lose one and the Bills are not. The Bills are going to bring back their offensive line intact next year. The Bills are also going to bring back all of their pass catchers next year outside of Amari Cooper, who really wasn't a huge factor by the end of this season anyway. I get it because that's a good way to think about it. I also think that you could make a really serious argument that the Ravens are better positioned to have more difference-makers on defense heading into next year than the Bills with (Nnamdi) Madubuike. Roquan Smith had a down year this year, but he's generally been a very good player. And with (Kyle) Hamilton and somebody like Nate Wiggins being an ascending player who had a solid rookie year, you could make an argument that the ceiling is higher for Baltimore on defense because of some of the individual pieces that they have. That might be the tipping point for me even when we consider the Ronnie Stanley part of this.
Derrik: That's a good argument, too. You can see why their ceiling would be higher because Buffalo would have to make the Myles Garrett trade for me to believe that their ceiling on defense could be as high as Baltimore's. Then with both of the offenses, as long as it's not a complete (mess) around the quarterback, they'll probably be fine. With the defense having a little bit more pop with the Ravens, maybe they are the team that is closer. This is why it's a good question because I still believe what I said about Ronnie Stanley, but then you saying that about the defense also scares me a little bit.
Robert: I really don't know where I land on this. I truly don't know, it's such a coin flip. I'm going to say the Ravens for the reasons that I just laid out. But I don't know if I believe that's true because with what the Bills have on offense with the line and with (Josh) Allen. That's the bet that I would consistently make. But with the way that Lamar (Jackson) played this year, I don't know what to do with it. I just don't think there's really one answer.
Here's my cop-out… it'll depend on what happens this offseason.
You can listen to full episodes of 'The Athletic Football Show' for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and watch on YouTube.
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