BALTIMORE - One week after looking like they might be a contender for best team in the NFL, the Buffalo Bills took a huge step in the wrong direction Sunday night with a ghastly performance at M&T Bank Stadium.

Derrick Henry broke an 87-yard touchdown run on Baltimore’s first play from scrimmage and the Bills were never really competitive from that moment forward, a litany of mistakes their ultimate downfall during a 35-10 beatdown on Sunday Night Football.

This was the first time in 43 regular-season games that the Bills have lost a game by more than six points, an ugly butt-kicking that was undeniable, and what was so striking is that it was a complete meltdown in every aspect.

The defense was shredded by Henry and Lamar Jackson, the offense was completely out of sync because Baltimore dominated the line of scrimmage, and Tyler Bass chipped in with a missed field goal that prevented the Bills from getting within two scores early in the fourth quarter.

“It’s just the way the NFL is,” offensive tackle Spencer Brown said. “Every single week you can either win or lose, and I think I’d take this as a punch in the mouth and that wakes me up personally and I think it’s gonna wake a lot of guys up. That’s the beauty of the NFL; last week we scored (47) points and this week only scored 10 and that’s just the up and downs of the NFL.”

Not only did the Bills fail to remain undefeated, they wasted a chance to take advantage of the Jets’ awful loss to the Broncos earlier in the day and move two games ahead in the AFC East.

At 3-1 they remain in first place, but now they have another brutally difficult road game this Sunday in Houston, followed by a Monday night showdown in New York against the Jets on Oct. 14. If they play like they did in this game, 3-0 is going to turn into 3-3 in a hurry.

Here are my observations:

The key reasons why the Bills lost

∎ Henry is a Bills wrecker: No matter what uniform he wears, the running back disguised as a runaway freight train just eviscerates the Bills. When he played in Tennessee, he faced Buffalo five times and he rushed for 359 yards and seven TDs. In one of those games, the 2020 Covid year game, he broke a 75-yard TD run.

Sunday, on Baltimore’s first offensive play, Henry crashed through the right side of the line and not a single Bills defender touched him. It was astonishing how easy it was and then the 30-year-old, who weighs 247 pounds, outran the Bills’ secondary to complete an 87-yard touchdown run. It could not have been a worse look for the defense, and it portended what kind of night it was going to be.

“Schemed up well, yes, because they executed and we really didn’t even touch the running back,” coach Sean McDermott said. “They ran what we call ‘wham’ exactly our three-technique there. We’ve got to be in better position. I know we’ve done that before, so that’s one of the things.”

It was the longest rushing play in Ravens history - they began play in 1996 - and it was the second-longest run ever allowed by the Bills, who began play in 1960.

“I felt pretty good about that play all week,” Henry said. “Justice [Hill] and everybody in the room were talking about how that play is always successful since they’ve been here – it's always been explosive. I was anticipating it, but I’m glad that they did a great job; O-line, receivers did a great job, tight ends blocking, I just had to make one cut and (was able to get) into the end zone.”

By night’s end, Henry had 199 yards, the seventh-highest total of his NFL career. Interestingly, in a 25-point game, the Ravens sent Henry into the game with six minutes left and sitting on 196 yards with the intention of getting him the four yards he needed to cross the 200-yard mark, but the Bills prevented him from getting there, one of the few wins they had on the night.

∎ Bills defensive backups were exposed: Look, it was a nice little story while it lasted with Cam Lewis playing competently in place of Taron Johnson, Dorian Williams stepping in for Matt Milano, and Baylon Spector taking over for Terrel Bernard on the Buffalo defense.

But it was only a matter of time before all of that caught up to the Bills, and this was the night. The Bills were not going to continue excelling as they had been without three Pro Bowl level players standing on the sidelines, and they finally ran into a team that could exploit their weaknesses.

And as if going with three backups wasn’t bad enough, rookie safety Cole Bishop had to join the debacle when Henry delivered a probable concussion to Taylor Rapp in the second quarter, knocking him out of the game.

“We just got to come out and be ready to play; come out and communicate,” Spector said. “I’ve got to do a better job of communicating. I’ve got to do a better job of getting the guys on the same page and getting everyone ready to go.”

∎ Lack of a downfield passing game: A lot has been made of how Allen has been taking what the defense gives him, and the short passing game was one of the keys to the 3-0 start. But at some point, such as a game like this when you fall behind big, you need to push the envelope and for most of the night, the Bills just couldn’t do it.

The one exception came early in the third quarter when Allen extended a play and after scrambling to the sideline, the Ravens lost coverage on Khalil Shakir, Allen saw him and heaved a pass that resulted in a 52-yard gain. On the next play, Ty Johnson scored on a three-yard run to cut the Bills’ deficit to 21-10.

Keon Coleman showed a little life, too, as he made two excellent contested catches on intermediate routes and finished with three catches for 51 yards, but he also dropped a beautiful Allen pass down the left sideline in the second quarter.

“It’s not just one certain player we’re trying to get going,” Allen said. “I’d love to get everybody over 50, over 100 yards every game. We just have to understand what defenses are trying to do, what they’re trying to take away and make the right reads and throw it to the right guys.”

Plays that proved critical

∎ We didn’t know it at the time, but Dalton Kincaid dropping a third down pass on the first series of the game set the tone for the night. The Bills had already converted a fourth-and-1 with a Josh Allen QB sneak, and now they faced third-and-2 at the 50 when Allen tried to hit Kincaid as both players were drifting to the right. The ball hit Kincaid’s hands and went right through, and Sean McDermott opted against going for it and punted. On the next snap, Henry made it 7-0.

∎ Already trailing 14-3, the defense had two excellent chances to get off the field, and it failed miserably on both. On the third, the Ravens had third-and-11 at their own 44 and Lamar Jackson managed to find Nelson Agholar over the middle for 12 yards. And then on a third-and-14 at the Bills’ 37, Jackson dumped one off to Justice Hill who picked his way for 15 yards. Moments later, Hill burned Williams one-on-one for the TD that made it 21-3.

∎ The Bills had a chance to flip the momentum late in the first half when Williams forced Jackson to fumble and Spector recovered at the Bills 39. The Bills were gifted a first down via a penalty on the Ravens, and Allen took a shot downfield to rookie Keon Coleman. The pass was perfect despite decent coverage, dropped right in the bucket, and Coleman dropped it. The Bills ended up punting and soon the half was over.

∎ I have always hated trick plays because more often than not, they don’t work. And sure enough, Joe Brady tried one midway through the third quarter and it proved to be a disaster. Curtis Samuel lined up at QB with Allen out wide and after taking the shotgun snap, Samuel ran left and pitched the ball back to Allen for a flea-flicker. However, Kyle Van Noy had already messed up the timing when he blew through the offensive line, and even when Samuel got the ball to Allen, Van Noy just kept going and he hit Allen’s arm as he tried to throw, causing a fumble that Kyle Hamilton recovered at the Ravens 41. "Yeah, I think that's something Joe and I will talk about," McDermott said. "And something to learn from there and moving forward off of it. Certainly a momentum change right there."

∎ Moments later, on a third-and-7 play, Cam Lewis had a chance to tackle Justice Hill after he caught a short pass but he whiffed and that allowed Hill to go 17 yards to the Bills 9 and on the next play, Jackson scored on a keeper to make it 28-10 and the game was essentially over.

Bills most valuable player

Wide receiver Khalil Shakir shook off an early ankle injury and resumed his role as Allen’s biggest playmaker. Shakir did a great job to work himself open for a 52-yard gain that momentarily got the Bills back into the game.

Bills least valuable player

The entire offensive line. For three games this unit had played very well, but they were overpowered by the Ravens’ stout front. Allen hasn’t been under this much duress in a long time and there were far too many plays when he was running for his life to the sideline. The Bills tried to run the ball early, but nothing was really working as the Ravens won the line of scrimmage.

Key coaching decision

Obviously, the fleak flicker play was a nightmare. It just made no sense to get cute in that situation because for the first time all night, the Bills actually had some momentum. They had cut the lead to 21-10 and were near midfield with a chance to get within one score. That play, which resulted in a turnover, provided the final momentum shift and the Ravens coasted home from there.

Injury report

∎ Safety Taylor Rapp was knocked out of the game in the second quarter with a head injury and did not return.

∎ Wide receiver Khalil Shakir left the game briefly in the first quarter with an ankle injury, but he got it taped up and was able to continue.

∎ Center Connor McGovern had to be evaluated for a head injury and missed several plays before being cleared to return.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

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This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills get reality check with horrific loss to Baltimore Ravens