Bills' Keys to Win vs. Ravens in 2021 NFL Playoff Matchup

The Buffalo Bills face arguably the toughest task of any home team playing in the NFL divisional round. 

The AFC's No. 2 seed welcomes the red-hot Baltimore Ravens to Bills Stadium for what could be the most entertaining contest of the weekend. 

To contain Lamar Jackson and J.K. Dobbins, the Bills need a similar defensive performance from what they received in Week 14's home win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in which they held the AFC North side to 15 points. 

Offensively, Josh Allen can counter most things that Jackson throws at his defensive teammates, but to take hold of the contest, he must get Devin Singletary more involved with Zack Moss out injured. 

If the Bills win, they should turn into the biggest Cleveland Browns fans that way they have a chance of hosting the AFC Championship Game next weekend. 

Find Ways to Halt Lamar Jackson and J.K. Dobbins

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Buffalo did not put together stellar defensive showings in the last two weeks. 

The Week 17 concession of 454 total yards to the Miami Dolphins can be forgiven because that victory was locked up at halftime and the Dolphins were in desperation mode to secure a playoff berth. 

The wild-card performance was not spectacular, as the Indianapolis Colts outgained the Bills 472-397 and they earned 163 yards on the ground, led by Jonathan Taylor. 

Sean McDermott's team needs to be much better against the run on Saturday to control the pace of the contest. 

Baltimore ran for 236 yards in its playoff opener, and it eclipsed the 200-yard mark on the ground in five of its last six games. 

Stopping the run does not solve every one of Buffalo's defensive problems, but it would at least allow the secondary to take over in certain spots.

If the Bills force Jackson to throw the ball more, they could use Tre'Davious White to take away Marquise Brown, who has 29 receptions during the Ravens' six-game winning streak. 

The target number for the Bills rushing defense should be under 160 yards. Four of Baltimore's five losses occurred when it ran for fewer than 160 yards. Three of those defeats were to playoff qualifiers. 

Get Devin Singletary Involved to Avoid One-Dimensional Offense

Adrian Kraus/Associated Press

If there is one criticism you can make about Buffalo's offense, it is that its running backs have not been productive as they should be. 

In nine of Buffalo's 17 games, it failed to record over 100 rushing yards as a team, even with Allen being a threat with his legs. 

Saturday could be the most important game of Singletary's career since he will be the feature back with Moss out due to an ankle injury.

In the regular season, Singletary averaged 4.4 yards on 156 carries, while Moss earned 4.3 yards per carry on 112 attempts. 

Singletary failed to outpace Moss in the ground game, and that led to the two players splitting carries for the majority of the regular season. 

Dating back to Week 10, the second-year running back has three games with double-digit carries and he had 10 carries once in the last five games. 

Buffalo needs to find a way to get Singletary involved early to boost his confidence and keep the Ravens honest to defending the run, instead of putting all of their focus on Allen. 

The Bills could try to expand Singletary's role in the passing game since he caught each of his 10 targets in the last five weeks. 

If Singletary is effective in an expanded role, the Bills should have a balanced approach to the game and it will take some pressure off Allen to make every important play. 

Continue to Spread the Ball Around Through the Air

Adrian Kraus/Associated Press

One of the strengths of the Bills offense is Allen's ability to work the ball around to a handful of different effective targets. 

Stefon Diggs is more than deserving of top billing in the Bills wide receiver corps, but he has not won games on his own. 

For example, Cole Beasley and Gabriel Davis combined to catch all 11 of their targets in the wild-card round to total 142 receiving yards. Diggs had 128 yards off six receptions. 

Allen picked out Dawson Knox for a touchdown and completed seven passes to Moss and Singletary in his attempt to keep the Colts off balance. 

Allen only had nine incomplete passes in his 35 attempts, and if he posts a similarly accurate performance on Saturday, the Bills could hit the Ravens secondary from all angles. 

Utilizing Davis, Beasley and John Brown could be more important against Baltimore since Marcus Peters may be following Diggs around the gridiron. 

Allen is still going to throw the ball in Diggs' direction, but he does not have to force it to him with a strong set of wide outs beneath him on the depth chart. 

As long as the supporting cast remains effective, the Bills should be able to contend with any of the teams left in the postseason.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from Pro Football Reference.