The Baltimore Ravens made a convincing opening argument that they’re the best team in the NFL in Week 1 against the Buffalo Bills …. at least for the first 3.5 quarters. The Ravens offense was creating explosive plays at every turn: Lamar Jackson was escaping like Houdini and creating chunk plays out of thin air, Derrick Henry was gashing the Buffalo defense with his signature stiff arm, and Zay Flowers was so impressive that Baltimore might finally have a real WR1. Somehow, the Bills erased a two-score deficit late in the fourth quarter to walk away with the win.
There were so many awesome plays from the Ravens in Week 1, but the best might have come from Deandre Hopkins. The Ravens were up one score at the end of the third quarter when Jackson found Hopkins on a 29-yard touchdown strike to help blow the game open. Hopkins hauled it in with an incredible one-handed catch, but a photographer for the Buffalo News captured a shot that showed it was actually much more impressive than that.
Hopkins snatched the touchdown by the tippy point of the football. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a catch like this.
Hopkins has been known as the king of the contested catch during his fantastic NFL career. He’s on the downside of that career now at 33 years old, but he can still make impact plays for a Ravens offense that has so many other weapons that occupy attention.
Here’s the full catch. What a damn grab.
Hopkins gives the Ravens a dimension they haven’t had in the Lamar era even at his age. Is this the year the Ravens shake their playoff struggles? We can’t wait to find out.
