Justice Hill showed the Buffalo Bills why he is one of the better change-of-pace running backs in the NFL on Sunday night.
The Ravens have been a power running team with a big offensive line for the entire 17-year tenure of coach John Harbaugh. A power-running team needs a good speed back.
Baltimore found it in the fourth round of the 2019 draft in Justice Hill from Oklahoma State.
Hill is only 5-foot-9, but he has superb speed and elite quickness. He runs a 4.40-second time in the 40-yard dash. He had the best athletic score of any back in the draft that year, and his broad jump of 10 feet, 10 inches was in the top 2% of all backs from 1989 to that time, according to NFL draft analyst Kent Lee Platte.
Baltimore running back Justice Hill, right, makes a touchdown catch during the second quarter at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday.
Hill is an ideal complement to 247-yard lead running back Derrick Henry. After the Ravens hit the Bills with Henry’s thunder on the first play from scrimmage Sunday, Hill threw a few lightning bolts at the Buffalo defense in the second quarter of Baltimore’s 35-10 win.
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“That’s kind of always what we’ve been about,” Harbaugh said of the running game in his postgame news conference. “If you look back on the history of the organization, even before (me): Run the ball and play great defense. And then we’re blessed with weapons.”
Harbaugh called quarterback Lamar Jackson “the best weapon in football.”
“That’s where it starts,” Harbaugh said, “but the run game is massively important to us.”
Here’s a review of key plays from the Bills’ loss in Baltimore, starting with the underrated Hill.
Bad matchup
Hill scored on a 19-yard pass from Jackson late in the second quarter to give the Ravens a 21-3 lead.
It was a well-designed wheel route up the right sideline, on which the Ravens got Hill singled up on Bills linebacker Dorian Williams. The Ravens motioned Zay Flowers to the left to prompt the Bills linebackers to shift a step to that side. It meant Williams had to run an extra step to chase Hill, who was coming out of the backfield to the right.
The Bills still lead the AFC East after the first quarter of the season, but make no mistake – this is the type of loss that raises some serious concerns moving forward. One of the big criticisms of McDermott, and perhaps the biggest, has been not being able to win the big game. A Week 4 game in September, even on Sunday Night Football against a marquee opponent, is not the postseason, but it will be pointed to as further evidence.
Hill was simply too fast for Williams, who didn’t take a great angle in pass coverage. Hill was wide open. The safety on that side, Cole Bishop, was preoccupied watching Flowers run a post pattern to the middle.
“We’re just trying to find matchups where I can succeed and use everyone to the best of their abilities,” Hill said. “That’s what they’ve done with me, and we’ve been able to scheme up some things to get me into space.”
At that point in the game, Hill had five touches for 69 yards, a 13.8-yard average. He entered the game averaging 7.1 yards per touch. Last year he had his best pro season, rushing for 387 yards and 4.6 per carry and catching 28 passes for 206 yards.
Speed screen I
The Ravens got the blocking matchup they wanted on a 14-yard screen pass to Hill that set up the second touchdown. It was a second-and-7 play, and again the Ravens used the Bills’ penetrating style by their defensive line against them.
Baltimore lined up tight end Mark Andrews in the left slot, and he pancaked slot cornerback Cam Lewis. Left tackle Ronnie Stanley pulled and took out middle linebacker Baylon Spector.
Hill caught a quick screen to the left and raced 14 yards to the Buffalo 4. Two plays later, Henry caught a 5-yard TD pass for a 14-3 lead.
Speed screen II
Two plays before Hill’s touchdown the Bills had the Ravens in a third-and-14 hole.
But the Ravens ran a screen to Hill for 15 yards to the Buffalo 22. The Bills were in a two-deep zone, and by the time they recognized the screen, Hill was already close to the first down marker.
Baltimore let left defensive end Von Miller rush way upfield, behind the quarterback. The Bills were in a dime defense, and the second-level defenders, Spector and cornerbacks Ja’Marcus Ingram and Lewis, took deep pass-drops.
Once Hill caught the pass, center Tyler Linderbaum took out Ingram, Stanley took out Lewis and Andrews took out Spector.
Hill finished with six catches for 78 yards.
Out of the gate
The Ravens blocked their opening play from scrimmage to perfection in springing Henry for an 87-yard touchdown run.
The Ravens powered up on the right side with fullback Patrick Ricard and tight end Andrews next to the right tackle. They took advantage of the Bills’ defensive line penetration by having the center ignore Ed Oliver and let him shoot upfield.
Ricard pulled left and picked him off with a trap block. The action to the left caused the linebacker on that side, Williams, take a step inside. That allowed guard Daniel Faalele to pull and pick off Williams. Right tackle Roger Rosengarten blocked defensive end Greg Rousseau. Andrews blocked safety Taylor Rapp.
Henry was gone.
The rushing TD gave Henry five on the season and made him the fifth player in history to have at least five rushing TDs in each of his first nine seasons. He joins Jim Brown, Marshall Faulk, LaDainian Tomlinson and Ricky Watters on that list.
Key drop
The Bills were down 21-3 late in the second quarter when Keon Coleman dropped a deep pass at the Ravens’ 14-yard line.
Coleman did a good job escaping press coverage at the line of scrimmage against cornerback Brandon Stephens and ran a go route down the left sideline. Josh Allen threw a perfect pass that went through Coleman’s arms.
They punted two plays later. If the Bills score on that drive, maybe it’s a different game. Then their third-quarter touchdown would have pulled them within 21-17.
Sideline magic
The best offensive play of the game for the Bills was a bit of Allen magic early in the third quarter. Allen was flushed out of the pocket to the right when nose tackle Travis Jones got around center Connor McGovern.
Khail Shakir was running to the right sideline but broke upfield when he saw Allen break the pocket. Coleman was running a 15-yard out and also broke to the sideline. Safety Eddie Jackson jumped Coleman without realizing Shakir was going deep behind him. Allen hit Shakir for a 52-yard gain to set up the Bills’ first TD.
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Allen was 0.9 yards away from the sideline when he threw to Shakir. Since entering the NFL in 2018, Allen has completed 6 of 7 passes for 118 yards and 3 TDs within a yard of the sideline. The rest of the NFL is 1 for 16 over that span.
