John Harbaugh has strong message for Mark Andrews after Ravens' loss to Bills

Sunday night, Lamar Jackson did absolutely everything he could, in crunch time, to will the Baltimore Ravens to a victory.

In a battle of AFC heavyweights, the Ravens found themselves down by five to the Buffalo Bills early on in the fourth quarter. Jackson and the offense began driving when he hit his tight end Mark Andrews for a first down gain.

As Andrews worked into Buffalo territory and it appeared the Ravens were in business to try and take the lead, the veteran tight end then had the football punched out of his hands. Andrews' fumble would be recovered by Buffalo and completely sway the momentum of the game.

The Bills went down and scored a field goal to go up eight.

Then, with 3:29 remaining in the game, Jackson and the offense began their final drive of the game from their own 12-yard line. That was no problem, though, as Jackson led the Ravens down and tossed a touchdown to Isaiah Likely, bringing Baltimore within two, 27-25.

On the two-point conversion, Jackson hit Andrews perfectly for the game-tying play. The only problem was, Andrews dropped it.

This essentially ended the Ravens' season and the Bills would move on to the AFC Championship Game.

Andrews' fumble and drop, on back-to-back drives in the fourth quarter, would come to be the biggest initial story in the aftermath of this game.

John Harbaugh spoke highly of Mark Andrews despite a career-worst type of night

After the game, head coach John Harbaugh was asked about Andrews' performance in the wake of his big fumble and drop.

To no one's surprise, Harbaugh responded with nothing but class when talking about his starting tight end.

""We wouldn't be here without Mark Andrews. ... Mark will handle this fantastically because he's a high-character person, a tough person and a good person. Proud of him like I'm proud of all the guys.""

John Harbaugh

Say what you want about Andrews' mishaps in this one, but the Ravens turned the ball over three times. Two of those turnovers came by way of a Jackson interception and fumble. The quarterback acknowledged, in his own postgame press conference, the need for him to take care of the football.

Jackson would also refuse to place the blame solely on his tight end, calling himself out for the pair of turnovers he had in the first half and reiterating that they're a team.

Even in the face of defeat, this Ravens team held together tightly. Harbaugh and Jackson showed great leadership after a difficult loss, and you can be sure that locker room isn't about to be pointing fingers at Andrews.

They know this was a collective loss, despite the narratives that could be written.