ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — A little more than seven months after the Baltimore Ravens’ painful loss to the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round of the playoffs, they found a new low on Sunday night.

With Buffalo kicker Tyler Bass placed on injured reserve just days before the season-opener at Highmark Stadium, 41-year-old Matt Prater, signed to the practice squad, came off the couch and made a 32-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Bills to an improbable 41-40 victory in both teams’ season opener.

The kick capped a nine-play, 66-yard drive in the game’s final 93 seconds — the same amount of time that was left when Ravens tight end Mark Andrews dropped a would-be game-tying 2-point conversion the last time the two teams met.

The stakes were higher than, but this loss was even more inexplicable.

Unlike the last time, there was no snow, but there were plenty of stars Sunday night at Highmark Stadium. Once again, both teams provided a heavy dose of drama.

With Baltimore clinging to a 40-32 lead following a rare Derrick Henry fumble that the Bills recovered, quarterback Josh Allen plunged into the end zone from a yard out to set up a chance to tie the score. But when Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins broke up a 2-point pass intended for Keon Coleman in the corner of the end zone, it looked like the Ravens might survive.

They found a way to let victory slip from their grasp — again.

In a matchup that had the sizzle of a heavyweight fight, with the NFL’s two most recent Most Valuable Players, Allen and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, going toe-to-toe in a rematch of January’s thriller. The star quarterbacks did not disappoint.

Jackson completed 14 of 19 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns and added 70 yards rushing and another score on six carries. Allen did what he does best, too, scrambling, surviving and keeping his team in it, completing 33 of 46 passes for 394 yards and two touchdowns while adding 30 yards rushing and two scores on 14 carries.

For much of the night, it looked like the Ravens had finally moved past their foibles.

Henry finished with 169 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 18 carries, while receiver Zay Flowers added a career-high 143 yards on seven catches and another score.

Baltimore has perhaps the best roster in the sport, and everywhere Jackson turned, another big-time player was making a big play in a big game.

First, it was the future Pro Football Hall of Fame running back. Henry, at age 31, continues to defy reality and was burying defenders when he wasn’t leaving them in his dust. With Baltimore trailing 7-3 early in the second quarter, he raced through the right side of the line and when Cole Bishop came running toward him, the 6-foot-2, 252-pound Henry swatted the safety to the turf like a gnat on his way to a 30-yard gallop for the score. The touchdown moved him to sixth all-time as he surpassed Jim Brown with his 107th rushing score.

That was just the beginning.

With Buffalo hanging on early in the fourth and Baltimore clinging to a nine-point lead, Jackson delivered a dazzling body blow, escaping a wave of Bills’ defenders on a third-and-10 from his own 35 with the swiftness of Houdini and emerged 19 yards downfield. One play later, Henry delivered what appeared to be a knockout blow, racing 46 yards down the left sideline for the touchdown that made it 40-25 with 11:42 left.

Instead, Baltimore’s revamped defense — from players to coaching changes — couldn’t hold up in the end.

The Ravens squandered a pair of 15-point leads, both in the fourth quarter.

The loss also puts them in a hole in the AFC North, one game behind the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals with the Cleveland Browns and former Baltimore Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Flacco coming to town next week at M&T Bank Stadium. Now the question is how and if they can bounce back after another familiar defeat.

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