After the Bills’ dramatic come-from-behind win in the rain Sunday afternoon at Baltimore’s M&T Stadium, many of the faithful are lamenting, “Oh, we should be 4-0 now.”

Well, not exactly.

That they are one of only three AFC teams which are 3-1 is mostly pro football karma.

A week ago, Buffalo committed just enough errors to hand the Dolphins a 21-19 win in a game the Bills dominated statistically.

On Sunday, the Ravens returned the gift, losing 23-20 on Tyler Bass’ field goal as time expired, in a matchup of which they seemed to control … for a half.

The situations were eerily similar.

Against the Dolphins, Buffalo dominated time of possession, 40 minutes to 20, but linebacker Matt Milano dropped an interception that likely would have been a pick six, the Bills botched a late goal-to-go situation and Miami benefited from a couple of marginal officiating calls.

Versus the Ravens, who commanded time of possession 38-22 in minutes, Baltimore dropped an easy interception to keep a Bills scoring drive alive, they severely mishandled a late goal-to-go possession, and several calls went Buffalo’s way including a highly-questionable roughing-the-passer flag by the Ravens that helped move the ball into position for the game-winning field goal.

In short, it’s more reasonable to call the Bills loss at Miami and win in Baltimore a wash.

NEEDLESS to say, most of the postgame second-guessing was about Ravens coach Jim Harbaugh’s decision to go for the touchdown on 4th-and-goal from the 2-yard-line with just over four minutes remaining and the game tied 20-20, rather than kicking the gimme field goal for the lead.

On the play, quarterback Lamar Jackson threw in desperation for the end zone with Bills safety Jordan Poyer intercepting.

With seconds remaining, Ravens safety Marcus Peters was in a heated discussion (?) with Harbaugh for not kicking the field goal.

After the game, Baltimore’s 15th-year coach said, “I felt like it gave us the best chance to win the game because (with) seven … if they go down the field and score a touchdown the worst thing that can happen is that you’re in overtime. But if you kick a field goal there, now it’s not a three-down game anymore, it’s a four-down game. You’re putting your defense at a disadvantage because they’ve got four downs to convert all the way down the field and a chance to score seven. You lose the game on a touchdown.

He added, “The other thing is you think they’re going to get the ball on the 2-yard line. We’re very confident in our defense’s ability to stop them down there. So we’ve got them backed up if we don’t get it. It didn’t turn out that way, unfortunately, and we lost the game. Hindsight you take the points. But if you look at it analytically, you understand why we did it.”

Indeed, the decision to go for it was arguable but understandable. The problem was the play call. If a running play gets stopped, Buffalo has to go about 65 yards for a field goal try. Same with a safe pass that falls incomplete.

Why not roll Jackson out on a run-pass option at which he excels? The only thing the Ravens couldn’t afford was an interception in the end zone giving the Bills possession at Baltimore’s 20 … and that’s exactly what happened.

Unspoken was the fact that Harbaugh also apparently didn’t have confidence his defense could stop the Bills’ offense starting at the 25 after a made field goal.

OLD NEWS.

The Bills continue to have no running game.

For the third time in four games this season, quarterback Josh Allen was Buffalo’s leading rusher, this time with 70 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown. He’s the ONLY Bills player with a rushing TD this season and now has two.

To this point, he has 183 rushing yards on 30 carries.

Devin Singletary and Zack Moss, Buffalo’s top two running backs, have 213 yards on 40 carries combined.

Singletary does have a receiving score.

Speaking of pass catching, has anybody seen James Cook, the second-round draft choice who was supposed to be that threat out of the backfield? His only touch Sunday lasted a fraction of a second as Allen’s throw went through his hands.

His first pro carry ended in a lost fumble during the season opener in Los Angeles and he’s been pretty much a ghost since then. Of his 58 rushing yards on 13 carries, 10 for 53 came in two garbage -ime possessions at the end of the blowout against Tennessee.

Four games is way too early to call him a bust, but he’s clearly a long-term work in progress.

(Chuck Pollock, an Olean Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)