Bills vs Jaguars: The Good and The Bad

The Buffalo Bills suffered a tough defeat at “home” in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Bills lost 25-20 in a game that came down to the very end and moved to 3-2 on the season. 

The Good 

Josh Allen 

Despite the loss Josh Allen played a solid game passing for over 350 yards and hitting on 27 of his 40 pass attempts. Allen had 2 passing touchdowns along with getting involved in the run game rushing for 14 yards and a touchdown. 

Josh Allen finished with an 102 passer rating and averaged 9 yards a throw. Allen did throw a 50/50 ball that was intercepted by Darious Williams over Stefon Diggs. 

Receiving 

Both receivers Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis had 100 yard performances today. Diggs had 8 receptions on 11 total targets for 121 yards and a touchdown. Diggs’s longest reception of the day was for 48 yards and averaged 15 yards a reception. 

Gabe Davis had 6 receptions on 8 targets for 100 yards and a touchdown. Davis’s longest reception of the day was for 29 yards and averaged 16 yards a reception. 

Deonte Harty also had a couple crucial catches for 30 yards that flipped the field. 

A.J. Epenesa 

A.J. Epenesa was one of the few bright spots for the Bills today with 4 tackles, 2 solo tackles, 2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, 2 quarterback hits and 3 passes defended. 

Epenesa filled in for the injured DE Greg Rousseau ahead of today’s game and showed out. He was a big part in keeping the Bills in it until the very end knocking down passes and getting to the quarterback. 

The Bad 

Offense

While Josh Allen and the receivers had a good connection for the most part of the day they weren’t able to move the ball consistently. The Bills turned the ball over twice today along with punting the ball a total of 6 times. 

The Jaguars dominated the Bills in terms of time of possession, Jacksonville had the ball for 38:10 minutes while Buffalo only had the ball for 21:50. 

The Bills run game was led by Josh Allen who only had 14 yards on 4 carries, Damien Harris was second in terms of yards with 13 on 3 carries. 

Starting running back James Cook had the most carries with 5 for a total of negative 5 yards. 

Defense 

The Bills defense was lacking many key pieces due to injury but nonetheless let up many big plays that helped in the Jaguars victory. The Bills let up 196 yards on the ground including 2 rushing touchdowns led by the Clemson product Travis Etienne Jr. 

Through the air Buffalo let up 315 yards and a touchdown. Bills second year cornerback Kaiir Elam had a very rough day guarding Calvin Ridley a hefty amount during today’s game who had 7 receptions for 122 yards. 

Penalties 

The Buffalo Bills had 11 accepted penalties that were for 109 yards. The Bills played a very sloppy game today and hurt themselves with the penalties. 

Injuries 

The Bills lost a huge piece in their stout defense with Matt Milano going out with a knee injury. Milano is expected to be out indefinitely and according to head coach Sean McDermott “It’s not looking good.” 

Daquan Jones went down with a pec injury and McDermott said it’s not looking good for Jones as well. 

Leonard Floyd left the game twice today with an ankle injury that he said he’s been dealing with since week 2. 

Both Taron Johnson and Dion Dawkins left the game with injuries but returned shortly after going out. Postgame Taron Johnson said that the turf was “terrible” and to “take that turf out.”