The Jacksonville Jaguars travel to play the Buffalo Bills on Monday night in Week 3. The Jaguars needed to get a win at home with these next two road games but they struggled offensively. Even with the rough matchup, they still had a chance at the end but could not finish the comeback attempt.
Travis Etienne was somewhat effective but only had 13 carries and Trevor Lawrence only completed 14 out of 30 passes. The offensive line had a rough game allowing four sacks. The main bright spots were a long catch by Brian Thomas Jr. and a strong outing by Brenton Strange. This week is a crucial game if the Jaguars want to have any chance of making the playoffs this year.
Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Buffalo Bills Game History
Sunday will be the 19th time the Jaguars and Bills have met. Even though, the Bills have had more recent success, the Jaguars have won the last two meetings and three of the last four. The game in London last year resulted in a 25-20 Jaguars win.
Key Players for the Jaguars
The offense continues to struggle to start the season. An early big hit to Tank Bigsby caused him to get few offensive snaps. Brian Thomas Jr. has to get more than four targets because it is obvious he is the playmaker on this offense. Trevor Lawrence was frustrated and the offense must find a rhythm in this matchup against the Bills.
The Jaguars will need to be able to protect Lawrence in this matchup as the Bills have six sacks in the first two games and are going to want to keep the offense out of rhythm. Travis Etienne and Tank Bigsby will need to provide balance on the offense to avoid long-passing situations. The Bills are middle of the road so far giving up over 130 rushing yards per game.
It looks as though Evan Engram will miss another game, so Brenton Strange will need to continue to improve this week. The Bills are giving up the second most targets to running backs and tight ends. It will be important to be able to take advantage of those matchups.
The Jaguars need to target Brian Thomas Jr. more but his film may cause teams to pay more attention to his deep ability. Gabe Davis has been solid and will want to have a strong performance against his old team, but Christian Kirk has to get going for this team to be successful. The Bills give up 57 percent of its yards to slot receivers compared to those out wide.
The offensive line needs to play better. They get an easier matchup because they will not see Myles Garrett but still will face Von Miller, Ed Oliver, and Greg Rousseau. Offensive tackles Cam Robinson and Anton Harrison will need to hold up under pressure much better in a raucous Buffalo crowd.
The Jaguars defense had its faults against the Browns last week but after the first couple drives started to settle in. Josh Hines-Allen was finally got a sack but the Jaguars will need to play more disciplined this week against Josh Allen. Travon Walker needs to make a bigger impact this week and the linebacker Devin Lloyd and Foyesade Oluokun will need to stay disciplined to not fall for play action and let receivers get behind them.
Tyson Campbell has been put on IR and Darnell Savage was light participation in practice this week. The Jaguars were able to handle Amari Cooper last week but Jerry Jeudy ended up having five catches for 73 yards. Montaric Brown needs to play well because he should be targeted quite a bit just like last week. The Jaguars have always struggled against tight ends so safeties Andre Cisco and Antonio Johnson will be crucial to not allow big gains in the middle of the field.
Key Players for the Bills
The Bills struggled early in Week 1 and had to come back against the Arizona Cardinals. They did not have that problem in Week 2 against the Miami Dolphins. They leaned on the run game and were able to dominate on offense and smother the Dolphins’ offense.
James Cook only had 12 touches last week but he scored three times. He is a dual threat back and the Jaguars give up 7.5 targets to running backs a game. Josh Allen really makes the offense go and he did not have to do as much last week against the Dolphins. He is a running threat and his improvisation skills make it hard to be able to totally stop him.
The Jaguars give up 75 percent of their yards to receivers out wide so this might be a big game for rookie Keon Coleman. The Jaguars so far have been only allowing 3.5 targets per game to tight ends, but the first two weeks they did not have very challenging matchups. Dalton Kincaid has had a slow start so the Bills will try to get him involved early and with the injuries to the secondary he may have a breakout game this week.
The Bills will be missing two big parts of their defense in linebacker Terrel Bernard and cornerback Taron Johnson. Last week Braylon Spector filled in nicely for Bernard with seven solo tackles and one tackle for loss.
The Jaguars like to have short passes because of poor offensive line play. So safeties Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin should be involved early and often. The edge rushers will test the Jaguars again this week. A.J. Epenesa, Von Miller, Greg Rousseau, and Ed Oliver all will make this an important matchup.
Jacksonville Jaguars – Keys to Win the Game
The Jaguars will have to block better for Lawrence and scheme to get the ball out quickly to avoid the line being put in bad situations. Another way to help with this is being effective running the ball and putting them in good third down situations. Keeping the ball for long possessions will help shorten the gain and keep Josh Allen off the field.
The Jaguars can not fall down early on the road like they did last week. They must come out fast and try to take the crowd out of the game. It will be hard enough for the line to hear signals on the road. The Jaguars have to play a full game, they have not been able to put it all together.
The defense has to be able to stop the run and make the Bills pass. The Bills are so tough to beat when they have balance on offense as we saw last week. The defense will have to make the Bills go on long drives and not give up big plays. Allen forces the ball at times and a turnover is what the team will need to come away with a victory.
Do the Jaguars still have the Bills number? Can they get a win to salvage their season?
Brandon Haye
Brandon grew up in Jacksonville, Florida and works as a health insurance data analyst. He has no children, but two fur babies - Squirt and Brownie. He and his wife, Katie, spend their time playing poker and enjoying time with their pups. Brandon is a huge Michigan Wolverine and Jacksonville Jaguars fan. He at one time was in 77 fantasy leagues and loves the game of football. Brandon started writing for The Leauge Winners in 2021.