ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — For a team that many football analysts believed had already seen its Super Bowl window closed, right now the Buffalo Bills look like the best team in the NFL three weeks into the 2024 season.
The Bills put together a stunning display of football in the first half Monday night at Highmark Stadium, scoring touchdowns on all five of their possessions in opening a 34-3 lead on the Jacksonville Jaguars, then coasted for the final 30 minutes on their way to an easy 47-10 victory.
The performance was reminiscent of the Bills’ 47-17 playoff decimation of the Patriots in 2021 when they played a perfect game by scoring touchdowns on all seven of the possessions when they weren’t kneeling to end a half. Therefore it was rather appropriate that Mac Jones, the Patriots quarterback in that game, was called on by his new team, the Jaguars, to mop up this one.
Rather than playing like a dangerous 0-2 team trying to save their season, what the Jaguars proved is that they are a bad 0-3 team that, barring a major turnaround, is going nowhere this year, it’s $245 million investment in quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft, looking rather ominous.
The Jaguars entered the NFL in 1995 and the 34 points are most they have ever allowed in a first half, and this is only the third time in NFL history a team has rolled to a 31-point lead at halftime with 34 or more points scored.
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Who is better than the Bills as September nears its close? The Chiefs are 3-0, and they could very easily be 0-3. The Steelers are 3-0 but they’ve scored only 51 points. In the NFC, the Seahawks are 3-0 but they beat the Broncos playing a rookie quarterback, the Patriots, and the Dolphins without Tua Tagovailoa. The 3-0 Vikings are legit, but with Sam Darnold are they better than the Bills?
Josh Allen, who had thrown for just 371 yards in the first two games, completed 22 of 28 passes for 247 yards and four touchdowns to Dalton Kincaid, Keon Coleman, Khalil Shakir and Ty Johnson. That was just the first half.
For good measure, after the Jaguars took the second-half kickoff and scored a touchdown, Allen responded with another nice drive and while it ended in a Tyler Bass field goal, it also ate up more than six minutes in the third quarter.
It was frightening how easily Allen picked the Jaguars apart, and all that overrated talk about the Bills quarterback, or the thoughts that he would be lost without Stefon Diggs this year? Looks a little silly right now.
The key reasons the Buffalo Bills won
Allen was simply magnificent: You could tell from the jump that he was amped up for this one. The Jaguars were missing two starting corners, Tyson Campbell and Darnell Savage, and offensive coordinator Joe Brady had clear designs on exploiting that. His play designs were flawless on several of his calls, and the execution was every bit as pristine.
Brady got everyone involved in the first two quarters as Allen targeted 10 different receivers and completed passes to nine of them. After leaning on the running game in the first two weeks, Brady called just 11 runs compared to 28 passes in the first half.
Pass defense was suffocating: Lawrence took advantage of the Bills’ defense playing to the score in the second half, but in the first half, he was helpless trying to match Allen which is why he walked off the field trailing by 31 points.
Cornerbacks Rasul Douglas and Christian Benford were in lockdown mode on the outside and none of the Jaguars’ talented receivers – Gabe Davis, Brian Thomas and Christian Kirk – could get open. And one time when Thomas did come free, Lawrence air-mailed a throw right into the arms of Bills safety Damar Hamlin, his first career interception.
What’s so impressive is no team has been able to take advantage of the loss of star nickel cornerback Taron Johnson as Cam Lewis has held up remarkably well. Defensive coordinator Bobby Babich even dialed up a safety blitz that resulted in Ja’Marcus Ingram recording a sack.
History did not matter: There was a lot of talk in the pregame buildup about how the Jaguars seemed to have the Bills’ number, particularly because of how the last two meetings went – a terrible Jaguars team winning 9-6 in 2021, and then the London fiasco last year when half the Bills’ defense was injured.
There have been some weird games throughout the series between these teams dating to the 1996 playoffs when the two-year-old Jaguars stunned the Bills. Monday night, the Bills made sure nothing strange would happen.
Plays that proved critical
No one can ever complain that Sean McDermott doesn’t take chances. He continues to be one of the most aggressive coaches when it comes to going for it on fourth down, and just like last week in Miami, he did it on Buffalo’s first possession Monday. Six plays into the game the Bills had fourth-and-3 at the Jaguars 44 and Allen tossed a 12-yard pass on a well-designed call to Shakir and from there, the Bills went the distance to grab a quick 6-0 lead.
On the second offensive possession, the Bills were faced with a third-and-3 at the Jaguars 48. Brady dialed up an excellent play as Kincaid got open down the left seam and Allen hit him in stride for 28 yards. After another fourth-down conversion when Allen pushed forward on a QB sneak, he and Kincaid teamed up on another outstanding play.
On third-and-goal from the 6, Allen faced pressure but he bought time in the pocket and that allowed Kincaid to work his way from left to right where he got open in the back of the end zone. Allen threw a perfect pass and Kincaid reeled it in for a 13-0 lead.
Rookie receiver Keon Coleman began the game on the bench. He did not play on the first possession, got in for just one snap on the second, but on the third, Brady brought him in and called his number on a first-down play from the Jaguars 24.
Coleman lined up on the left side and the Jaguars went man-to-man with Montaric Brown. He ran a crossing route, beat Brown clean and Allen hit him in stride and Coleman finished the play by getting to the end zone for his first NFL touchdown. That one pushed the Bills’ lead to 20-3.
If the Jaguars had any chance of making it a game, it died on the ensuing series. There was 4:28 left in the first half, still time to get something working. Lawrence converted a fourth-and-1 with a sneak, but on the next play he badly overshot Thomas and Hamlin made the pick. And naturally, the Bills turned that into a touchdown as five plays later, on a third-and-9 at the 27, Allen found Shakir open on the right side for the touchdown that essentially put the game out of reach.
Bills most valuable player
There’s no sense trying to be contrarian here. Allen played like the superstar he is, and it didn’t matter that he essentially took the second half off. He had only 16 yards passing after halftime because, obviously, the game was well in hand. So he finished with 263, and he also ran six times for 44 yards with five of those runs resulting in first downs.
Bills least valuable player
OK, if we’re going to nitpick here, it was the Bills’ protection unit which allowed Bass’ first extra point of the game to be blocked. There was some type of breakdown and while fans leaped to blame Bass, that’s not his fault. Once again, the Bills special teams made a play that was costly, though this one was pretty inconsequential by the end of the night.
Injury report
As expected, nickel cornerback Taron Johnson and linebacker Terrel Bernard, but it’s still a good sign that neither player has been placed on injured reserve, meaning the Bills’ medical staff must anticipate returns for both in the near future, perhaps even this week against the Ravens.
Lewis had to go into the medical tent briefly to get checked for a head injury but he was out quickly and was able to return to the game.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.