London (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Bills dropped a 25-20 decision to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London on Sunday to fall to 3-2 on the 2023 season.
Here are my Arrows Up and Down from the game, starting with the ones pointing down after the loss:
ARROW DOWN:
CB - Kaiir Elam
Elam saw his first action of the season and struggled, especially against Jaguars wide receiver Calvin Ridley, who caught seven passes for 122 yards.
The second-year cornerback eventually was replaced late in the game by Ja'Marcus Ingram.
James Cook/running game
The Bills' running game overall sputtered, going for just 29 yards on 14 carries, averaging just 2.1 yards per-run.
James Cook was particularly ineffective, rushing five times for a total of minus-4 yards. He also dropped a big third down pass on the opening drive of the game that would have resulted in a first down.
Khalil Shakir/two-point conversion attempt
Down 18-13 after a touchdown in the fourth quarter, the Bills went for two. Josh Allen hit Shakir on a swing route out of the backfield. Shakir needed to make one man miss, but couldn’t.
The play call could’ve been better and not something that took so long to develop, and then not go into the end zone.
Gabe Davis’ drop
With the Bills set up on 2nd-and-10 from the Jaguars' 42-yard line, Allen hit Davis with a bullet of a pass right in the hands with, what would’ve been, a first down or very close to it. Davis dropped it, and the next play was incomplete, resulting in a Bills punt.
Penalties
The Bills routinely hurt themselves with penalties, called for 11 of them totaling 109 yards. They were a huge factor in the game.
Tackling
The Bills defense had its worst tackling performance of the season. It was especially an issue late in the game, as they were obviously tired.
The Jaguars had 82 offensive plays and the Bills had several injuries, forcing others to play even more than usual or expected.
Third down defense
The Jaguars were 10-for-18 (55.6%) on third down. That's far too high. They especially were too successful on several key 3rd-and-long situations.
Punting game
The Bills struggled in the punt game .Of Sam Martin's six punts on the day, one was partially blocked and another traveled just 35 yards.
ARROW UP:
DE - A.J. Epenesa
Epenesa was terrific for the second week in-a-row, filling the stat sheet with a pair of sacks, four total tackles, two quarterback hurries, three pass breakups on batted balls, a forced fumble on a sack, and a recovery of that fumble.
DT - Ed Oliver
Oliver continued his solid play, collecting nine total tackles, including a sack, three tackles for loss, and two quarterback hurries.
DE - Leonard Floyd
Floyd also had two sacks, giving him 5.5 on the season.
Terrel Bernard and his 16 tackles!
Bernard didn’t have splash plays, but he made a ton of tackles. 16 of them overall. He was even more needed after Matt Milano went out with his knee injury.
LB - Tyrel Dodson
Dodson had to come up big as one of Milano’s replacements and he did, collecting five total tackles, including one for a loss, a quarterback hurry, a pass breakup and fumble recovery.
WR - Stefon Diggs
Diggs was his usual WR1 self, collecting six catches for 121 yards and a touchdown.
QB - Josh Allen
Allen was 27-of-40 (67.5%) for 359 yards, a pair of touchdowns and an interception. He threw for 243 yards in the second half when the team leaned on him and his arm.
He also ran for 14 yards, totaling 373 yards of offense.
Gabe Davis’ catches
Davis had the bad drop, but also madetwo remarkable catches. One of those catches resulted in a touchdown with a defender pulling him down, and another toe-tapping on the sidelines late in the game with the Bills down two scores.
Late, quick scoring drive
Down 25-13 with just 4:03 left in the game, the Bills desperately needed a quick scoring drive, and they got it. It took just four plays and 45 seconds to go 75 yards.
Red zone offense and defense
The Bills were 3-for-3 scoring touchdowns once in the Jaguars' red zone. Jacksonville was 50% at 2-for-4 in the Buffalo red zone.
"Bills Mafia" in London
It was truly a London takeover by members of "Bills Mafia".
While it's not uncommon for a road game, to see it over 3,500 miles away, across the Atlantic Ocean, and five time zones ahead was truly impressive. The crowd was loud, and showed up throughout the weekend everywhere.
