Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Let me provide a little context for what I'm about to tell you.
I was fortunate to cover the early 1990s Buffalo Bills teams that featured quarterback Jim Kelly and the NFL's most explosive offense. They once scored 41 points in the first half of an AFC Championship Game against the, then, Los Angeles Raiders.
Monday night's performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars saw Josh Allen and company out up one of the best halves of football in the history of the Bills.
The 34 first half points were the most points scored by a Bills team in the first two quarters of a game since - wait for it - 1992 with Kelly in charge.
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Monday's dominance was the baseball equivalent of a perfect game.
The Bills could do no wrong, as they steamrolled the Jaguars defense and scored touchdowns on all five of their first half drives.
To recap, here are the results of those drives:
- 10 plays, 70 yards, 5:26
- 11 plays, 65 yards, 5:12
- 8 plays, 68 yards, 4:20
- 5 plays, 41 yards, 2:09
- 5 plays, 64 yards, 0:53
Everyone had a hand in that amazing performance.
Offensive coordinator Joe Brady put together a pass-heavy game plan, as opposed to the first two weeks. Brady took advantage of a Jaguars defense that leans heavily towards man coverage, and was also down two starters in the secondary.
Through the first two games of the season, Allen had 42 pass attempts. He totaled 28 in the first half of this game alone. Almost all of those throws were short-to-medium range, which are slam-dunk passes for a quarterback of Allen's incredible talent.
Bills players were in space, and tacking on yards-after-catch the entire half.
Brady also utilized a lot of pre-snap motion, which both confused the Jaguars and gave Allen a chance to see if they were in man or zone.
Allen was in a groove, completing 22-of-28 passes in the first 30 minutes for 247 yards and four touchdowns.
I'll admit, I was skeptical about this whole "everybody will eat" approach to the passing game, but it sure worked on Monday night. Allen completed passes to nine different players, including three running backs, two tight ends and four wide receivers.
The four touchdown tosses also went to four different targets.
The Bills were 6-for-8 on third down, 2-for-2 on fourth down, and 3-for-3 in the red zone in the first half. They averaged 7.4 yards per-play!
It was the first time a Bills team scored a touchdown on five-straight possessions at any point in a game since 2011, and the 31-point halftime lead was the third-largest in franchise history.
Yes, it was that kind of night.
The offensive line kept their MVP-caliber quarterback clean as well.
Jacksonville couldn't get a sniff of Allen, while mostly rushing four linemen. That gave the Bills quarterback, who passed Jim Kelly with his 11th game of four touchdown passes, plenty of time to pick apart the Jaguars' beleaguered defense.
Khalil Shakir must have hands of glue, because he catches everything thrown his way.
Shakir caught all six of his targets for 72 yards and a score, all in that memorable first half. The third-year pro has now caught 27-straight regular season targets, one shy of the NFL record.
Here are some other offensive superlatives:
- The Bills have scored 112 points, the most in their first three games since 2011;
- Buffalo has scored 40 or more points for the 11th time in the Josh Allen era;
- The Bills scored 30 or more points for the 42nd time under Allen, or 39% of his starts;
- Six different Bills players already have a touchdown this season, the most of any team in the league;
- Allen has no interceptions through the first three games of the season. It's the first such stretch of games without an interception thrown by Allen in his career.
I can't completely ignore the Buffalo defense, which certainly did its job in that first half.
The Bills held the Jaguars offense to just 70 yards on 30 plays. Jacksonville was 2-for-8 on third down, and 0-for-1 in the red zone.
If there was a roof on Highmark Stadium, it would have been blown off by cheering fans when Damar Hamlin got his first NFL interception in the second quarter.
All-in-all, it was a fun night from start-to-finish, and it was a very important win.
The 3-0 Bills now face a difficult part of the schedule with three-straight road games against the Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans and New York Jets.
As for the Jets, they are now are the main threat in the division for the Bills.
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