Everyone in Bills country were worried that the team would letdown against Jacksonville after there dominating win last week. All they ended up doing was matching that effort as they handed Jacksonville the largest home loss in franchise history as the Bills went to 2-0 with a 38-17 victory over the Jaguars.
This game started off like the Patriots game did, the first two series went for touchdowns and a 14-0 lead that took the Jacksonville crowd out of the game. The opening possession only needed to go 49 yards as Sammy Morris took the kickoff past midfield. Seven plays later the Bills were in the end zone on the first of three Travis Henry touchdown runs. The drive was culminated by a beautiful 26 yard reaching catch by Mark Campbell as he was about to take a devastating hit.
The defense also started out the same way as they did last week, with a three and out. The offense then went on a 9 play, 68 yard drive to Henry's second touchdown, a 6 yard run. The big play of this drive was a 29 yard strike down the left sideline to Eric Moulds as Drew Bledsoe was on top of his game.
Despite three scores, Henry struggled against the tough front four of the Jaguars. They held him down all game except in goal line situations when it counted. They kept eight in the box so he wouldn't beat them, so Bledsoe did. While everyone in Western New York is watching the defense, Bledsoe was almost an afterthought. Today was a flashback to early last year when Bledsoe took control of games. He was dominating today and he was at his best after the Jaguars made this a game for a short while in the second quarter.
The Bills decided to go for the kill early in the second quarter on a 4th and 2 from their own 46, they faked a punt. Morris came under center, (after all he is the emergency QB!) waited what seemed like an eternity, and then took the snap rolled to his left and lost two yards. That breathed new life into the Jaguars and their fans and gave them a chance to get back into the game. Why would you fake a punt there? If you do decide to do it there, why take so long to get the play off? It just took the element of surprise away and made the Jaguars think the Bills didn't respect them.
The newly fired up Jacksonville squad marched down the field thanks to a 28 yard run by Fred Taylor to the two yard line. The Bills defense stiffened and forced a fourth and goal, Mark Brunell took it in himself to cut the lead in half. The Jaguars now had all the momentum and forced the Bills to a three and out of their own. They then started marching down the field again, looking to tie the game before halftime. Antoine Winfield, who made some nice tackles for the second straight game, took the game back for the Bills defense. His stop of Kyle Brady on a screen pass for a seven yard loss stopped the Jaguars drive in its tracks. They would then miss a 48 yard field goal keeping the score at 14-7 with less than two minutes to go in the half.
That was much more than the red hot Bledsoe would need. Knowing that the Jaguars had the momentum and the ball first in the second half, he knew the Bills needed a score and he didn't waste anytime getting it. Well, technically he wasted 16 seconds. The second play after the missed field goal he found former Jaguar Bobby Shaw wide open down the middle of the field for a 54 yard touchdown making the score 21-7, and the Bills would never look back.
The Jaguars cut the lead to 21-10 with a field goal early in the third. Bledsoe responded with another TD bomb. This one was to Eric Moulds, a 36 yarder that capped off a 10 play 78 yard drive to give the Bills a commanding 28-10 lead.
The game was essentially over at that point but the Bills offense wasn't done yet as they drove 99 yards in just 7 plays on their next possession to open up a 25 point lead. That drive had two big plays, a 42 yard pass interference penalty on a pass to Josh Reed and a 32 yard sideline pass to Moulds. Henry's third score of the day was a four yard run.
Rian Lindell would add a 27 yard field goal on a drive orchestrated by Joe Burns and Alex Van Pelt. Rookie phenom Bryon Leftwich drove the Jaguars on a 90 yard garbage time drive for the final score of the game.
The Bills were guarded against a letdown all week, and they certainly were more than just talk as they came out fired up. They have now outscored their first two opponents 69-17 and are the most dominating team in the league through two weeks. Of course, it's a long season and the team needs to remain focused to attain their long term goals. It is a heck of a start though, that makes all fans smile.
Here are our exclusive gameballs and goats from the Bills second blowout of the season. As was the case last week, there are many more gameballs then goats:
