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Week 5: Bills vs. Jaguars
 at 
Sunday, Oct. 10th
1:00pm ET
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Another whirlwind week for the Bills as they have traded Marshawn Lynch and welcome Trent Edwards back to Buffalo for a week. He will be the number two quarterback for Jacksonville and could play if something was to happen to David Garrard. There was a thought he may start for the ineffective Garrard but those thoughts were squashed by the Jags upset win over the Colts last week. The Bills know the Jaguars almost as well as they know their division opponents. The two teams play for the fifth straight year and have split the last four games, the last three were played in Jacksonville.
FACTS AND FIGURES
| Matchup: |
Buffalo (0-4) vs. Jacksonville (2-2) |
| Place: |
Ralph Wilson Stadium |
| TV/Radio: |
Network: CBS; DirecTV: 705; Sirius: 90 |
| Announcers: |
Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker |
| Spread: |
Even |
| Series: |
Bills lead 5-4 (Bills 0-1 in playoffs) |
| Streak: |
Jaguars Won 1 |
| Last Meeting: |
Jaguars 18-15 in Jacksonville (2009) |
| Jaguars Offense: |
Rush (12th); Pass (26th); overall (24th) |
| Jaguars Defense: |
Rush (t-12th); Pass (30th); overall (30th) |
| Bills Offense: |
Rush (16th); Pass (32nd); overall (32nd) |
| Bills Defense: |
Rush (32nd); Pass (12th); overall (27th) |
INJURY UPDATE
The Bills will be without Terrence McGee who had surgery on a pinched nerve in his leg last week. Arthur Moats is also out with an elbow injury and Ashton Youboty will also miss the game with a hamstring injury. Keith Ellison and Bryan Scott have missed practice time with knee injuries and may not be available as well. Marcus Stroud will return from an ankle injury and Andra Davis will play through a torn labrum.
The Jaguars best player is slowed by injury. Maurice Jones-Drew continues to be slowed and miss practice time with an ankle injury but he'll play. G Justin Smiley, S Sean Considine (Hamstring), LB Justin Durant (Ankle), and RB Rashad Jennings have been limited in practice with nagging injuries but they will play.
Check out our  Bills Daily Injury Page throughout the week for the latest updates on the injured players.
KEY MATCHUPS
RB Fred Jackson vs. LB Kirk Morrison:
Jackson is back in his role as the starting running back and will be fired up to show the coaching staff that he should have been all along. Morrison is the leading tackler in the middle of the Jags 4-3 defense and will be the man trying to stop Jackson the most.
LB Paul Posluszny vs. RB Maurice Jones-Drew:
Jones-Drew must be licking his chops to run wild on the Bills defense. Posluszny needs to step up his game to play up to his reputation and high draft status. This would be a good game for him to assert his authority and be the man to shutdown Jones-Drew.
NT Kyle Williams vs. C Brad Meester:
The 11 year veteran Meester has started every game in his career with the Jaguars. Williams will need to disrupt the middle of the defense to have any chance of shutting down the running game. This will be a very tough battle.
DB Leodis McKelvin vs. WR Mike Thomas:
McKelvin will likely matchup against Thomas who leads the Jaguars in receiving. McKelvin seems to be coming into his own as a cover corner and needs a huge game considering the team only has three healthy corners.
WR Lee Evans vs. CB Rashean Mathis:
These two have had some good battles over the years. Evans dropped two balls last week and needs to make a big play or two this week if they are going to win. Ryan Fitzpatrick has no problem throwing the ball up for Evans to make a play, it's about time he makes it.
Bills Offense vs. QB Trent Edwards:
This is a battle that will take place off the field. Edwards knows the Bills inside and out and will be anxious to help the Jags defense anyway he can in giving them a leg up in knowing what the Bills are doing offensively. The Bills will need to mix it up with a lot of new stuff that Edwards doesn't know without confusing themselves.
GAME PLAN
When The Bills Have The Ball: The Bills should be more effective on the ground with just two backs in the rotation instead of three. Look for them to get Jackson going on the ground early and then attack a weak Jacksonville secondary with some shots deep down the field.
When The Jaguars Have The Ball: They watched what the Jets did on the ground and they will try to duplicate that with Jones-Drew who will just pound the Bills all game long. No reason for them to get fancy as they will just try to beat the Bills on the line of scrimmage.
BILLS DAILY PREDICTION
This is gut check time for the Bills. The Jags are 2-2 but they are the weakest opponent they have played so far giving the Bills a chance. They need to get mentally tough though and use last week's debacle to learn from. The wildcard here is what Edwards will be able to do to help the Jaguars shut down the Bills offense. What inside information will give the Jags a leg up? The Bills hopefully will change enough of the terminology to keep the Jags at bay. Some are saying the Bills will finish 0-16, they have to win at least a couple of games and this may be the first:
Bills 23, Jaguars 20
Season Prediction Record: (3-1)
Season Record Against The Spread: (2-2)
Bills Blitz - Coming Sunday Night Oct. 3rd!
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