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Week 15: Bills vs. Jaguars
 at 
Sunday, Dec. 15th
1:00pm ET
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The Bills head to the Sunshine State for a second consecutive week hoping for a much better outcome than they had last week. The Bills were awful in a loss to Tampa Bay and now look to bounce back against the surging Jaguars who are on a three game winning streak to give them four wins on the season.
FACTS AND FIGURES
| Matchup: |
Buffalo (4-9) vs. Jacksonville (4-9) |
| Place: |
EverBank Field |
| TV/Radio: |
Network: CBS; DirecTV: 710; Sirius: 136 |
| Announcers: |
Andrew Catalon and Rich Gannon |
| Spread: |
Bills by 2 |
| Series: |
Bills lead 6-5 (Bills 0-1 in playoffs) |
| Streak: |
Bills Won 1 |
| Last Meeting: |
Bills 34-18 in Buffalo (2012) |
| Jaguars Offense: |
Rush (32nd); Pass (25th); overall (32nd) |
| Jaguars Defense: |
Rush (27th); Pass (26th); overall (29th) |
| Bills Offense: |
Rush (5th); Pass (28th); overall (23rd) |
| Bills Defense: |
Rush (26th); Pass (6th); overall (15th) |
INJURY UPDATE
The Bills remain almost completely healthy. Brandon Smith hurt his ankle in practice on Wednesday but he is usually inactive anyway. Kiko Alonso was limited early in the week with a slight knee issue but will play. Johnathan Meeks is even back as he was activated off of the IR designated to return list.
The Jaguars are expecting to have Maurice Jones-Drew for the game. He suffered a hamstring strain in last week's game. Since it was a Thursday game he has extra time to rest it up. He is missing practice time as expected this week. They are hoping to get S Josh Evans back from a shoulder injury and fellow safety Chris Prosinski back from a concussion. They both are limited in practice this week. RB Justin Forsett and WR Stephen Burton have been placed on injured reserve this week. WR Cecil Shorts III and DT Roy Miller missed practice time this week as well.
Check out our  Bills Daily Injury Page throughout the week for the latest updates on the injured players.
KEY MATCHUPS
RB C.J. Spiller vs. LB Paul Posluszny:
Spiller needs to be the primary back he was last year and needs to explode against a weak Jaguars defense. Posluszny is the Jags leading tackler and will look for a big day against his former team.
WR Stevie Johnson vs. CB Alan Ball:
Johnson really needs a big game as he seems to have lost some of his confidence the last two weeks. A big play early will go a long way towards rebuilding that confidence. If that happens he could be in line for a big day.
DB Stephon Gilmore vs. WR Cecil Shorts:
Gilmore may be finding his game again as he is coming off his best game of the season last week in Tampa Bay. He should see a lot of Shorts as long as he's healthy enough to play.
LB Kiko Alonso vs. RB Maurice Jones-Drew:
Alonso has struggled a little bit lately as he may have hit a bit of the rookie wall. He will need to turn up the heat a bit to slow down the aging and banged up but still dangerous Jones-Drew.
KEYS TO THE GAME
1. Don't Give Up Big Plays: The defense has had too many lapses which has led to many big plays against them. They cannot afford to give up any this week or else doubt will creep in once again.
2. Make Plays Early: Conversely on offense they need to get off to a quick start by making plays and scoring points early to try to put the last two terrible weeks behind them.
3. Get Running Game Going: With the exception of the Atlanta game, the ground game has been grounded for the last month or two. They need to run early, often, and effectively to take the pressure off of Manuel and not allow the Jags to tee off on him.
BILLS DAILY PREDICTION
The Bills need to learn to win on the road, something they haven't done with EJ Manuel under center. Could this be the first win? It is hard to think they can beat anyone the way they played last week but I think they will play much better this week and somehow pull out a road win against a similarly weak opponent:
Bills 16, Jaguars 13
Season Prediction Record: (8-5)
Season Record Against The Spread: (7-6)
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