The Buffalo Bills opened their regular season at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars, many analysts favorite to be this year's Carolina Panthers. The Jags showed exactly why.
On their last drive of the game, Jacksonville pulled off two 4th-down conversions, which set up the heart breaker. With four seconds remaining and the Bills ahead 10-6, the Jaguars were faced with 4th-and-goal. After taking the snap, QB Byron Leftwitch wheeled back two steps and lobbed a pass off his back foot toward rookie WR Earnest Wilford and three Bills defenders. Wilford out-jumped everyone and kept his hands on the ball, giving Jacksonville the win.
The faces on Bills fans all read the same. "How did that happen?"
Although Bills fans are accustomed to heartbreak given their rough history, nothing could have prepared them for this one.
Buffalo controlled the ball and held the Jaguars offense in check for nearly the entire game. The Bills possessed the ball for almost 34 minutes compared to just 26 for the Jags, and held up against RB Fred Taylor and the running attack. That didn't matter though, because Jacksonville had last ups and hit the walk-off homer.
First came denial, then anger, then coping, and finally acceptance. But I didn't have to like it. After anguishing with the cold reality of that ending, I recalled my prediction at half-time.
"This is one of those games that comes down to whoever has the ball last." I said. I got a couple of pounds on the arm after the game for that one. They hurt. After crying like a little girl and sitting alone for a while, I tried to figure out what went wrong.
Immediately, I went to turnovers, the un-doers of all. Moulds fumbled the ball near the 10-yard line of the Jaguars, which robbed the Bills of at least a "gimme" field goal and possibly a touchdown. But then I remembered that the turnovers were even. Buffalo scored all 10 of their points off of turnovers including a pick of Leftwitch by FS Izell Reese, which set the Bills up with a 1st-and-goal from the three-yard line.
Aha! That's it! They had to settle for a field goal after a solid goal-line stand, led by Jacksonville's superb interior defensive linemen. That was just plain great defense, though. I still have no scapegoat. What can you do when a defensive line manhandles a team's offensive line?
Aaaahaaaa! Back to the good old, trusty offensive line excuse. Looking back through the game though, the offensive line didn't look that bad. Drew Bledsoe was only sacked once on a play that had no chance from the word go, and occasionally, they pushed the line of scrimmage in the run game.
The run game was never very scary and didn't threaten the Jags much all day. It was no secret that Buffalo wanted to run and Travis Henry often faced eight men in the box. Jacksonville held Buffalo to a paltry 2.6 yards per carry. That has to be part of it. Still, Buffalo significantly improved their ability to hold on to the ball, converting 7-of-14 third downs. They rushed the ball 36 times but never really opened up the passing game.
So was that it?
