Jacksonville Jaguars fight off the Buffalo Bills 10-3, advance to Divisional Round

The Jacksonville Jaguars knock out the Buffalo Bills in a slugfest, to advance in NFL playoffs.

It wasn’t easy, and it certainly wasn’t pretty on Sunday. But the Jacksonville Jaguars grind out a win in the wild card round in front of the home crowd, 10-3.

The game was sloppy all the way through, and came down to the final minute. After the teams traded first half field goals to hit halftime tied at 3, the Jaguars put together the game’s lone touchdown on a 15 play, 86 yard drive in the third quarter. The touchdown was the difference maker as the defense clamped down to seal the postseason win.

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The offense was a mess, and aside from the touchdown drive, couldn’t get anything going. Blake Bortles had an awful afternoon throwing the football. Bortles went just 12/23 for 87 yards. The passing game was nonexistent, and it was actually Bortles’ legs that made the big plays on offense. Bortles was the overall leading rusher in the game with 88 yards running, racking up more rushing yards than passing yards.

When it wasn’t Bortles picking up yards with his legs, nothing else was working. Leonard Fournette finished with just 57 yards on 21 carries. The team had only 230 total yards, and will need a much crisper offensive effort next Sunday if the they are going to move on even further.

The story of the win was the defense. The Jaguars defense had an absolute gem of a performance against the Bills. Even with given not much support from the offensive side, the Jacksonville defense held Buffalo to only three points, and carried the team to the wild card win. The Jaguars put pressure on Tyrod Taylor all game, and collected two sacks and six tackles for loss. Jacksonville also had two interceptions, with no play bigger than the final pick. With under a minute to go in the ballgame, Jalen Ramsey broke on a pass beautifully, and snagged a diving interception to clinch the win. The defense cannot be praised enough for the effort against the Bills, as it was as dominating a playoff performance as you will see.

The win was ugly, no one is going to dispute that. And clearly there is work that needs fixing with Bortles and the offense. But in the end, it was a win, and that is all that matters in the postseason. The Jaguars will head to Pittsburgh in the divisional round for a rematch of the week five win over the Steelers.

It’s survive and advance football, and the Jacksonville Jaguars did just that in the wild card round against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.