ORCHARD PARK — When it comes to determining a nemesis for the Buffalo Bills, the teams roll off the tongue.
Kansas City Chiefs. Miami Dolphins. New England Patriots. New York Jets.
But the Bills have gone 32-19 against those teams under coach Sean McDermott since 2019. The one team that always seems to give Buffalo grief, though? The Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Bills are 1-3 against the Jaguars under McDermott, but Jacksonville has been a thorn to Buffalo dating back to their first ever meeting, a 30-27 1996 wild-card loss in Jim Kelly’s final game and a 20-14 loss in Marv Levy’s final home game as coach the following year.
The teams have played 19 times since Jacksonville entered the NFL in 1995, with 14 of those games decided by one score and the Jaguars going 10-9. And under McDermott, the Bills have had some dreadful performances.
There was the 10-3 playoff loss in 2017, the 9-6 loss in 2021 and the 25-20 London debacle last season. All three of those losses also happened to come a week after the Bills beat the Dolphins.
Jacksonville had three different head coaches in those losses and many of the players have moved on and some have switched sides, but current Bills players are cognizant of the team’s recent history against the Jaguars entering Monday’s game.
“We’re obviously aware of the past and the last time we played them,” Bills safety Taylor Rapp told the Gazette. “… You can play a winless team, but you’ve got to bring it every Sunday, every Monday, whatever is the case. And so just being able to respect every single opponent, not to not get too high during the week, not get too low during the week, and really just treat every week with the same, consistent approach.”
The series has provided some memorable moments, from running back Natrone Means rushing for 175 yards in the 1996 playoff stunner — the last playoff game at Highmark Stadium until 2020 — to Eric Moulds fumbling twice in the red zone, Jimmy Smith jumping over the back of Nate Clements for a 45-yard gain on fourth and 14 to set up an Ernest Wilford touchdown grab as time expired to give Jacksonville a 13-10 win in the 2004 season opener.
There was also the Doug Flutie bootleg touchdown run with 18 seconds left to beat the Jaguars 17-16 in 1998, sparking the “Flutie Magic” run. And then in 2018, after then-cornerback Jalen Ramsey called Buffalo’s selection of Josh Allen “trash” prior to the season and a scuffle between Shaq Lawson and Leonard Fournette all led to Allen throwing for 160 yards and a touchdown, while running for 99 and a score in a 24-21 win.
But the last two contests have been lackluster by the Bills. Neither team scored a touchdown in 2021 and the Bills held Jacksonville to 218 yards of total offense, but Allen went 31 of 47 for 264 yards and committed three turnovers.
It is one of just two games the Bills and Allen haven’t scored a touchdown since 2020. It’s also only one of two games the Bills have been held under 10 points in a game Allen has started and finished since entering the league, with the other being a 22-0 shutout by the Green Bay Packers in his third career start in 2018.
That Jaguars team was 1-6 at the time and were six games from firing Urban Meyer 13 games into his run as head coach due to player mistreatment and ultimately finished the season an NFL-worst 3-14. And then last season, a jet-lagged Bills team muddled through the first half against a Jaguars team that had already been in London for a week and then compounded the loss by losing linebacker Matt Milano and defensive tackle DaQuan Jones to long-term injuries.
“I don’t know what it is, man. It’s just weird,” Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver said. “And I speak life into it so this game won’t be weird. But the past two times have been weird. We started slow and just very weird games. … Like, come on. We’re playing an NFL game that’s 9-6. I remember Josh (Hines-Allen) catching a pick on Josh Allen. … I remember that vividly. It’s just weird.”
It was clear McDermott hadn’t forgotten those games either. There was a seriousness on his face during his Wednesday press conference after cracking a few jokes during the first two weeks of the season.
There would normally be calmness after a 2-0 Bills team that has scored more than 30 points in back-to-back weeks faced an 0-2 team that hasn’t cracked 20 points in the first two weeks. But it’s the Jaguars.
The 2021 No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence is averaging 191 yards per game on 51% completions, going 14 of 30 in an 18-13 loss to the Cleveland Browns last week. But the Jaguars have been able to move the ball, averaging 318 yards of total offense and their defense is allowing just 19 points per game.
But a year ago, the Jaguars were 2-2 and racked up 474 yards of total offense and 196 on the ground, both of which were season-bests for Jacksonville and season-worsts for Buffalo. Lawrence, meanwhile, threw for 315 yards, which was just one of two 300-yards games for him last season and one of two allowed by the Bills.
Slow starts were a problem in both of the last two losses to Jacksonville, with the Jaguars accumulating 52.6% of their yards and the Bills posting 60.7% of their yards in the second half. Jacksonville also out-gained Buffalo 275-101, running a total of 67 times, while the Bills had just 14 rushing attempts apiece.
“They’re a good team and we respect every team that we play,” McDermott said. “And I think that’s where it starts and that’s where it ends. We have a lot of respect for the Jaguars.”