2023 Week 3: Jaguars 10, Bills 47
This was a game where a better team played a worse team, and the better team played to their potential instead of playing down to their competition. The Bills (3-0) blew out the Jaguars (0-3) by nearly 40 and it was that bad. The Bills have had a favorable schedule to start the season helping their playoff chances.
The Jaguars are very bad, they’ve anchored their franchise to a QB that hasn’t won his last 8 starts and I wouldn’t be surprised if HC Doug Pederson loses his job in the next couple of weeks. Pederson will just be one of the many dominoes to fall in the wake of the Trevor contract, this bad season isn’t on Pederson.
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QB Report:
- Josh Allen (23/30 for 263 yards, 4 TD, 44 rush yards) played a great game and I think this offense is great for Buffalo. Diggs leaving opened up the offense (as many suspected) and they are now focusing on the run game over the passing game. They have a balanced and efficient offense at this point in time, but it’s easier to do that against weaker opponents. Allen will need to go back to slinging it soon… was this game proof that he’s ready to get back to that or was he just taking advantage of the Jaguars defense?
- I think my best prediction to date is that Trevor Lawrence (21/38 for 178 yards, 1TD/1INT) would be a bust in the NFL. Looking at some of his career stats, the ‘best prospect since Andrew Luck’ is 20-33 as a starter, with a 64/45 TD:INT ratio, and tied Matt Stafford in 2021 for most interceptions thrown that season.
- As we’ve seen this week from many different sources Trevor is (0-8) in his last 8 starts.
RB Report:
- James Cook (11-39-1, 4 catches for 48-0/5) is the center of this offense. The Bills want to run the ball but Jacksonville is so weak against the pass (injuries and just being bad) that Cook didn’t need to carry this team to victory. Kudos to the OC for not forcing something that isn’t working, like so many teams do.
- This game was so out-of-hand for Jacksonville so quickly that Travis Etienne (11-68-0, 4 catches for 17-0/6) barely touched the ball as they tried to play keep-up.
WR/TE Report:
- Christian Kirk (8-79-0/10) finally put together a good game… a lot of this was due to the Jags being down so quickly. Trevor found the easy pitch-and-catch to the receiver he has the most experience with.
- Rookie Brian Thomas (5-48-0/9) had his most targeted game. Thomas is a good receiver that has a lot of potential and could find himself in the great, pushing top-10 receiver in the league level, but Trevor is going to hold him back both in his development and opportunities.
- Keon Coleman (1-24-1/1) is just another WR on this team, no breakout here yet. He caught his first career touchdown on his only target.
- Khalil Shakir (6-72-1/6) is Josh Allen’s guy, but as good QBs tend to do, he is spreading the ball around to all of the options and not keying in on any one player.
- Dalton Kincaid (3-41-1/5) should be one of the best tight ends in the league and hopefully this is the start of that happening. I don’t know why Buffalo doesn't throw to him more, he’s a mismatch against every team.
D/ST Notes:
- In both Week 1 and Week 2 I have talked about how good Christian Benford (4 tackles, 1 PD) has looked for the Bills this season. He is developing into one of the best cover corners in the league.
image source: (AP Photo/Steven Senne)