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For the Buffalo Bills, Sunday’s contest against the Jacksonville Jaguars shaped up to be a feast-or-famine situation. It was a contest at home against a perceived inferior opponent, so a win was to be expected. A loss, especially with former Bills’ coach Mike Mularkey at the helm of the Jaguars, would have been disastrous as far as the team’s fan base was concerned. That loss was really a possibility, since the Jags have been steadily improving and were capable of winning for 2 reasons – new Jags’ QB Chad Henne was showing some positive results, and the Bills have shown that they can compete with most teams, but also were capable of losing to anybody.

The Bills, for one of the few times this season, met expectations and put together a solid all-around effort to beat Jacksonville, 34-18. The game was even more one-sided than the final score indicates, as a muffed punt by Justin Rogers gifted a late TD to the Jaguars. Rogers’ muff could be given a pass since he was returning punts in place of the injured Leodis McKelvin, but it was still a major mistake, and the third week in a row that special teams coach Bruce DeHaven’s units have coughed up 7 points. For the first time this season, and possibly only due to the weather conditions, Bills’ coach Chan Gailey featured the running game, which is the strength of the team. Fred Jackson rushed for 109 yards on 25 carries, and C.J. Spiller added 77 on 14 carries, including an electrifying 44 yard touchdown run. For most of this season, QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has been the focal point of Gailey’s offense, running a spread offense and mostly relying on Fitz’s arm. Fitzpatrick hasn’t exactly set the world on fire in that role, but on Sunday, playing a supportive role in which he completed only 9 passes, he still made a major contribution, throwing a pair of TD passes and running a QB sneak for another score. It was the type of attack most Bills’ followers envisioned for this season, and I suppose it’s better late than never. Still, the Bills stand at 5-7 for the year, and you have to wonder how many more wins the team could’ve had if they’d used a ball-control rushing attack approach earlier.

The Bills’ defense continued their ongoing improvement, holding the Jags to 50 yards rushing, 236 total yards and a 10% conversion rate on third down. They recorded 4 sacks, got an interception and forced 2 fumbles (although the Jaguars recovered one of them). The one word that comes to mind to describe the team’s defense now that didn’t fit early in the season is – “active”. There’s even a positive to be found in the one flaw the defense showed on Sunday, that being the numerous interference, illegal contact and defensive holding penalties. That positive is that at least now the Bills’ DBs are in close coverage on receivers on most plays, and not standing around in zones while receivers run wide open around them, which was the case earlier in the year. The Bills meet NFC West opponents at home the next 2 weeks, facing the St. Louis Rams next Sunday and traveling to their second “home” in Toronto to take on Seattle the following week. With Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Indianapolis all winning on Sunday, the slim hopes the team had for the playoffs are all but gone, but a .500 season is still within reach.