Bills-Jaguars: Who you got?

Bills-Jaguars: Who you got? Buffalo News writers make their predictions on Monday night game

The Buffalo Bills are 5-point favorites over the Jacksonville Jaguars for Monday night's game at Highmark Stadium – but the Jaguars have an underappreciated collection of talent, and they defeated Buffalo 25-20 last season in London. Our writers make their game predictions here.

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Ed Oliver sacks Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence last season in London. The Bills will play host to Jacksonville in Week 3 this season. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News

MARK GAUGHAN
The Jaguars’ season is on the brink, and they visit Houston next week. You’d think the Bills will be facing a desperate team ready to play its best game. On paper, this Jaguars offense should be way better than it has showed. Based on yo-yo-like NFL results (Raiders over Ravens, Vikings over Niners, Falcons over Eagles), the Jaguars are overdue. But the rested Bills should make amends for the egg-laying in London.
Bills, 27-24.

JAY SKURSKI
The Jaguars have largely underachieved since the midway point of 2023, closing last season with a 3-6 record and starting this year 0-2. That’s inexcusable given the talent on the roster. They have, however, given Bills quarterback Josh Allen trouble in his two most recent games against them. Allen surely knows that and would like to turn that record around. Doing so would give the Bills some breathing room heading into a three-game road trip.
Bills, 32-25.

RYAN O’HALLORAN
Both teams should play with a heightened level of desperation – the Jaguars to avoid an 0-3 start (all losses in the conference) that would toe-tag their season before October and the Bills to improve to 3-0 ahead of three consecutive road games. The Jaguars are without cornerback Tyson Campbell, and the Bills should open up their passing game to get Dalton Kincaid, Keon Coleman and Curtis Samuel (combined 12 catches in first two games) going.
Bills, 31-23.

KATHERINE FITZGERALD
A number of players on the Bills have described this matchup as simply “weird.” Defensive tackle Ed Oliver and left tackle Dion Dawkins both said there’s something about the “aura” of the Jaguars that has made for these “weird” games the past few years. On Monday, the Bills shake that weirdness and get the win. The Buffalo offense rolls, putting up 30-plus points for the third straight week. The defense gets the better of Trevor Lawrence and wins the takeaway battle.
Bills, 30-20.

 

[HipKat]

Underrated standouts​

LG David Edwards — Seeing a trend here? The offensive line is all over the top of the rankings against the Jaguars. Edwards has been a sneaky star for the Bills so far in his first year of starting. He’s a consistent pass blocker and has been terrific in combination blocks both in pass protection and run blocking. He worked extremely well with center Connor McGovern all game.

LB Dorian Williams — The first couple of starts had some negative moments, but Williams turned in his best game as a pro on Monday. He was active in run support, he showed off his athleticism in coverage, and most importantly, he was far less reactive to the Jaguars running play action than he had been in previous games. Williams seems to be making strides.

2024 Bills All-22 grades vs. Jaguars

Rank	Player	Pos.	Grade	Play Count	Snap %
1	Josh Allen	QB	A	56	87.50%
2	Khalil Shakir	WR	A-	35	54.69%
3	Spencer Brown	RT	A-	64	100.00%
4	Dion Dawkins	LT	A-	56	87.50%
5	Christian Benford	CB	A-	60	84.51%
6	Dalton Kincaid	TE	B+	34	53.13%
7	Damar Hamlin	FS	B+	71	100.00%
8	David Edwards	LG	B+	64	100.00%
9	Connor McGovern	C	B+	56	87.50%
10	Dorian Williams	LB	B+	42	59.15%
11	Greg Rousseau	DE	B+	41	57.75%
12	A.J. Epenesa	DE	B+	27	38.03%
13	Von Miller	DE	B+	26	36.62%
14	James Cook	RB	B+	32	50.00%
15	O’Cyrus Torrence	RG	B+	61	95.31%
16	Mack Hollins	WR	B+	46	71.88%
17	Ed Oliver	DT	B+	44	61.97%
18	Ty Johnson	RB	B+	18	28.13%
19	Keon Coleman	WR	B+	20	31.25%
20	Ja’Marcus Ingram	CB	B+	30	42.25%
21	Casey Toohill	DE	B	29	40.85%
22	Marquez Valdes-Scantling	WR	B	49	76.56%
23	Baylon Spector	LB	B	57	80.28%
24	Rasul Douglas	CB	B	57	80.28%
25	Alec Anderson	G/C	B	16	25.00%
26	Curtis Samuel	WR	B	17	26.56%
27	DaQuan Jones	DT	B-	31	43.66%
28	Dawuane Smoot	DE	B-	20	28.17%
29	Cam Lewis	NCB	B-	56	78.87%
30	Dawson Knox	TE	B-	33	51.56%
31	Taylor Rapp	SS	B-	57	80.28%
32	Austin Johnson	DT	C+	29	40.85%
33	DeWayne Carter	DT	C+	23	32.39%

Players with fewer than 15 snaps:

DE Javon Solomon (14), LB Joe Andreessen (14), LB Nicholas Morrow (14), CB Kaiir Elam (14), S Cole Bishop (14), RB Ray Davis (12), CB Brandon Codrington (11), TE Quintin Morris (9), QB Mitchell Trubisky (8), C Sedrick Van Pran-Granger (8), FB Reggie Gilliam (7), OT Tylan Grable (3)

 

[HipKat]

2024 Bills All-22 season grades, Week 3

Rank	Pos.	Player	GPA	2024 Snaps
1	QB	Josh Allen	3.83	159
2	CB	Christian Benford	3.59	197
3	DE	Greg Rousseau	3.56	141
4	RT	Spencer Brown	3.46	171
5	WR	Khalil Shakir	3.45	99
6	RB	James Cook	3.41	91
7	LT	Dion Dawkins	3.32	159
8	LG	David Edwards	3.24	171
9	WR	Mack Hollins	3.23	114
10	DE	Von Miller	3.22	84
11	DT	Ed Oliver	3.21	140
12	TE	Dalton Kincaid	3.17	105
13	DT	DaQuan Jones	3.12	111
14	CB	Ja’Marcus Ingram	3.1	64
15	C	Connor McGovern	2.99	159
16	WR	Keon Coleman	2.94	106
17	WR	Marquez Valdes-Scantling	2.89	66
18	CB	Rasul Douglas	2.89	188
19	DE	A.J. Epenesa	2.78	115
20	DE	Casey Toohill	2.77	63
21	TE	Dawson Knox	2.76	93
22	WR	Curtis Samuel	2.7	46
23	RG	O’Cyrus Torrence	2.7	164
24	LB	Dorian Williams	2.5	147
25	DT	DeWayne Carter	2.48	55
26	DT	Austin Johnson	2.43	79
27	LB	Terrel Bernard	2.39	75
28	S	Damar Hamlin	2.37	202
29	NCB	Cam Lewis	2.31	181
30	LB	Baylon Spector	2.31	119
31	S	Taylor Rapp	1.99	188

**Minimum 45 snaps

How the standards work

When the All-22 film becomes available, we’ll go through and watch every player on every play as many times as necessary to assess letter grades. It is a subjective analysis, and it’s important to note we do not know the play calls and full responsibilities. The grades stem from technique, effort and presumed liability.

The study accounts only for players who take a snap on offense or defense. Players with fewer than 15 snaps — unless they significantly impact the game — will not factor into weekly rankings. The grades range from an ‘A’ (a perfect 4.00 GPA) to ‘F’ (0.00 GPA). There is no such thing as an ‘A+’ on this grading system. Season-long grades will be tallied and documented, with a single game’s grade weighted based on how much the player was on the field in a given week.