The Jacksonville Jaguars entered Monday night in an 0-2 hole in desperate need of a win and a statement against the Buffalo Bills.
Instead, they delivered the low point of the Trevor Lawrence era in a 47-10 blowout loss under the primetime lights of “Monday Night Football.”
Josh Allen led the Bills on touchdown drives on each of their five first-half possessions. The Jaguars, meanwhile, were impotent on offense en route to three first-half points.
They finally found the end zone on the opening drive of the third quarter. By then, the game was over. There was no miracle comeback. The game and the end result was a microcosm of two teams — and two careers — going in opposite directions.
The Bills are off to arguably the strongest start in the NFL, sporting a 3-0 record with 31-plus points scored in each of their first three games. Josh Allen has further established himself as one of the game’s best quarterbacks in the process.
Allen made multiple big plays Monday with his arm and his feet, including extending a third-and-goal play under pressure before finding Dalton Kincaid in the back of the end zone for his second touchdown pass of the night.
He followed that up on Buffalo’s next drive with a 24-yard dart to Keon Coleman for the rookie receiver’s first NFL touchdown.
Allen finished the night completing 23 of 30 passes for 263 yards (8.3 yards per attempt) with four touchdowns and no turnovers. He added 44 yards on the ground six carries. He did most of his damage in the first half.
The Jaguars, meanwhile, are a team in peril. Early last season, they appeared to have put things together in an 8-3 start that put the No. 1 seed in the AFC in reach. They proceeded to lose five of their last six games for a 9-8 finish in a collapse that left them out of the playoffs.
Things have only gotten worse in 2024. Jacksonville blew a 10-point lead in a Week 1 loss to the Miami Dolphins then lost in Week 2 to the now 1-2 Cleveland Browns. And now there’s Monday night’s disaster.
After going three-and-out on their first drive and allowing the Bills to take a 13-0 lead, the Jaguars were already in desperation mode on their second possession. They went for it on fourth-and-1 on their own 39 yard line. They converted and eventually netted a field goal to cut Buffalo’s lead to 10.
After another Bills touchdown, the Jaguars went for it again on fourth-and-1 inside their own 40 on their next possession. They converted again, but this drive did not end with points. Instead it ended with an interception on a poorly thrown ball by Lawrence on first down. Lawrence overthrew rookie receiver Brian Thomas Jr. on a deep ball and instead found Bills safety Damar Hamlin.
The next Jaguars possession ended with a punt after three yards. They ended their final possession of the half on downs as the Bills went into halftime with a 34-3 lead.
Allen’s four first-half touchdowns were the most on “Monday Night Football” since Ben Roethlisberger in 2007. Lawrence countered with 59 first-half yards and an interception.
The second half was a formality. Lawrence led a 70-yard touchdown drive to cut Buffalo’s lead to 34-10. but that was as close as Jacksonville would get as the Bills scored the last 13 points of the game.
Lawrence finished the night completing 21 of 38 passes for 178 yards (4.7 yards per attempt) with one touchdown and one interception. He was sacked four times for a loss of 36 yards.
This is not how things were supposed to go when the Jaguars drafted Lawrence as a can’t-miss prospect with the No. 1 pick of the 2021 draft. Lawrence has made a single Pro Bowl since that draft, but has largely failed to deliver otherwise. On Monday Lawrence was outmatched and outplayed by a quarterback in Allen who’s on a career trajectory that was expected of him.
This is also not supposed to be a Jaguars team in transition. Take it from owner Shad Khan, who laid out his expectations in no uncertain terms before Jacksonville’s season opener.
“Make no mistake: this is the best team assembled by the Jacksonville Jaguars ever,” Khan said as part of an in-house documentary. “Best players. Best coaches. But most importantly, let’s prove it by winning now.”
Three weeks into the season, there’s no winning in Jacksonville. Things won’t get any easier in a Week 4 matchup against CJ Stroud and the Houston Texans.
