The Buffalo Bills fell to the Jacksonville Jaguars 25-20 on Sunday morning in London to move to 3-2 on the season.
With just over 20 seconds left in the game, Josh Allen and the Bills offense had the ball at their own 6-yard line, but couldn’t make the miraculous breakaway needed to score the go-ahead touchdown.
A tired defense struggled to keep quarterback Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars’ offense off the field, with Matt Milano (knee) and Daquan Jones (pectoral) both exiting the game with injuries in the first quarter. Defensive end Greg Rousseau (foot) and cornerback Christian Benford (slash) were ruled out before the game, and multiple other Bills backs missed some opportunities in the game due to injuries. The Bills lost five starters on defense after Milan was eliminated early due to Tre’Davious White tearing his Achilles tendon last week.
The absences of White and Benford were felt as Lawrence rushed for 315 yards through the air. The wide receiver caught seven passes for 122 yards and continued to make great passes to extend the distance.
The Jaguars used long drives to stop Josh Allen and the Bills offense. Jacksonville dominated the possession battle for 38:10, while the Bills led for 21:50.
The Bills defense still came up big despite missing key pieces of the defense. Defensive lineman AJ Epenesa stepped up throughout the game, finishing with 2.0 sacks, a tackle for loss, three passes defensed and a forced fumble and fumble recovery. The Jaguars offense had a scoring threat near the end of the first half before Epenesa got around the left tackle and tackled Lawrence, forcing the Bills’ first turnover of the game.
The Bills’ second gain came after a tiring 17-player stretch against Jacksonville, which was already in play before Ed Oliver sacked Lawrence and forced linebacker Terrell Dodson to recover. It’s over eight minutes. Buffalo finished with five sacks.
