Jaguars' Josh Allen leads spirited defensive effort to knock off Bills 9-6

The stadium was nearly a third filled with Buffalo Bills fans. The Jaguars were without their top running back, and their starting left tackle, Cam Robinson's lower back locked up during pregame warmups that kept him from playing.

It looked like a mismatch was forthcoming.

The Buffalo Bills were the top-scoring team in the NFL with a vaunted defense to match, and the Jaguars were coming off a woeful performance last week to Seattle, in which they lined up twice with 12 players on the field.

But something was different about the Jaguars Sunday. Their defensive front dominated in the trenches, and their secondary didn't get beat for big plays. And it led to the Jaguars' stunning 9-6 victory over Buffalo in front of 63,110 at TIAA Bank Field Sunday.

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When the clock struck zeros, Jaguars outside linebacker Josh Allen jumped around in joy. Cornerback Shaquill Griffin could be seen from a distance smiling and looking for a teammate to hug.

And Coach Urban Meyer pumped his fist as he took his first steps on the field to shake Bills coach Sean McDermott's hand.

''Oh my gosh, the defense, man, I tell you,'' Jaguars' Josh Allen said. ''When we fly around, when we don't hurt ourselves. we'd be one of the best. To hold that team to zero touchdowns, that's tough to do."

The Bills came to Jacksonville with the highest-scoring offense in the NFL, at 32.7 points per game, and the top-scoring defense, at 15.6. The Bills were first among NFL teams with a plus-13 turnover differential. The Jaguars were 31st in turnover differential at minus-11.

However, the Jaguars defense might as well have been called doomsday against Buffalo. They hit Bills quarterback Josh Allen mercilessly, sacking him four times and hitting eight times altogether.

Jacksonville came into Sunday with just three takeaways after seven games. They forced three turnovers against the Bills, all coming in the second half.

''I was looking on their sideline and one thing I noticed is that I don't think they had the same energy as us,'' Griffin said. ''I feel like one team deserves to win is us. The one thing I kept preaching is look on the sidelines watch how they walk around like they don't care. I said they don't deserve this, lets show them why. Now, we got to continue this momentum.''

The Jaguars' Josh Allen played like he didn't like having to share his name with the Bills quarterback. But the Jaguars' Allen had a breakout performance. The Bills' Allen had a game he probably would like to forget.

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The Jaguars' Allen had a team-high eight tackles, an interception, two tackles for loss, a fumble recovery, and a pass breakup. Behind Allen's effort, the Jaguars limited to 301 total yards after coming in averaging 402.9.

Defensive tackle Taven Bryan hasn't lived up to expectation since his arrival as a first-round pick in 2018. But Bryan enjoyed first multiple sack game in his career Sunday. He had a good enough performance that he provided a dance celebration after one of his sacks.

''Our defensive line can go against any offensive line, any time of the week, stop any offense,'' the Jaguars' Josh Allen said. ''We have to capitalize, get better on Wednesday and go ahead with the mindset that we have to beat the Colts and get better and win the game."

Still, the Bills were threatening with a little more than a minute to go. The Jaguars were clinging to a three-point lead and the Bills had marched to the Jacksonville 48. On fourth-and-16, the Jaguars provided the clincher. They forced Buffalo's Allen to throw an incomplete pass intended for receiver Stefon Diggs.

On the play before fourth down, defensive end Dawuane Smoot got penetration to sack him for a 9-yard loss. Allen's longest pass completion went for 28 yards to Diggs midway in the fourth quarter. Allen had a low 62.7 quarterback rating from completing 31-of-47 passes for 264 yards. In last week's loss to the Seattle, the Jaguars' secondary was carved up for 195 yards on 20-of-24 completions by backup quarterback Geno Smith.

But from the moment the Bills offense trotted on the field, the Jaguars' defense came out swinging with penetration from the defensive front and big hits from their linebackers.

''All we ask is for the players to be the best version of themselves,'' Meyer said. ''If they are, then we are pretty good."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars' Josh Allen leads spirited defensive effort to knock off Bills 9-6