Buffalo Bills (1-0) at Jacksonville Jaguars (0-1)
Sunday, September 14, 2008, 1:00 PM ET
All right Rumblers, it's time for a new feature that I will call "Opponent History". Each week I will look back at the last five times the Buffalo Bills played the current week's opponent. This week's opponent for the Bills are the Jacksonville Jaguars:
October 18, 2001: Bills 13, Jaguars 10
This was one of the few highlight games of the 2001 season that saw the Bills go 3-13 in Gregg Williams' first season as head coach (he's now the Jags' defensive coordinator). The immortal Jake Arians hits a 46 yard field goal with 1:03 left on the clock, giving the Bills their first win of the year and Williams' first as Bills head coach (and it was a road win, no less). The Jags finished 6-10 that year, good for fifth in the old AFC Central.
September 14, 2003: Bills 38, Jaguars 17
The game after the Bills beat up the Patriots 31-0, the Bills headed into Jacksonville and hung 38 on the Jags. Travis Henry runs for only 26 yards on 21 carries but gets 3 scores, and Drew Bledsoe throws for 314 yards, highlighted by a 54 yard pass play to Bobby Shaw, and a 37 yard score to Eric Moulds. Buffalo started the '03 season out 2-0, only to flop badly and finish the year 6-10. The Jags were 5-11.
September 12th, 2004: Jaguars 13, Bills 10
The '04 season opener sees the Bills drop a heartbreaker to the Jags on a 7 yard TD pass from Byron Leftwich to Ernest Wilford in the back of the end-zone as time expires. The Bills rebounded later that year behind break-out running back Willis McGahee to finish 9-7 and miss a playoff berth by the skin of their teeth (thank you, Willie Parker); the Jags finished 9-7 as well.
November 26th, 2006: Bills 27, Jaguars 24
The Jaguars racked up 207 yards rushing in this one, but the Bills - on the strength of a Roscoe Parrish 82-yard punt return for a TD and a Rian Lindell FG as time expired - pulled out the win. That may have been Parrish's finest game as a pro, as it was also his fancy footwork on a sideline throw by J.P. Losman that got the Bills into position for Lindell's game-winner.
November 25th, 2007: Jaguars 36, Bills 14
The Bills go into Jacksonville with playoff aspirations only to have Fred Taylor quickly squash them with a long 50 yard TD run just 5 minutes into the game. Taylor would finish with 104 yards on only 14 carries. Buffalo was in this game in the third quarter, trailing 22-14 on two nice scores (a screen pass by Anthony Thomas and a reverse by Parrish), but a long touchdown reception by Reggie Williams and a Maurice Jones-Drew score sealed Buffalo's fate late.
Bills' record, last five meetings: 3-2
Next meeting: Sunday, September 14, 2008 (Jacksonville is favored by 5.5)