The Buffalo Bills need to win against the Miami Dolphins this week and receive some help in order to make the playoffs this season. One scenario involves the Jacksonville Jaguars winning against the Tennessee Titans in a battle of former Buffalo head coaches. The problem is that the Jaguars already have their playoff seeding sewn up, so some would assume that this is a perfect time to rest their starters. Not head coach Doug Marrone, however.
“Make no mistake about it so there’s not a lot of talk about it during the week: We’re going to play to win and we’re going to do everything possible to win this game, period,” Marrone said, according to Florida Times-Union. “I’m not even thinking about what happens beyond that. That’s the way we’re going to go about our business this week.”
Many around the league speculated that the Jaguars would rest players in advance of the playoffs, but with two old-school football minds in Marrone and Tom Coughlin, it appears that Jacksonville will try for the “W” even with no tangible benefit to their season at stake.
Mike Mularkey, head coach of the Tennessee Titans, is no stranger to regular season games against teams who have already qualified for the playoffs when his team needs a win to qualify. He was the head coach of the Bills on January 2, 2005, when the 9-6 Bills lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ backups by a score of 29-24, eliminating Buffalo from playoff contention.
Hopefully, Marrone and the Jags follow through and defeat the Titans on Sunday. while it’s not the only thing the Bills need to go right in order to make the playoffs, it’s certainly one of the things that could help to break the league’s longest playoff drought.