Plays That Defined 2021: Buffalo Bills at Jacksonville Jaguars

Welcome to Plays That Defined 2021! This ain’t your usual game recap. Here’s what to do. Pretend you’ve just written a novel and it’s time to select the cover art. You want a single picture that tells the reader what it’s all about, right? That’s the deal here. Vote for the play that best tells the “story” of this game. Which GIF is the best “cover art” for...

Week 9: Buffalo Bills at Jacksonville Jaguars

Ethically, I couldn’t skip a game. But trust me when I say I was tempted to. Alright. We’re all here. Let’s get this over with.

Tre’Davious White’s roughness flag (Q1, 13:06)

The Buffalo Bills had 12 accepted penalties for 118 yards. More than either team had on the ground. And only 33 yards less than the Jaguars had passing. For the math lovers, Buffalo penalties accounted for over a third of the Jags’ total yards. Overall it’s hard to fault the defense for the loss, but this penalty is the best one to represent how the penalty day went. If you need a reminder, here you go. The Bills were sloppy. The refs were sloppy. Blech.

Josh Allen sack of Josh Allen (Q2, 0:28)

We’d already seen an aggressive Bills team try to put points up in limited time before the half, and Buffalo looked to be trying again. Josh Allen was taken down by Josh Allen for ten yards, killing the drive. Allen was sacked four times for 35 yards. That’s 15% of his season total in a single game.

Micah Hyde’s defended pass (Q4, 8:34)

We should have at least one positive play, and of course it’ll go to the defense. The defense allowed only two conversions on third down on 13 attempts. Now they did allow two fourth-down conversions, but when you allow nine points you should come away with a win. Micah Hyde did his part here, stopping a drive to ensure Jacksonville couldn’t extend their lead.

Josh Allen’s fumble (Q4, 5:41)

Josh Allen uncharacteristically gave up the ball three times. Two of those were to Josh Allen. The Bills had crossed midfield and were pretty much already in Tyler Bass’s field goal range when this happened.

Incomplete to Diggs (Q4, 1:11)

Usually if you said that a Josh Allen-led Bills offense had three minutes left in the game, down by three you’d feel pretty confident that the outcome would at minimum be decided in overtime. Truthfully, how many of us would feel pretty sure of a win? What better way to capture the off-kilter game than with the last attempt to make something happen. It went the same way as all the other attempts. Do yourself a favor and avoid a deep dive into Allen’s passing stats.

Alright, let’s vote I guess. Whatever.