NFL Week 5 Game Recap: Jacksonville Jaguars 25, Buffalo Bills 20

The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Buffalo Bills 25-20 to move to 3-2 on the year, dropping the Bills to 3-2, as well.

The Jaguars led 11-0 at the end of the first quarter, with quarterback Trevor Lawrence slicing up the Bills' defense on both scoring drives, including finding wide receiver Zay Jones in the back of the end zone for the game’s opening score.

For much of the second quarter, the Bills' offense continued to struggle to get going. But the unit came alive on their final drive of the first half, with quarterback Josh Allen finding wide receiver Stefon Diggs in the end zone to make it 11-7 at the half.

There was no scoring in the third quarter, with the Bills struggling to move the ball and the Jaguars failing to turn long drives into points. They found the end zone in the fourth quarter, though, extending their lead to 18-7 on a six-yard touchdown run by Travis Etienne.

Buffalo got back to within five on a touchdown throw from Allen to Gabe Davis, but Jacksonville went right back down the field and scored on another Etienne touchdown run to go up 25-13.

That should have been that, but Allen and the Bills drove right back down the field to score again. They failed to recover the ensuing onside kick and eventually fell, however.

Offensive spotlight: While the Bills' offense was slow and sluggish early on, it was the familiar connection of Allen to Diggs that provided a spark. Diggs finished the game with 109 yards on seven receptions from 10 targets. That included a touchdown pass in the first half where he beat press coverage from Jaguars cornerback Tyson Campbell to get open in the end zone.

The Jaguars moved the ball pretty easily early on. Lawrence finished the game 25-of-37 for 315 yards and a touchdown. The issue for them was turning the ball over on sacks, fumbling twice when they were in scoring territory.

Lawrence showed the magic that made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft early in the fourth quarter, forcing A.J. Epenesa, who had jumped early on the play, to miss the sack before scrambling and finding Travis Etienne for the first down. Etienne had a huge game himself, rushing for 136 yards and a pair of touchdowns and adding 48 yards as a receiver.

Defensive spotlight: Bills star linebacker Matt Milano was carted off the field. He has developed into one of the best linebackers in football over the past two seasons. Heading into Week 5, his 81.5 PFF coverage grade ranked third among linebackers to play at least 100 snaps in coverage.

A.J. Epenesa made multiple big plays for the Bills on defense, notching a pair of sacks, one of which forced a fumble with the Jaguars in scoring territory late in the first half, and a batted pass.

Jaguars cornerback Darious Williams has been one of the best cornerbacks in football, if not the best, so far this season. He was ranked number one on PFF’s cornerback rankings heading into this week and once again had a big play. With the Bills looking to capitalize on a turnover by the Jaguars early in the fourth quarter, Williams battled with Stefon Diggs and was able to beat him to the ball at the catch point to give the ball straight back to the Jaguars.

Rookie spotlight: Jaguars first-round pick Anton Harrison looked much better in the past two weeks but struggled against the Bills, based on the first pass of PFF grading. Running back Tank Bigsby saw three carries for eight yards.

Bills’ first-round pick Dalton Kincaid had two catches for 19 yards from a pair of targets, while second-round pick O’Cyrus Torrence had some losses as a pass blocker but won some reps as a run blocker.

Box Score

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Receiving