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Jaguars 36, Bills 14: Fred Taylor Is Legend

By kruise on | From footballnews-247.com

Filed under: Bills, Jaguars, AFC East, AFC South, Buffalo

Click here for final game stats from AOL Sports.

Fred Taylor is not done with you people.

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ veteran running back rushed for 104 yards on 14 carries, including a 50-yard touchdown scamper in the first quarter, to lead the Jacksonville Jaguars to a 36-14 victory over the Buffalo Bills.

Taylor, who needs only 443 yards to reach 6 rushing miles in his career, picked up the slack for Maurice Jones-Drew, who was at one point had minus-17 yards rushing. This was a direct result of the Jaguars’ offense running a sweep to the left, which the Bills’ defense sniffed out every single time. Why they kept running that play was a complete mystery to me — until Jags quarterback David Garrard ran play-action on that sweep and threw a pass the other way to convert a 3rd down.

Seven yardage-losing plays to set up one 3rd down? It was just crazy enough to work today.

Of course, it worked because Garrard continued to be a highly effective passer — as opposed to J.P. Losman, who was forced into three turnovers by the Jacksonville defense.

Garrard completing 23 of 37 passes for 296 yards and a game-sealing touchdown to Reggie Williams in the fourth quarter. Jack Del Rio is getting even more comfortable with letting Garrard throw, in no small part because he remains the only starting quarterback who hasn’t thrown an interception all season.

Losman, meanwhile, threw two interceptions and fumbled the ball away on a quarterback sneak. At times, however, Losman looked quite capable of leading the Bills’ offense, and he still had a chance to deliver late in the game, as the Jags held on to a 22-14 lead in the 4th quarter after a fifth field goal from Josh Scobee with 14:10 left in the half.

Alas, with 7:50 left, rookie linebacker Justin Durant ended a Bills’ drive with an interception, Losman’s second pick of the day. The Bills had one more chance after that, but couldn’t make anything of it, and Garrard’s late TD to Reggie Williams may have ended Buffalo’s hopes of sneaking back into the Wild Card race. Maurice Jones-Drew scored one more TD in garbage time to wrap it up.

The Jaguars are now 8-3, one game behind the banged-up Indianapolis Colts. They square off against the Colts next week for one last shot at the AFC South title. Either way, though, the Jags probably need only two or three more wins in their last five to secure a playoff berth. The Bills, meanwhile, fall to 5-6, and Losman’s three turnovers will have everyone asking whether Trent Edwards will start next week.

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