25-20 Jacksonville Jaguars Travis Etienne of the Buffalo Bills rushed for 136 yards and two touchdowns.
As close as the score indicates. The Jacksonville Jaguars were boisterously – and deservedly – celebrating their second London win in a week at the end of a game that only truly heated up in a 27-point fourth quarter.
The Jaguars’ 25-20 win over the Buffalo Bills was engineered by quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who passed for 315 yards and one touchdown, and running back Travis Etienne, who rushed for 136 yards and two scores.
But the Bills’ sluggish performance was surely a contributing factor. In truth they still looked jetlagged having flown into London on Friday while Jacksonville showed the benefits of having been in situ for over a week having Last Sunday, they defeated Atlanta at Wembley.
As the Bills quarterback Josh Allen admitted: “We never felt like we got into a rhythm until late in the game.”
Beforehand, this appeared to be one of the better NFL games to be held in London since 2007 – a figure that currently stands at 35 games and counting. counting – given both teams expect to make the playoffs again this season. And in the Bills, who had outscored their opponents 123-33 in their previous three games, the 61,000 fans in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium were arguably watching the hottest team in the league.
Yet Buffalo rarely showed it and offered little after the Jaguars opened the scoring when Lawrence found Zay Jones with a six-yard pass – or when Brandon McManus stroked through a 44-yard field goal to make it 11-0.
At the end of the first quarter Allen, the early favourite for the league’s most valuable player award, had thrown for just 23 yards. It was only just before half-time that the Bills found some groove as Allen led them 86 yards down the field before hitting Stefon Diggs with a 15-yard pass.
That made it 11-7 and while the Jags were in control there was still all to play for at the end of a scoreless third quarter.
At the start of the fourth, the momentum appeared to have swung Buffalo’s way when a Lawrence fumble was picked up by Tyrel Dodson. Yet two Etienne touchdowns ensured Jacksonville were always ahead – even if an Allen touchdown pass to Gabe Davis and a late rushing score from the Bills quarterback at least made the score look respectable.
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