46 Sports
Ponte Vedra Recorder · October 29, 2015
Hurns’TD catch gives Jags second win of season
Jacksonville
scores first victory
at Wembley
Stadium, 34-31
Mike Bonts
Special to the Recorder
After losing a big lead over Buffalo,
Jaguars QB Blake Bortles threw a touchdown pass to Allen Hurns and sealed a
34-31 win over the Bills before a crowd
of 84,021 on Sunday at London’s historic Wembley Stadium.
“We have been in this situation before but on the sidelines the players
were saying: ‘We’re not going to give
this one up.’ Our players will take this
and grow from it,” said Jaguars head
coach Gus Bradley.
Despite a 2-5 record the Jaguars are
very much alive in the playoff hunt
since they play in the weakest division
in the NFL, the AFC South. Where no
team has more than three wins. There
has also been talk of possible realignment after the season due to the division’s woe performance as a whole. The
Jaguars are a game out of first place.
As far as Bradley being on the hot
seat after going 9-30 so far in his head
coaching career, the NFL Network’s
Ian Rapoport reported before Sunday’s
game that “Bradley is considered safe
this year and next year. Team understands patience.”
The win in England will only extend
that patience.
Trailing 3-0 early, the Jaguars scored
27 unanswered points. Bortles was 13
of 29 for 182 yards with touchdowns to
Tony Washington and Hurns. One interception by Corey Graham, resulting in
a 44-yard TD. Rookie running back T.J.
Yeldon rushed for 115 yards on 20 carries and one TD.
“To be able to stay calm and to have
a big lead and give it up and be able to
come back and score to win the game
is huge,” Bortles said. “I think it speaks
to the personality of this team.”
The 65 points combined was the
second-highest in the series. According to Elias Sports Bureau, this was just
the third NFL game in the last 10 years
where both teams scored a go-ahead
touchdown of 30 yards or longer in the
last six minutes of the fourth quarter
LONDON NOTES – Jaguars’ kicker Jason Myers missed another extra
point... Buffalo continues to be the
most penalized team in the league, at
72 times for 670 yards. Worse in both
categories... The Jaguars won their first
game in London after losing the last two
visits ... Bills’ head coach Rex Ryan men-
Photos by Rick Wilson/Jacksonville Jaguars
Allen Hurns caught a 31-yard game winning touchdown pass from QB Blake Bortles against Buffalo with 2:16 remaining.
Telvin Smith on his way to a touchdown for Jacksonville after intercepting Buffalo QB E.J. M anuel.
The Jaguars beat the Bills 34-31 their first win at Wembley Stadium and second of the season.
tioned “unacceptable” communication
issues in which silence and static were
all that could be heard in the team’s
headsets... Coming into this game there
had been 141 rushing touchdowns in
the first six weeks of the NFL season.
The Jaguars had not scored a one until
Yeldon’s run.
TIMELY TAKEAWAYS – Jacksonville had no defensive scores this season – then recorded two within seven
seconds Sunday. Coming into the game
they had three takeaways so far. They
matched that number on Buffalo’s first
three possessions of the second quarter. Two for TDs in a seven second
span. Chris Clemons returned a fumble
six yards for a score. Linebacker Telvin Smith’s interception was returned
26-yards for a TD. Middle linebacker
Paul Posluszny’s interception led to TJ
Yeldon’s touchdown run. Josh Evans recovered a LeSean McCoy fumble caused
by safety Johnathan Cyprien in the final
quarter.
EJ MANUEL FALTERS - The former FSU quarterback committed three
turnovers in a span of 1:41 against the
Jaguars. Manuel is now 6-10 as a starter since Buffalo picked him in the first
round of the 2013 draft. He started 10
games as a rookie. He beat out Tyrod
Taylor over the summer, but started the
last two games in place of an injured
Taylor. Manuel was 24 for 42 for 298
yards, two TDs, two interceptions and
the lost fumble.
DISMAL DIVISION – Indianapolis,
Houston and Tennessee all lost Sunday.
Only Jacksonville’s victory over Buffalo
kept the AFC South from a winless Sunday. In NFL history only two team have
won a division with a sub-.500 record—
Carolina (7-8-1) last season and Seattle
(7-9) in 2012. The Colts are alone atop
the South at 3-4, their only three wins
coming within the division. Houston
and Jacksonville each have two wins so
far. Tennessee has one. In Indy there
are rumors of head coach Chuck Pagano’s internal rift with general manager
Ryan Grigson. All good news for the
Jaguars if they can take care of business
moving forward
UP NEXT – Bye week is here. Then
road games against the New York Jets
and Baltimore Ravens. Next home game
at EverBank Field is a Thursday NFL
Network matchup on Nov. 19 at 8:30
p.m. against AFLC South Rival Tennessee.