Third-down defense hurting Buffalo Bills
by MATT KRUEGER Reporter

Bills receiver Roscoe Parrish scored a touchdown Sunday, but the Buffalo defense wasn't able to hold off the Jacksonville Jaguars' storm all day in a 36-14 loss. Photo by Patrick McPartland

We've seen it countless times this year and each white-knuckle, foul language-inducing occurrence is frustrating to no end.

The Bills defense makes big plays for stops at or behind the line of scrimmage on first and second down. Then a big pass play or run to the side picks up the first down, giving the opponents more time and keeping Buffalo's offense on the sidelines. And you can't score if you're quarterback is standing shoulder to shoulder with the coaches.

Third-down defense has been hurting the Bills, and was a contributing factor in this past Sunday's 36-14 loss to Jacksonville.

The Bills rank dead last in the league on third-down defense. They've given up 74 conversions on 150 attempts for a 49.3 percent ineptitude rating. By comparison, Green Bay has a paltry 31.7 percent allowance on third down, which leads the league.

"I know the last two games have emphasized the fact, and they will when you lose," cornerback Jabari Greer said referring to Buffalo's horrendous 56-10 loss to New England the previous week, in which the Bills gave up seven touchdowns on seven drives. "I think it's just the mentality of getting off the field on third down. It's something we have to pride ourselves in and mentally prepare yourself for. I think only with mental preparation and believing in yourself and knowing that your opportunity is there is the only way you're going to get off that field and will yourself into a win."

Against Jacksonville Sunday, Buffalo allowed nine conversions on 16 third-down attempts, including the back-breaking touchdown in the fourth quarter. After Bills cornerback Jabari Greer made a great tackle on Jacksonville running back Fred Taylor behind the line of scrimmage on second down to force third and 7, quarterback David Garrard hit a short pass to receiver Reggie Williams over the middle for a 41-yard score.

That put the Jaguars ahead, 29-14, with 5:02 remaining and all but sealed the victory.

Jacksonville converted two third-down plays on its first scoring drive and made a huge play on third and 14 with a 14-yard pass from Garrard to Marcedes Lewis on the second scoring drive. Just before halftime, Garrard hit Ernest Wilford for four yards on third and 3 from the Buffalo 8 to set up one of Josh Scobee's four field goals.

On Jacksonville's first drive of the second half, Garrard hit a 20-yard pass to Wilford on third and 10 and connected with Dennis Northcutt for a 24-yard gain on third and 12. Near the end of the third quarter, Buffalo forced a third and 10 play with strong pass defense, but Garrad again hit Wilford for the first down on a 21-yard gain. That helped set up Scobee's fourth field goal.

Buffalo forced the Jaguars to go three and out only once in the game, during the fourth quarter when the game was already decided.

The only positive you can take from Buffalo's third-down performance was that the Bills forced Jacksonville to kick field goals on four drives, rather than giving up touchdowns.

"It's a huge positive to make them kick field goals, but sixty or fifty percent on third down is not going to win many football games," coach Dick Jauron said. "When you're giving up that kind of percentage on third down, it's also keeping you off the field and taking chances away from you. So it's both of those things though. Anytime you make them kick a field goal over a touchdown it's a big plus. And it is the reason we were still in that football game with two minutes and 49 seconds left because we had forced those field goals."

And you can't even use penalties as the excuse. Buffalo's defense leads the league in fewest yellow flags with 51 penalties for 399 yards. Only Pittsburgh (52, 375) has had fewer penalty yards. Buffalo took only one penalty for five yards against Jacksonville.

Buffalo will face another defensive struggle this week when they play at Washington.

e-mail: mkrueger@beenews.com