The Jaguars face a dual-threat nightmare. Containing Josh Allen's powerful arm and elusive runs is paramount to their playoff hopes.
The Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills have met in the postseason before.
In January 2018, Buffalo played its first playoff game of the Millinium in Jacksonville on a Sunday afternoon.
The home team won, 10-3, and as one could probably guess by Buffalo only scoring three points, the quarterback play was subpar.
Tyrod Taylor threw 37 passes and only completed 17 for 134 yards and an interception.
Months later, the Bills went into the draft knowing they needed a franchise QB, and at pick No. 7, the Bills got a gunslinger from Wyoming that proved to be the guy.
Josh Allen has been Buffalo’s starter for eight seasons, and has made the playoffs in all but one— his rookie year— making it to a pair of AFC Championship games along the way.
Thanks largely to the play of Allen— who was the league’s MVP last season— the Bills have gone from a scrappy underdog to one of the NFL’s elite and, for many, are entering these playoffs with anything but a Super Bowl berth being a failure.
Allen came to the NFL with a reputation for having a big arm, and has lived up to that in the pros.
But he can run, too. He’s rushed for 500 yards or more in all but one of his eight seasons, and this year, ended the regular season with 579 yards and 14 touchdowns, averaging 5.2 yards per carry.
This makes preparing for Allen quite the chore.
"Because you're a dual threat," Jags HC Liam Coen told reporters earlier this week. "You have to defend the run and the pass every time the ball is snapped."
"Your rush plan has to be extremely dialed in. Your spy game has to be dialed in if you're going to do any of that stuff," Coen said. "Your zone coverage has got to make sure that you're giving eyes obviously on the quarterback at all times, and, look, when you have to account for the quarterback every play, we have a luxury of that as well, in ways where our quarterback can take off on you, it's hard to defend every blade of grass."
Jags fans haven’t spent much time thinking about Carter Bradley this season.
The 2024 undrafted free agent out of South Alabama has yet to take an NFL snap.
But Bradley has a big responsibility this week, being the scout team’s “Josh Allen,” per Coen.
How well the Jags do against the real Josh Allen could determine how long this postseason ride lasts.
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