Jaguars vs. Bills: PFF notes and grades after Wild Card playoff game

The Jacksonville Jaguars just beat the Buffalo Bills in a game where the (shocker!) defense carried the rest of the team to a win.

How did our friends at Pro Football Focus grade them out?

Wild Card playoff Jaguars offensive stats

• With little offense on show in the game it comes as no surprise that QB Blake Bortles struggled throughout the game. Bortles finished the game with an overall PFF grade of 51.2, finishing with the lowest adjusted completion percentage of any quarterback in the first week of the playoffs at 61.9 percent.
• Bortles did prove to be effective with his legs against the Bills. Using read options Bortles was able to rush for 88 yards on Sunday, the most he has ran for all season. Bortles averaged three yards after contact per attempt and also forced a missed tackle. He led all Jaguars with an impressive 92.1 run grade, if he can repeat this next week the Jaguars may just cause an upset.
• The offense was run heavy against the Bills on Sunday but RB Leonard Fournette wasn’t able to get going. He had the second most rush attempts of any running back during the wild card round but didn’t force a single missed tackle. His average yards after contact of 1.62 was the lowest among running backs with at least 11 carries.
• The Jaguars best offensive weapon versus the Bills was WR Dede Westbrook. The receiver looked good on Sunday with an overall PFF grade of 75.9, he caught five of his eight targets thrown his way by Bortles which gave him a WR rating of 79.2. Westbrook was efficient running his routes against Buffalo’s defense with 2.09 yards per route run which ranked fifth among receivers.
• Offensive tackle Jermey Parnell was the highest graded tackle of the wild card round. Parnell earned a PFF overall grade of 79.7 versus the Bills, dominating in the run game with a run block grade of 88.6 which led all offensive tackles. Parnell could have done better in the pass game with a pass block grade of 69.4 but he did only surrender one total pressure on 27 pass block snaps.

Wild Card playoff Jaguars defensive stats

• Edge defender Calais Campbell was the most impressive player for the Jaguars. He finished the game with an overall PFF grade of 90.7 ranking first among edge defenders in the wild card round. Campbell led all edge defenders with seven total pressures against the Bills and his pass rushing productivity of 12.5 was ranked second.
• Campbell also dominated in the run game, with a team leading run defense grade of 89.7. Campbell collected four stops in run defense on 25 run snaps which was the most stops by any 4-3 defensive end. He also led all 4-3 defensive ends with a run stop percentage of 16 percent. As long as he is playing like this, he’s going to be a hard man for Pittsburgh to stop.
• The Jaguars defense pressured the Bills QBs all game. The Jaguars were able to get pressure on 38.3 percent of their dropbacks which was the highest rate of any defense in the wild card round. They had 18 total pressures which was more than any other defense, Campbell led the way with seven total pressures with Yannick Ngakoue not too far behind with four total pressures.
• CB Jalen Ramsey came up with the game clinching interception but was dominant all game. He finished the game with an overall PFF grade of 89.6 which ranked second among cornerbacks. Buffalo targeted Ramsey five times on Sunday but didn’t find much success only completing three of them for 29 yards. When targeted Ramsey only allowed a passer rating of 36.7 which also was second best.
• Safety Barry Church stepped up in the run game, leading all safeties with three stops. All three of his stops came within eight yards of the line of scrimmage as he finished the game with an impressive run defense grade of 85.9 versus the Bills. Church earned his three stops in run defense on just 27 run snaps which gave him a run stop percentage of 11.1 percent was second best by a safety.