Buffalo Bills

It took 10 games, but the Bills finally figured out how to utilize their future Hall of Fame wide receiver, Terrell Owens.

"That was fun to see and it gave us a big boost offensively," said interim head coach Perry Fewell. "When you get your playmakers the ball, it showed that our offense could produce."

With Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback in place of the benched Trent Edwards, downfield passing returned to Buffalo's attack and Fitzpatrick threw 14 of his 31 pass attempts in Owens' direction, and the big receiver caught nine for 197 yards and a dynamic 98-yard touchdown.

"Obviously, with Fitzpatrick back there he gave us some opportunities," Owens said. "Ryan's a smart quarterback. He knows how to assess the defense and put us in the right situations."

Edwards was maddeningly tentative when it came to throwing the ball downfield, and part of that is his conservative nature, but also his desire to appease former coach Dick Jauron who re-defined conservative when it came to offense. Jauron had Edwards so wary of turnovers that Edwards played with the constant thought that he couldn't take chances and usually settled for the safe dump-off.

Fitzpatrick showed a willingness to test the opposing defense when he played 2 1/2 games under Jauron as Edwards was recovering from a concussion, and with Fewell in charge he really opened things up against a Jaguars defense that was inexperienced at the corners with Rashean Mathis out with an injury.

On the 98-yard TD to Owens, Fitzpatrick had a quick pass called, but he saw young cornerback Tyron Brackenridge was one-on-one with Owens on the right side and the audible was a no-brainer.

"I saw the corner sitting out there one-on-one with Terrell and it looked pretty good to me, looked enticing," said Fitzpatrick. "I just threw the ball up, put a lot of air under it and Terrell did his thing."

"Yeah, he got behind me," Brackenridge said. "He's T.O., man."

Well, he hasn't been T.O for most of the season. Owens came into the Jacksonville game with just 26 catches for 366 yards and 1 TD.

"Obviously, I can still play this game with the best of them," said Owens. "Just put me in the right situation and I can make plays. I've always said that."

Owens had said before the game that he was frustrated with the way the Bills have used him all season.

"I'm not in the systems that I've been accustomed to and I think if you guys honestly assess the system that I've been in versus my production here, I haven't been utilized the way I have been in years past, and I've said that from day one," he said. "If you go back to San Francisco, you go back to the way I was used in Philly. Definitely you had some very knowledgeable offensive-minded coaches that really utilized my abilities. I mean you can say what you want, say I've slowed down, I can't do this and I can't do that. The very things that you say I'm not doing now, I didn't really do them that well then. It was all about how those coaches utilized me in that offense."

The 98-yard touchdown was the longest play from scrimmage in Bills' history, topping the 95-yard touchdown from Todd Collins to Quinn Early at Indianapolis in 1996. The 98-yarder also was the longest of Owens' career. He had a 91-yard TD in 2005 playing for the Eagles.

His 197 yards were the sixth-best performance in Bills history, and his nine receptions were his most since he made 10 (for 174 yards) against Philadelphia in Week Eight of the 2007 season while playing for Dallas.

Owens now has 14,685 career receiving yards, which moved him into fourth place on the NFL's all-time list, ahead of Marvin Harrison (14,580). Owens' 48th career 100-yard game broke a fifth-place tie with Michael Irvin.

He's pretty good, and while he has slowed down a bit, it was almost criminal how the Bills were unable to get him more involved in the offense until now.

"It's all for nothing when you don't get the win," he said. "Honestly, I don't really play the game for a lot of the records. It's just part of what I do."

—The Bills botched a critical game management situation at the end of the first half which, in a close game, may have proved costly. There were 26 seconds to go and the Bills had a first down at the Jaguars 12 and Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a quick slant to Terrell Owens for a seven-yard gain. With the clock running, and one timeout to use, the Bills opted for a run by Fred Jackson that gained nothing and they were fortunate to use that last timeout with one tick left which set up a Rian Lindell field goal. It seemed like they could have taken a shot or two at the end zone instead of the quick slant and the run.

"We wanted to make sure we got the points," said new coach Perry Fewell. "I elected to go for the run and I wanted to get points. As I look back, I thought I made a solid decision."

• Penalties have hurt the Bills all year, and they were devastating in Jacksonville because two touchdowns were wiped out. Shawn Nelson's chop block killed Fred Jackson's TD run in the first quarter, and Jonathan Scott's illegal hands to the face mistake wiped out Lee Evans' TD reception in the fourth quarter. They were major mistakes in a three-point loss. "I don't know if I can chop off any fingers, but I'm going to chew some ears off," said Fewell.

• Injuries continue to pile up, especially on the offensive line which lost two more players in Jacksonville. Right guard Eric Wood, who had avoided the injury bug, went down with a gruesome broken leg and stayed behind in Jacksonville to have surgery to repair the damage. Backup Seth McKinney, who was forced into the starting lineup, left rather quickly with a season-ending knee injury. For the second time this season the Bills, who had only seven linemen active for the game, finished with no reserves available and were fortunate no one else got hurt.

  McKinney started his first game as a Bill because regular starting left guard Andy Levitre played left tackle in place of Demetrius Bell, who is out with a knee injury. Once McKinney departed, Levitre slid back to his position and Jonathan Scott played left tackle. His penalty in the fourth quarter wiped out a Lee Evans touchdown. Kirk Chambers, who started at right tackle, moved inside to replace Wood and Jamon Meredith took over at right tackle.

  "That's the second time this year we've been down to no backups in a game, and that's a rough situation to be in on the offensive line," center Geoff Hangartner said.

• Also on the injury front, running back Marshawn Lynch suffered a shoulder injury while losing a fumble in the second quarter. His status for this week's game against Miami will be determined later in the week, but if he's out, Fred Jackson will take over as the starter and the Bills will either have to sign a running back because Jackson and Lynch are the only two on the active roster, or bring up Bruce Hall from the practice squad.

Player Notes

• QB Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 297 yards with one touchdown and one interception, Buffalo's best individual passing yardage performance in three years.

• RB Fred Jackson led the ground game with 35 yards on nine carries, and he may get more work against Miami because Marshawn Lynch may be out with a shoulder injury.

• PR Roscoe Parrish was back on the field returning punts, though he didn't do it well and made a bad mistake catching one inside the 5-yard-line.

• FS Jairus Byrd failed to intercept a pass for the first time in six games as he played only in pass situations due to a sore groin.

• TE Shawn Nelson made a nice 25-yard reception, but also committed a chop block penalty that cost the Bills a touchdown.

Report Card Vs

. JAGUARS

Passing Offense:

B-plus—Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 297 yards and did something that Trent Edwards rarely does—he threw the ball downfield—and it paid spectacular dividends. Terrell Owens had his breakout game with nine catches for 197 yards including a franchise-record 98-yard TD pass. Fitzpatrick targeted Owens on 14 of his 31 attempts. That was about three games worth of looks for Owens early in the year when Edwards was the quarterback. However, Fitzpatrick also threw two interceptions and missed a couple of open receivers with poor throws. Lee Evans had just one catch, but he did have a 53-yard TD wiped out by a penalty by the offensive line which was further depleted by injury as guards Eric Wood and Seth McKinney both went down.

Rushing Offense:

D—The Bills had the ball for just over 23 minutes, so their opportunities to run were limited and they attempted only 19 runs. Losing Marshawn Lynch to a shoulder injury altered their game plan to use he and Fred Jackson together in the backfield, possibly to run some Wildcat plays. Jackson averaged 3.9 yards per rush, Lynch just 2.3. Jackson should be the starting back for this team, and he may get that chance again if Lynch is sidelined. Perhaps then the Bills can get their running game working the way it was when Jackson was on his own the first three games while Lynch was serving his NFL suspension.

Pass Defense:

C—The Bills were doing a pretty good job on Mike Sims-Walker, that is until the final drive of the game for the Jaguars when he caught three passes for 35 yards including the game-winning TD when CB Reggie Corner got picked and lost coverage. All four starters in the secondary were different than the opening day starters, and they played well enough as George Wilson had an interception that set up a field goal and David Garrard threw for only 215 yards. The injury-ravaged defensive line wasn't able to generate much pressure, though Aaron Schobel did get a sack.

Rush Defense:

A-minus—Considering the Bills ranked dead last against the run, and Maurice Jones-Drew was fourth in the NFL in rushing yards, holding him to 66 yards and a 2.6 average per carry was impressive. Oddly, the Jaguars didn't really try to test the Bills run defense early in the game, and by the time they got around to it, the Bills were in a pretty good groove and played well. Still, Jacksonville ran 34 times and that helped it possess the ball for more than 36 minutes and that proved decisive in the end. Paul Posluszny had one of his best games in three years in the NFL as his 12 credited tackles seemed low, plus he forced a fumble.

Special Teams:

C—Roscoe Parrish was back on punts now that Dick Jauron is gone, and he made a terrible decision fielding a punt inside his 5-yard-line, though that set the stage for Owens' 98-yard TD. Brian Moorman had a pretty good day punting with a 46.8 net average, but he also overthrew an open Ryan Denney on a two-point conversion pass in the third quarter. Jackson had a 36-yard kickoff return, and the Bills' coverage units were solid, though they failed to recover a muffed punt that came right before the Jaguars drove for the winning touchdown.

Coaching:

B—Perry Fewell almost did what no new Bills' coach since Marv Levy in 1986 has done—win his first game. He had the Bills playing hard and aggressive, but as usual, there were some critical mistakes that cost the Bills including two penalties which wiped out touchdowns. Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt clearly trusted Fitzpatrick to attack down the field and it paid off with some big completions. The end of the first half was a bit muddled, though, and the Bills almost blew an opportunity to kick a field goal. Also, the call to go for two points that early in the third quarter was dubious.