So let’s say the plays were flukes, just for argument sake. Even including the final drive, Byron Leftwich was average at best, completing 18 of 36 for 147 yards with one touchdown, two interceptions and a 46.9 passer rating. As we’ve said many times, winning absolves all sins, but clearly this is not the kind of performance legends are made of. On the down side, Leftwich was not sharp and fairly predictable, leading to two turnovers and all of Buffalo’s 10 points. On the up side, he was poised enough to throw the ball in places where his receivers had a chance during the final drive, and it paid off with a victory. The whole offense in fact was somewhere between below average and mediocre through most of the game. Or let’s say they were great plays, indicative of what the Jaguars are going to be as they grow up. Jimmy Smith just wanted the ball more than the defender. Same with Wilford. We’ve seen enough of those plays go the other way, so seeing the Jaguars get the positive result in that situation should give Jaguars fans a lot of hope.

You could call it a defensive struggle, but it was more the Jaguars not getting it done than anything the Bills were doing.

John Madden once said, “Discipline isn’t wearing ties on the airplane. Discipline is not jumping off sides on third down in the last two minutes.” (a line Steve Tasker stole during the game. By the way, he and Don Curiqui were terrible all day.) The Jaguars didn’t have the little discipline that they needed in crucial situations, either jumping off sides or being called for illegal shifts that kept backing them up. Head Coach Jack Del Rio won’t like that, and no doubt will try to fix it quickly.

Teams can win in the NFL will strong kicking games and good defense. Just look at the Ravens of three years ago. Those two phases of the Jaguars game were very solid most of the time. Josh Scobee made his field goals and kicked the ball in the end zone a couple of times on kickoffs. Chris Hanson was his Pro Bowl self, and the defense was a notch above what they were last year. The pressure on the quarterback came from unlikely sources like Paul Spicer and either Marcus Stroud or John Henderson in the middle of the line. It’s almost like they’ve finally decided to let those guys up front get after the ball instead of playing some kind of gap defense that’s too restrictive. They’re letting them be aggressive, something that comes naturally to young players. Juron Bolden made a big play on a lateral and not counting the blown coverage on the Eric Moulds touchdown, the coverage was solid. Teams will try to take advantage of the Jaguars lack of size at linebacker, and the Bills were able to run the ball at times during the game. But overall you can’t complain about most of what they accomplished in two of the three phases of the game. And 1-0 is a whole lot better than 0-1. A whole lot.