JACKSONVILLE – A day later, Gus Bradley took responsibility.
When discussing a costly delay-of-game penalty against the offense late in a 28-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills Sunday, the Jaguars' head coach said he should have called for a timeout in the situation.
The delay-of-game penalty turned fourth-and-4 from the Bills 40 into fourth-and-9 from the 45.
"I should have called a timeout," Bradley said Monday.
Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles on fourth-and-9 threw a crossing route to wide receiver Marqise Lee, who was tackled at the Bills 42 – six yards short of the first down. That gave the Bills possession with a seven-point lead with 3:25 remaining. They ran out the clock with two first downs.
There had been confusion on the play before the delay-of-game penalty. On that play, Bills cornerback Stephon Gilmore appeared to pull Jaguars wide receiver Allen Robinson by the shoulder pads on third-and-4 from the 40. Bortles argued the call and later called it "horrible."
While Bortles has the ability to call timeout in that situation, Bradley said it was ultimately his responsibility to do so. Bradley said Bortles checked into a play at the line of scrimmage, and that the Jaguars had gotten the snap off close to the play clock showing :00 in similar situations early in the game.
"I felt like that [Bortles getting the snap in time] was going to happen," Bradley said. "It delayed a little bit, but looking back at it … yeah: I take responsibility for that. I should have called a timeout. We had two timeouts at that time. It doesn't matter how many timeouts you have; in a critical situation like that, to keep it at that down and distances where it's manageable would have been great looking back at it. I take full responsibility for that."
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Bradley on Monday also discussed his decision late in the first half to re-punt following a running-into-the-kicker penalty against the Bills. Had Bradley declined the penalty, the Bills would have had first-and-10 at their 45 with 1:38 remaining in the half following a 16-yard return by Bills wide receiver Brandon Tate. Instead, Jaguars punter Brad Nortman hit a low punt that Tate returned 43 yards to the Jaguars 22. "The first return, they had a 16-yard return and we had guys [covering] who didn't make the play," Bradley said. "If I looked at that and said, 'We're failing to make a play with guys in close quarters …' looking back, yeah, I'd rather not have them start the drive at our 20s." Tate's return led to a seven-yard touchdown run by Bills running back LeSean McCoy. A long punt return against the Jaguars' special teams has led to a field goal or touchdown in each of the last four games. "We're giving up far too many big plays on that," Bradley said.
INJURY UPDATES
*Wide receiver Allen Hurns sustained a hamstring strain while scoring a touchdown early in the fourth quarter Sunday. He did not return and his status will be updated later in the week.
*Defensive end Yannick Ngakoue sustained an ankle injury in the fourth quarter and did not return.
*Running back Chris Ivory sustained a first-quarter hamstring strain and did not return.
*Running back T.J. Yeldon played through an ankle sprain and was about 75 percent against Buffalo, Bradley said. …
*Wide receiver Rashad Greene left the game with an Achilles issue after muffing the Bills' first two punts. Bradley said the decision had been made to switch to Bryan Walters returning punts regardless of Greene's injury. …
*Safety Peyton Thompson sustained a sprained ankle after colliding with the sideline chain crew while covering a punt Sunday. He made the tackle and returned to the game after the injury but was later removed. …
*Defensive tackle Abry Jones (ankle), defensive end Jared Odrick (shoulder), tight end Julius Thomas (back), linebacker Dan Skuta (back), defensive end Chris Smith (eye) missed Sunday's game and are expected to appear on the injury report this week. …
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"Obviously we weren't happy with the outcome. A lot of things took place on the film that we need to get corrected. There were also some good things, too, that we can build from."
--Bradley
