The Bills went 3-for-3 on Monday night in as smooth a game as you’ll see in the NFL. The 47-10 drubbing of the Jaguars was another statement win on a national level, putting the team in great position for a tough stretch of games.

Weeks 4, 5, and 6 feature road games against the Ravens, Texans, and Jets. But before the Bills get to that test, what stood out in the coaches’ video that led to the result everyone saw Monday against the Jaguars?

After examining the All-22, here’s a full breakdown of the Bills’ game plan and the individual performances that stood out during the blowout loss.

How Josh Allen and Joe Brady Unraveled a Previously Competent Jaguars Defense

Just hours after the upset win over the Jaguars, the offense’s performance still looms large in the minds of Bills fans. Offensive coordinator Joe Brady’s stellar game plan, combined with Allen’s seemingly effortless accuracy, dismantled the Jaguars’ defense. As we noted after the game, the Bills took away the Jaguars’ defensive calling card by playing it just enough to keep them honest. They focused the offense on the passing game and exploited the Jaguars when they ran man-covering looks. However, upon reviewing the film, a few other things stood out about the performance that made Allen’s day even more impressive.

The only word that comes to mind about Allen’s performance against the Jaguars is “unflappable.” Without the real threat of a pass rush, Allen rarely looked like someone without an answer to the next question in the play-to-play test. When the Jaguars were in man coverage, he identified himself quickly after the snap and got the ball out of his hands. When the Jaguars actually ran zone, Allen recognized it, looked at his first few reads once, and if they weren’t there, he fired the ball to the short-field goal to keep things moving.

The offensive line looked great for the Bills, in part because of how decisive Allen was throughout the game. Through the first two quarters, Allen averaged just 2.66 seconds per drop back on his time to throw. This is a remarkable stat for Allen, who averaged 3.03 seconds per throw for his career. The 2.66 seconds is the sixth-fastest of his career, according to TruMedia. Despite all the good that Brady did in his game planning and strategy, Allen was the one who made the Jaguars feel powerless with how quickly and effectively he pushed the ball out of his hands.

But the Jaguars didn’t do themselves any favors. They inexplicably used man coverage on 64 percent of their defensive snaps in the first half, which is even more prominent than their average of 55 percent the two weeks prior to this game. Allen has long been known for his ability to beat man coverage in recent years, but the Jaguars apparently wanted to see what it felt like to fly close to the sun. Burn them, as Allen completed 12 of 16 passes for 175 yards and three touchdowns against man coverage.

Those stats are good for an eerie yards-per-attempt mark of 10.8. When the Jaguars were in zone in the first half, Allen averaged just 6.3 yards per attempt — a whopping 4.5-yard difference. Further complicating their overall game plan was when they opted to send just three defensive linemen on Allen. The Bills’ offensive line already had the advantage against a Jaguars pass rush that hasn’t generated much pressure in 2024, and putting five guys against three is asking for trouble.

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Then there was the use of Khalil Shakir as a weapon against the Jaguars’ most exploitable defender — rookie slot corner Jarrian Jones. Of all the plays, this one really took the cake in the way it combined Brady’s game-planning, Shakir’s skill set, Allen’s recognition and accuracy, and used the Jaguars’ identity against them. And it set the tone from that first drive to the rest of the game.

On a crucial 4th-and-3 play at the Jaguars’ 44-yard line, Shakir is positioned to Allen’s right in the formation, with Jones positioned above him. The next step for the Bills is to get Shakir moving, confirming the man coverage look they expect.

As Shakir trots to the left side of the formation, Jones moves with him, letting the Bills know that the specific play call gives them the manly presence they were hoping for.

This point in the movement is crucial, because Shakir slows down and begins to turn, causing Jones to also turn his body to mirror Shakir’s movement. The ball is still not snapped, of course.

As center McGovern throws the ball to Allen in shotgun, with the ball halfway to Allen, Shakir sprints back to the right side of the formation. This automatically signaled to Jones that he needed to fight through his own teammates’ traffic to get back to Shakir. And that brings us to the rep’s “gotcha” moment.

The inexperienced Jones, still putting all his energy into getting back to the right side of the Bills’ formation, fails to see Shakir hit the brakes and jog back to the left side of the formation. Jones is adrift and essentially lost at sea as he deals with the commotion of the defensive line and all of his teammates gathering their assignments.

As Shakir moves to the flat, no other Jaguars defender picks him up. Dalton Kincaid and Mack Hollins both go from the left side of the formation to the right at different depths. At the same time, Marquez Valdes-Scantling goes from right to left on a deep crossing pattern. Once again, no one pays attention to Shakir.

And here’s the payoff. As Shakir catches Allen’s pass, there’s not a single defender past the hashmarks closest to Shakir. And Jones, realizing what just happened, stands frozen on the wrong side of the formation while his assignment had a job the size of a garbage truck to get the necessary three yards plus a few more.

Allen, Brady and Shakir were the key trio of the night for the Bills offense, performing at a near-perfect level all night long.

Quick thoughts on the Top 5

*Unless there are any really bad individual performances, we’ll focus solely on the Top 5 this week.

QB Josh Allen (out) — Allen earned his second “A” grade in just three games. He minimizes his mistakes and wreaks havoc on opponents with his handling, his accuracy and his legs. He made one turnover-worthy throw against the Jaguars, but that was the extent of his mistakes. He’s the reason the Bills have one of the most dynamic offenses in an NFL that has seen its point totals plummet over the first three weeks.

WR Khalil Shakir (A-minus) — Shakir’s ability to exploit a plus matchup in just one half of the work was another masterful performance. He crushed man coverage when he had a chance, allowing his shifty stealth to take over while also remaining the Bills’ best yards-after-catch threat in the receiver room. Shakir has been their best receiver in 2024, and it hasn’t been close. Shakir should be on the field a lot more often than he ever has been, but promisingly enough, he was on the field for just 12 personnel snaps on Monday.

RT Spencer Brown (A-min) — Outside of a holding call that cost the Bills no yards, Brown was a significant force as a pass blocker and run blocker. The Jaguars didn’t have an overwhelming pass-rushing presence on the left defensive end and Brown won those matchups fairly easily, but even more impressive was his matchup against stout run defenders.

LT Dion Dawkins (A-min) — Dawkins played almost the entire game against the always impressive Josh Hines-Allen and did a great job of keeping the pass rusher away from his quarterback for almost the entire game. He even got Hines-Allen on the ground a couple of times. Dawkins’ impressive start to the year has continued into his toughest matchup yet.

CB Christian Benford (A-min) — The third-year cornerback has been simply fantastic, and he continued his potential breakout season Monday. His ability to stick with any receiver, regardless of speed or size, looks effortless. He can turn his hips after a cut and stay with the wideout. He makes plays on the ball, he’s active in run support. He also helped neutralize rookie Brian Thomas Jr.

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Underrated highlights

LG David Edwards — Seeing a trend here? The offensive line is way up there with the Jaguars. Edwards has been a crafty star for the Bills so far in his first year as a starter. He’s a consistent pass blocker and is great at combination blocks, both in pass protection and run blocking. He worked extremely well with center Connor McGovern the entire game.

LB Dorian Williams — The first few starts have had some negative moments, but Williams had his best game as a pro on Monday. He was active in run support, he showed his athleticism in coverage and, most importantly, he reacted much less to the Jaguars’ running play action than he has in previous games. Williams appears to be making strides.

Players with less than 15 snaps:

DE Javon Solomon (14), LB Joe Andreessen (14), LB Nicholas Morrow (14), CB Kaiir Elam (14), S Cole Bishop (14), RB Ray Davis (12), CB Brandon Codrington (11), TE Quintin Morris (9), QB Mitchell Trubisky (8), C Sedrick Van Pran-Granger (8), FB Reggie Gilliam (7), OT Tylan Grable (3)

**Minimum 45 photos

How the standards work

When the All-22 film is available, we will watch every player on every play as many times as necessary to assess the numbers. It is a subjective analysis and it is important to note that we do not know the play calls and full responsibilities. The numbers are based on technique, effort and assumed liability.

The study only considers players who take a snap on offense or defense. Players with fewer than 15 snaps — unless they make a significant impact on the game — are not included in the weekly rankings. Grades range from an “A” (a perfect 4.00 GPA) to an “F” (0.00 GPA). There is no such thing as an “A+” in this grading system. Grades for the entire season are tallied and documented, with a single game’s grade weighted based on how often the player was on the field in a given week.

(Top photo of Josh Allen: Gregory Fisher / Imagn Images)