Bortles fills the bill, but barely

JACKSONVILLE 10 BUFFALO 3

Jaguars advance to face Steelers despite rough outing by quarterback.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Blake Bortles never had a game like this.

Not in college. Not in high school. Not in peewee football. Not even in the backyard against family and friends.

Bortles put together one decent drive all day, doing as much with his legs as his arm, and the defensiveminded Jacksonville Jaguars eked out an ugly and sometimes unwatchable 10-3 victory against the Buffalo Bills in an AFC wildcard game Sunday.

Bortles became the second starting quarterback in the last 25 years to win a playoff game with more rushing yards (88) than passing (87). Michael Vick of Atlanta did it against the St. Louis Rams in the 2004 playoffs. “That’s usually not ideal for a quarterback,” Bortles said.

It was enough to help the third-seeded Jaguars get to the next round against No. 2 seed Pittsburgh. The Jaguars beat the Steelers 30-9 on Oct. 8 in Pittsburgh.

The sixth-seeded Bills will head home after ending the longest, current playoff drought in North American professional sports.

“We had bigger goals,” Buffalo linebacker Preston Brown said. “Once we got in the dance, we didn’t want to be one and done. We didn’t want to treat this like a bowl game, go down to Florida and everybody relaxes. We wanted to move on.

“This really stings to lose in this way when you hold them to 10 points. We just didn’t find a way to hold them to zero points to win the game.”

Bortles completed 12 of 23 passes, including a oneyard touchdown pass to backup tight end Ben Koyack late in the third quarter on a fourth-and-goal play.

The Bills, who made the postseason for the first time since the 1999 season, had 263 yards of offense, 33 more than the Jaguars.