(Sports Network) - Just when everybody was ready to crown the Jaguars as a playoff-bound team, they go and do something stupid like lose to the Buffalo Bills.

Now, that's not to say Buffalo is a bad team, it's just that Jacksonville (6-5) should be able to beat the Bills, even on the road, if it wants to be taken seriously. After all, this came after a stellar performance by the Jaguars last Monday Night, when they earned a decisive 26-10 victory over the visiting New York Giants.

The Jaguars have already dropped two games this year to the Houston Texans (3-8), perennial doormats of the AFC South, and were also dealt an overtime loss in Washington to the Redskins (4-7). The Bills are now 5-6, so that's way too many setbacks to below .500 teams. It's hard to make the postseason when you can't win games against below-average teams. In fact, it's hard to call yourself a good team when you can't consistently beat those kinds of clubs.

"Tough loss to fly home with. It puts us at 6-5 with five more ballgames," Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio said.

The Jaguars actually outgained the Bills, 323-241, on offense, and 207 yards came on the ground. Those are the kind of numbers that usually win games, but Jacksonville was done in this Sunday by some big mistakes on special teams.

Buffalo averaged 28.2 yards on five combined returns of punts and kickoffs. Roscoe Parrish delivered the big blow with an 82-yard punt return touchdown to give the Bills a 24-14 lead with 3:46 remaining in the third quarter.

"It's tough to win when you have punt returns go for touchdowns," said Del Rio.

Another big special teams miscue came on the kickoff after the Jags tied the game at 24 on a three-yard touchdown pass from David Garrard to Matt Jones with 28 seconds left. Jacksonville opted for a squib kick and it backfired, as the Bills returned the ball to the Buffalo 40-yard line. The Bills then moved the ball 36 yards on three plays, and Rian Lindell booted the game-winning 42- yard field goal with no time left.

Del Rio later said he regretted the squib kick, a decision that came from special teams coach Pete Rodriguez, but one that could have obviously been overruled by the head coach.

The real problem for the team is its inability to win on the road. Whether it's a special teams meltdown in Buffalo or an inability to contain wideout Santana Moss in D.C., the Jags just don't do enough to pick up W's as the visiting club.

Or as Del Rio said, "We've been very consistent on the road. We haven't won a whole lot."

The Jags are 1-4 on the road this year, but that's not the only record holding them back from the postseason. The team is now outside of the playoff race with a 6-5 record, and its 1-3 division mark and 3-4 conference record are not going to help if it gets to tiebreakers.

It's hard to define these Jags, but with a few more losses, you can simply call them disappointing.

SOME PEOPLE CALL HIM MAURICE

The Jags offense played well against the Bills, and once again was sparked by rookie running back Maurice Jones-Drew.

A second-round pick out of UCLA in this year's draft, Jones-Drew has put up some big numbers with a limited number of carries. This week in Buffalo, he carried the ball eight times for 78 yards and a touchdown. The hard running of Drew has allowed the team to take some of the load off No. 1 back Fred Taylor, who had 101 yards on 22 attempts against the Bills.

Jones-Drew has 454 yards and six rushing touchdowns this year on just 90 attempts. That rounds out to a nice average of 5.0 yards per carry, which is something of a magical number in the NFL.

The 5-foot-7 back has also proven to be a weapon catching the ball out of the backfield. Jones-Drew has 32 catches for 317 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Not to mention, he has done an excellent job at returning kicks, averaging 24.8 yards on 21 returns while taking three kicks back for more than 40 yards.

Jones-Drew appears to be the Jags No. 1 running back of the future, which isn't too far away considering Taylor is about to turn 31 years old in January.

GOOD GARRARD

Garrard has been solid in the absence of the injured Byron Leftwich, and did another nice job of running the offense against the Bills.

He ended with just 132 yards on 16-of-22 passing, but threw two touchdown passes without an interception. That gave him a QB rating of 118.0, the second-highest mark of the season for Garrard.

Garrard was especially impressive on Jacksonville's final drive of the game. He completed 4-of-6 passes for 26 yards on the march, which ended on the game- tying TD strike to Jones. But, the biggest play came when he scrambled for 16 yards on 4th-and-14 to set up a 1st-and-goal at the seven-yard line.

"I just knew I could pick up some yards. I knew I would be determined to get to the first-down marker," Garrard said.

Even though the Jaguars wound up losing the game, it still must have been encouraging to the franchise to see Garrard lead a comeback in the final minute of the game.

UP NEXT

The Jaguars will have another road test next Sunday, when they battle the Miami Dolphins in South Florida.