“It is that simple,” said head coach Chan Gailey. ”We’ve said all along the early part of the year the most important thing was that we had consistency from our defense and that was gap fits and consistency in our tackling. We’ve gotten so much better at that in the last four or five weeks. Really it started back in Arizona. Our run defense started getting better there. I feel very good about where we are, but we’ve got to step it up even more.”

If the Bills can hold the Jaguars to under 90 yards rushing Sunday,  it would be the first time the Bills have posted three straight games of allowing fewer than 90 rushing yards since the 2003 season.

OUT
CB Derek Cox – hamstring
RB Maurice Jones-Drew – foot
DE Austen Lane – foot

PROBABLE
WR Justin Blackmon – groin
WR Cecil Shorts – hamstring
DT Tyson Alualu – calf
FB Greg Jones – thigh
CB Rashean Mathis – groin
C Brad Meester – foot

Blackmon is dealing with a groin injury that forced him to miss practice Thursday, while Shorts has a hamstring ailment that also kept him sidelined Thursday.

Mularkey also said RB Maurice Jones-Drew (foot), DE Austen Lane (foot) and CB Derek Cox (hamstring) are all out for Sunday’s game.

OUT
DE Mark Anderson – knee
DE Chris Kelsay – neck

QUESTIONABLE
WR Donald Jones – calf
CB Justin Rogers – foot
CB Aaron Williams – knee
DL Spencer Johnson – ankle/illness
FB Corey McIntyre – ankle

PROBABLE
WR Brad Smith – hamstring
LB Nick Barnett – knee
G Kraig Urbik – knee
S Da’Norris Searcy – hand
RB C.J. Spiller – shoulder
DE Mario Williams – wrist
C Eric Wood – knee
FS Jairus Byrd – back
G Andy Levitre – knee
DT Marcell Dareus – shoulder
OT Chris Hairston – knee
CB Leodis McKelvin – groin
TE Scott Chandler – groin

Did not practice
WR Justin Blackmon – groin
WR Cecil Shorts – hamstring
CB Derek Cox – hamstring
RB Maurice Jones-Drew – foot
DE Austen Lane – foot

Limited in practice
FB Greg Jones – thigh
CB Rashean Mathis – groin
DT Tyson Alualu – calf

Full practice
C Brad Meester – foot

Neither Blackmon nor Shorts were on the Jaguars injury report Wednesday, but both were added Thursday. Blackmon has a groin injury, while Shorts sustained a hamstring injury.

Blackmon leads the team in receptions with 38, while Shorts is the Jaguars’ leader in receiving yards (747), receiving average (20.8) and receiving touchdowns (6).

More will be known about their status for Sunday’s game following Friday’s practice.

Did not practice
DL Spencer Johnson – ankle, illness
DE Mark Anderson – knee
DE Chris Kelsay – neck

Limited in practice
CB Justin Rogers – foot
CB Aaron Williams – knee
FB Corey McIntyre – ankle
WR Brad Smith – hamstring
LB Nick Barnett - knee
G Kraig Urbik – knee
WR Donald Jones – calf
DT Kyle Williams – ankle

The biggest weather element that Gailey wanted his players to get accustomed to Thursday in preparation for Sunday was the wind.

“It is a benefit,” said Gailey. ”We need to do that. It’s supposed to be windy this weekend. It was not for the cold as much as it was for the wind.”

Winds are forecast to be steady at 20 miles per hour Sunday.

“No, don’t try to make anything out of that,” Mularkey told the Buffalo media via conference call. ”I have very good memories from there, but not incentives or motivation to do this or that. I have very good memories it was part of my NFL career. I’ve been in the league for 28 years. I’m very proud of the things that were accomplished there especially in 2004. It was one of my most memorable seasons as a coach to do what we did. And again the disappointment is just like the disappointment my three years in Atlanta where we didn’t win a playoff game. Those are things that are memories, but there are no hard feelings at all. You talk about a place that’s passionate about football it’s hard not to like it. Just like Pittsburgh and the fans that are passionate here (in Jacksonville).”

Mularkey is referring to the 2004 season when the Bills started the season 0-4 only to put together a six-game winning streak down the stretch, needing just one win to qualify for the playoffs in the season finale against Pittsburgh, but lost 29-24 to finish 9-7, the only winning season for Buffalo since 1999.

“Where we were to start and what we had to do to get to that point,” said Mularkey of the 2004 season. ”The Jacksonville game to open that season, if we stop Jacksonville any one of the three fourth downs that they convert on the last drive of the game we don’t have to beat Pittsburgh to go to the playoffs. And I’ve used the example of how one play in a number of plays in that 2004 season there were a number of one plays that changed the whole scenario in that Pittsburgh game where we would not have had to win it. We would’ve been in the playoffs. Yeah, I still talk about a lot of the things in that season. Getting over the adversity of starting 0-4. That’s a very memorable season for me.”

“I have to approach it just like any other high-powered offense, just like any other opponent. the only difference is, I’ll have a lot of guys after the game that i want to say “Hi,” to, a lot of guys to see after the game,” said Posluszny. ”As far as the approach during the week, it’s got to be just like any other opponent, because I can’t be nostalgic, say, ‘Man, great group of guys over there.’ Iknow so many of them, but I have to concentrate on the job at hand.”

Posluszny, whose first two seasons in Buffalo were cut short by injury, has not missed a single game since signing with Jacksonville.

Did not practice
DT Tyson Alualu – calf
CB Derek Cox – hamstring
RB Maurice Jones-Drew – foot
DE Austen Lane – foot
C Brad Meester – foot

Limited in practice
CB Rashean Mathis – groin
FB Greg Jones - thigh

Babin was released by the Eagles in a surprise move on Tuesday. The veteran pass rusher joins a team that is tied for last in the league with 13 sacks on the season.

A former first-round pick by Houston, he has 53.5 sacks in 109 career games. This season he had 5.5 sacks in 11 games for Philadelphia. He’s coming off an 18-sack season in 2011.