ORCHARD PARK - During the first half of the Buffalo Bills 47-10 blowout laugher over the Jacksonville Jaguars Monday night, NBA superstar LeBron James tweeted that he really enjoys watching Josh Allen play football.

Yeah, he’s not alone.

“That’s pretty cool,” Allen said when he was informed of the activity on LeBron’s X account. “I’ve been wearing LeBron’s cleats, the fruity pebbles at practice. I’m a big fan of his and you know, coming from him, one of the greatest if not the greatest NBA basketball player of all time, I think that’s that’s pretty cool.”

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Greatness knows greatness and LeBron certainly recognized Allen’s greatness in this game. He worked over the Jaguars defense in the first half the way LeBron took the ball down the lane and to the hoop in his heyday. Almost every pass was on point, every decision took advantage of what the Jaguars were offering him, and the result was 30 minutes of sheer brilliance.

“It feels good, I’ll tell you that,” he said of the 47-point explosion. “I think this could have easily been a game where we had 10 days off and let up on the gas. Didn’t sense that from our guys, a lot of urgency throughout the week, practiced really hard, had a really good game plan, I thought Joe (Brady) called a great, great game today.”

As great as Allen was, the defense also turned in superb effort, chewing up and spitting out Trevor Lawrence and the overmatched Jaguars and now the Bills head to Baltimore for a Sunday night showdown as one of only five teams undefeated teams remaining in the NFL.

The night was so miserable for the Jaguars, one of only three teams who are 0-3, their plane had mechanical difficulty and was delayed leaving the Buffalo airport.

Here’s how I graded the Bills:

PASS OFFENSE: A

Allen was nearly flawless in completing 23 of 30 passes for 263 yards and four touchdowns and, for the third consecutive game, he threw no interceptions. Allen came out with a clear purpose in this game because he and Brady knew the Jaguars were going to be unable to contain Buffalo’s arsenal playing as much man defense as they do. That proved correct as Brady exploited matchups all night.

Receivers were running open and one of the keys was running after the catch as the Bills piled up big yards in that area including on two of the TDs to Keon Coleman and Khalil Shakir. Shakir is a marvel because he catches everything thrown his way and in this one he was 6-for-6 for 72 yards. He has now caught all 14 passes thrown his way this season. Coleman was benched in the first quarter for a disciplinary reason, and his TD was the only pass thrown to him.

James Cook is also becoming a big part of the passing game as he had four catches for 48 yards, but his bugaboo of dropping TD passes reared its ugly head as he let a perfect Allen pass in the end zone go right through his hands. Up front, against a good Jacksonville front seven, the offensive line kept Allen clean.

RUN OFFENSE: A-

Cook’s numbers weren’t all that impressive as he carried just 11 times for 39 yards with a touchdown, but it really didn’t matter. He made positive gains on all of his attempts which helped keep the Bills in favorable down and distance, and on his touchdown run, he made a nice play to get outside and then outrun the Jaguars defense to the pylon.

Allen was big in the run game as he took off six times for 44 yards and five of his runs produced first downs. Ray Davis got into the act in the second half and he scored his first NFL touchdown in the fourth quarter, finishing with 22 yards. The Bills averaged 4.2 yards per attempt.

PASS DEFENSE: A

Lawrence never had a chance. The Bills’ secondary, even without Taron Johnson, not to mention LBs Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard who would be out there on all passing downs, has been fantastic all season and this was no exception. Lawrence completed 21 of 38 for 178 yards with one TD and an interception.

CBs Rasul Douglas and Christian Benford are becoming one of the best boundary duos in the NFL, and the Bills have not missed long time safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer one bit as Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin continue to prevent any big plays from occurring. Hamlin made his first career interception, quite a thing considering the last time he started in a Monday night game was Jan. 3, 2022 when he suffered his cardiac arrest.

Gabe Davis’ return to Buffalo resulted in two catches for 18 yards. Christian Kirk had eight for 79, but almost all of that came in the second half when the game was long decided. The Bills, playing with a big lead, were able to turn up the pass rush and they finished with five sacks, one of those by Von Miller and another by rookie Javon Solomon playing in his first NFL game. That one came against Mac Jones and resulted in a fumble which Casey Toohill recovered. The others came from Toohill, AJ Epenesa, and Ja’Marcus Ingram.

RUN DEFENSE: B+

The bulk of Jacksonville’s 92 yards came in the second half when the Bills were just trying to get the game over. The Jaguars managed just 19 yards in the first half as the their offensive line could not get much push against the Bills’ front. Travis Etienne finished with 68 yards, 22 coming on one carry in the second half.

LB Dorian Williams led the Bills with 10 tackles while Cam Lewis was in on eight, and what that shows is that he’s playing exactly the way Taron Johnson plays as a tenacious run defender. Baylon Spector was in on six tackles.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B+

Tyler Bass was attacked on social media for his blocked extra point, but there was a breakdown in protection which led to that, so it’s pretty tough to pin it on the kicker. Otherwise, Bass made two field goals and his other four extra points and on kickoffs, he had eight touchbacks out of nine.

Sam Martin punted only once and it was a 49-yarder that resulted in a fair catch. In the return game, Brandon Codrington looks like a steal from the Jets as he had two punt returns for 22 and 19 yards. Ty Johnson had the lone kickoff return and it was a good one for 32 yards.

COACHING: A

Allen referenced the fact that the Bills had a lot of time off between games and that could have been a problem in terms of being sharp at the start. Clearly, it was not a problem so Sean McDermott deserves credit for that as he had his team ready to go.

McDermott’s continued aggressiveness on fourth down resulted in two possessions ending in touchdowns, and in terms of the defense, he and Bobby Babich have cooked up some masterful schemes while working through key injuries.

Offensive coordinator Joe Brady has been on fire through the first three games and the Bills lead the NFL with 112 points. Some of his play designs in the passing game have been works of art, and the key is that the Bills are executing those plays.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills report card: Josh Allen brilliant as Buffalo blows out Jaguars