Mitch Morse expects a “different opportunity” when he experiences Highmark Stadium as a visitor for the first time.
Morse spent the past five years as Buffalo’s starting center and witnessed how much “it sucks for the other team.” Now, he’ll be among the ones getting harassed when he returns to the Bills’ stadium with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday night.
“It’s a special group of people and it’s a special inebriation level that they reach in the game,” Morse said. “But it’s a beautiful fan base and one that I cherished for five years.
“It’ll be definitely a different opportunity to have the stuff thrown at you rather than seeing how it sucks for the other team. Now I’ll have to be dodging and dipping stuff. It’ll be good.”
Thanks to Morse, receiver Gabe Davis, special teams coach Heath Farwell and receivers coach Chad Hall, the Jaguars should have a grasp on how to better handle one of the NFL’s most daunting road venues. All four worked in Buffalo in recent years.
Morse and Davis were on the same side of the ball for four seasons there, and it was no coincidence they landed in Jacksonville together.
The Jaguars were looking to add veterans with playoff experience, so they signed Morse, Davis, defensive lineman Arik Armstead from San Francisco, safety Darnell Savage from Green Bay and cornerback Ronald Darby and return specialist Devin Duvernay from Baltimore.
Morse and Davis are the only ones with a pseudo homecoming scheduled this season, and it comes with the Jaguars (0-2) still trying to find their footing.
Jacksonville has struggled offensively, averaging a measly 15 points while quarterback Trevor Lawrence continues to make rookie mistakes behind an inconsistent line and continues to play without Pro Bowl tight end Evan Engram (hamstring). Coach Doug Pederson isn’t ready to hit the panic button and will keep his starting lineup intact against the Bills (2-0).
“The message you kind of relay is don’t ride the roller coaster of emotions that is the NFL, that outside the building wants you to,” Morse said. “If you feed into that, you’re not going to be in the right head space to attack the day. Keep it insulated, keep it in house and don’t ride the waves.
“We know we need to work. … We have a great opportunity against a very good opponent in an extremely hostile environment.”
The Bills have won 11 of their past 12 at home, with the lone loss coming on a last-second debacle against Denver last season. So the Jaguars understand how close to perfect they need to play to win a prime-time road game in that environment.
“It’s unreal,” Davis said. “The Buffalo fan base is awesome. They support their team like nothing else. That’s what I loved about Buffalo so much is that they were there no matter what, school nights and everything. It’s awesome to see, and I’m happy that the guys here will be able to experience something like that because it is an unreal stadium.”
Morse spent the first four years of his NFL career with Kansas City and never played in Buffalo, so he got a crash course on the Bills Mafia and their table-smashing tailgates when he signed with the Bills in 2019.
“It’s a very rambunctious crowd,” he quipped.
The Jags have dropped three in a row in Buffalo, with their most recent win there coming in 2010. Pederson and his players stopped short of calling this a must-win scenario. But given how few NFL teams start 0-3 and make the playoffs, they realize the stakes.
“The fans are going to be juiced up and ready to go,” Pederson said. “It’ll be good for us. It’s a benchmark. It’s a measuring stick game right now.”
Morse knows that as well as anyone, having been on a Kansas City team in 2016 that started 1-5 before winning 11 in a row and been on several squads that started well and stumbled down the stretch.
“I’ve seen quite a bit,” he said. “The teams that seem to not ride the rollercoaster, that weather the storms that are going to happen are the teams that care about each other and fight for each other but also have a sense of urgency.
“I’m not saying it’s all good. There’s definitely stuff we need to fix, don’t get me wrong. We’ll just work on it and do it in a constructive way.”
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