Jacksonville Jaguars - AFC South Champs

JT: IT WAS ALWAYS THE JAGS

I’d love to update the pod right now, but I legitimately have no voice. Let’s take a moment to reflect upon the day that was yesterday. I would say the game that was, but it wasn’t just a game, it was an entire day. The Slab opened at 1pm. This, of course, meant that it was already half full when we arrived at noon. The game started at 8:15pm. That’s an eight hour and fifteen minute early arrival. What to do, what to do? I won’t swear to it, but I’m pretty sure that’s enough time to enjoy yourself, sober up and start enjoying yourself, yet again, before having to make your way to The Bank. After taking in The Slab tailgate and making our way around to literally every other available tailgate…oh btw, we walked literally everywhere. During our travels I swear I saw E to the T, of 1010XL fame, tooling around in a golf cart blasting some Duuuval lyrics. At that point I knew we had done it incorrectly and ET’s game was on another level. Still so much to learn in life. Every day teaches you something valuable, thus I am researching golf carts (of course JaguarsTalk will need a new company truck to carry it around). 

We made our way to the Duuuval House to say hello to Brent Martineau and Kasey Kuhrts, while sporting the ever so stylish Brent and Friends knit cap. If you don’t have it, you don’t know…and your ears were chilly last night. Mine were comfortably toasty. Several hours, and many happenings, past before we made it into The Bank (supposed to open at 6 but really opened at 5). One of the beautiful things about TIAA Bank Field is that they have TVs everywhere and they were all tuned to the Kansas City/Las Vegas Raiders game. If you couldn’t find a comfortable seat for the game, you could always head to Daily’s Place, grab a chair anywhere you wanted, and listen to some live music while watching the game on the big screen. This worked perfectly. Had to get off the feets. The ol’ dogs were barking. Soon it became time to watch some warm-ups. All the Jags players were nodding to and acknowledging fans, as they stretched, but two players in particular made a point to come over and sign autographs. Evan Engram jogged to the endzone crowd and signed several autos while Trevor Lawrence stopped at the entrance to the tunnel before heading in. Every player, btw, was wearing a “Love For Damar” t-shirt during warm-up. It was just very cool to see.

Alright, enough of this trip down memory lane. After getting a second mortgage and using a home equity line of credit to purchase all of the warm clothing from the Jags stadium shop, we sat for about thirty seconds before the game, stood for the National Anthem and never sat down again for the rest of the night. To sum up the on-field play, Trevor was pedestrian for most of the night. He was average for Trevor Lawrence, missing a wide open touchdown pass and fumbling a pitch to Agnew resulting in points the other way. The good news is that the sign of a great team is when the other facets can pick up the slack to win the game. The defense was phenomenal and the special teams was on-point. Those guys won the game for Jacksonville and Doug Pederson believes this. I know this because Doug Pederson said he believes this. Now, that kind of play will get your team to the playoffs. Once there however, it will take all three facets of the game firing on all cylinders to bring home the dub. Trevor will be ready for the Chargers. So will this young defense of Jacksonville’s that we so highly believed in through week three and then so vehemently hated until their trip back across the pond. As for the special teams, well they’ve always been special. I’m still shocked out of my pants that, at the very least, Logan Cooke didn’t make the Pro-Bowl. What’s a Jaguars player gotta do? 

Let’s take a look at some stats. For the first 50+ minutes of the game the Jaguars were getting beaten, worked over, and losing to Tennessee. Hacker from 1010XL summed it up best in his tweet (@RyanGreen1010XL) when he said, “Titans have 23 guys on IR. They’re playing a QB that’s been on their roster for 17 days, and they’ve come back to Jacksonville and been the better team for the first 50 minutes of this game.” Evidently someone showed this tweet to Rayshawn and J. Allen just in time. Going back to the offense, let’s give some love to Trevor Lawrence who, even though he didn’t have the greatest game against Tenn, managed to join both Bortles and Brunell as the only QBs in franchise history to throw for at least 4,000 yards in a season (4,113). While we’re on that subject, Chrisitan Kirk is a 1,000 yard receiver (1,108) and Travis Etienne is a 1,000 yard running back (1,125). Let’s also not forget that Foye Oluokun led the league, yet again, in tackles with 184. How does Oluokun not make the pro-bowl? Who is deciding these things and why do they still have a job? Marvin Jones Jr. will most likely not be with the Jaguars next season but the man just catches the ball. He made some of the most important grabs of the season. It seemed like all of his receptions were at pivotal points. While the Jags receivers had the most drops in the NFL, MJJ was sure handed and reliable. The same can be said for Evan Engram who was once accused of not having hands. My man went 73 of 98 for 766 yards and 4 tuddies this year. A career best. Let’s resign this guy please. I have a feeling there’ll be a lot of restructuring going on this offseason. Who wouldn’t want to stay and play for Doug? Seems like Dewey Wingard is trying to get Doug to adopt him. No offense to the senior Wingards, you raised a great kid, but he is Doug Pederson after all. I think I might buy his jersey. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Josh Allen. He has been run through the ringer this entire season. Fans wanted him traded, and said he was overrated. Allen waded through the mess, kept his head up, continued with his excellent team leadership, and came alive when we needed him most. Scoop and score for the AFC South division title. Always positive Josh Allen needs to be re-signed as well. Figure. It. Out. 

Switching gears to next week, the Jaguars will be hosting the Los Angeles Chargers. It is very, I will repeat this, VERY difficult to beat the same team twice in one season. Look at what it took to beat the Titans a second time, and they certainly ain’t the Chargers (I refer you back to Hacker’s earlier quote). When the Jags beat the Chargers in week three, QB Justin Herbert was banged up with some painful rib issues. Plus Keenan Allen, their #1 WR, was sidelined. Now, I’m always the first to say that this is the NFL, so even the second stringers are the best in the world. Injuries are an excuse that the losing fans bring up to make themselves feel better. As a winning fan of the earlier Chargers/Jags game I feel I can point out how much better LA will be next weekend when they travel to the Bold City. In the words of the late, great Kobe Bryant “Job’s not finished!”

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