JaguarsTalk: Jacksonville Jaguars Fan Mail (Sort Of)
JaguarsTalk: It’s time to answer the fans
At this point in the short career of JaguarsTalk we are taking a break from the daily grind in order to answer some of the most burning questions that you, the Jacksonville Jaguars fans, are asking. Now, some of you might be wondering how JaguarsTalk, being such a young website, is getting so many fan questions that they have to dedicate an entire column to answering them. Well, we here at JaguarsTalk would like to believe that we have grown such a large fanbase in such a short amount of time that it warrants such a column. Truth is, however, that my family hasn’t quite sent enough questions (read: any at all) to justify me turning them into a full article yet. Because of this, we have scoured the vast expanse known as the World Wide Web in search of the most intriguing questions occupying the minds of you, the Jacksonville fan. After filtering out the 98% that deal specifically with - why Walker over Hutchinson - which as a point of interest, I will quickly answer the Walker/Hutchinson debate by simply stating this: We will see soon enough if Walker was the correct choice. A previous JaguarsTalk column, dealing with the Washington match-up, goes in-depth as to why we will find out almost immediately if Walker was the smart play. Now that we’ve gotten the messy stuff out of the way, let’s move on to the single most asked question among Jaguars fans. It deals with why Jacksonville has been disrespected by the NFL because of the lack of 2022 primetime games.
Many say it’s wrong that almost all upcoming Jaguar games are at 1pm and that only one primetime game, against the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets, exists. I will agree, but only because that means those at TIAA Bank stadium will be sitting in the heat of the day, with zero shade, for practically the entirety of the game. For that reason alone I am not happy with the number of 1pm games. The question is if it is a righteous slight to make the Jags play almost all of their games at 1pm, instead of granting Jacksonville some primetime slots. The answer is a very emphatic, yes. I agree with the NFL here.
The Jaguars don’t deserve primetime slots. They haven’t been a good team for a very long time, hence two consecutive years of drafting number one. I would bet that if you asked the Jaguars’ players and coaches they’d tell you that they have to earn those primetime slots. They need to win and show that they deserve time slots other than those at 1pm. This really shouldn’t be a question at all. This shouldn’t be taken as a “slight” against the Jags. It’s not personal, it’s monetary. The NFL is a business. It makes total sense. What this should be viewed as, instead, is bulletin board fodder. Incentive. Drive. It is certainly something that Jacksonville should take personally, simply because the Jaguars did it to themselves. It gets no more personal than that.
The team, though, should feel a deep responsibility to fix this problem. The brass has done their job. They’ve pulled out all of the stops. They paid top dollar for much improved talent and they drafted extremely well. Hell, there is even a new, Super Bowl winning, coach on our sideline. Shahid Khan has purchased all of the necessary ingredients with which to do something about a perceived lack of respect. This is a problem with only one solution, winning. They need to perform on the field and live up to the expectations that come with being multi-million dollar professional athletes. Make no mistake, these players have expectations they’ve set for themselves, which in the mind of a professional athlete, should be higher than the expectations set by the fans. After all, one does not become an athlete of professional caliber without a winning mindset. If you ask me, and hopefully next time you will ask me directly, I’m glad that the NFL put Jags games at 1pm. At the same time I am very glad that Jacksonville has a completely revamped and predominantly young team. It is important to have that combination in order to climb out of obscurity. You don’t want to still field the old team that caused the issue because there would be less enthusiasm to dig out of the hole. You also don’t want to be a young, new team handed primetime slots you haven’t yet earned. So, to me, the Jaguars have the perfect combination for a breakout season. They are young, talented, and hungry. They have a need to prove to themselves, and the world, that they belong in the NFL. The cherry on top is that they are being shown, deservedly so, disrespect by the scheduling gods. That is their driving force. This team knows that they are bottom of the barrel until they prove otherwise and I bet they like it that way. In sports, the underdog position is always a strong position in which to be.
The 2022 Jacksonville Jaguars are the perfect recipe for a Dateline special. The Jag’s have been beaten and now the NFL, through scheduling, are kicking them while they’re down. The Jag’s are young, hungry, and anxious to prove themselves. Jacksonville certainly has the motive, and the ability to prove the NFL wrong, kill these 1pm game times for 2023, and earn themselves some deserved primetime scheduling. I’m placing a call to Keith Morrison.