Something is Different in Jacksonville
JT: There is something different about JAX this season.
I arrived two and a half hours before kick-off to the third Jaguars pre-season game against the Miami Dolphins this past Saturday. Now, unless the Miami contingent traveled up 95 to the First Coast in brigades, there is something out of the ordinary going on in Jacksonville. It’s a pre-season game. I get that Trevor and the boys will be starting and playing for the first half…maybe. But two and a half hours before a regular season game was plenty of time to get a spot in my favorite, easy egress, no waiting time to get over the bridge and home after a game, parking lot. Well, not this evening. Not for the first home game, albeit pre-season, of this Jaguars season. Something is in the air. We, as a fandom, tasted the sweet sweet nectar of success last year under Doug Pederson, and the wanting for more is evident. I was forced to park a mile from the stadium (read half mile. I am sometimes prone to exaggeration) instead of right across the street and made to pay $15 more for parking than last years pre-season. Turns out $17.26 more for parking. Since when did they start adding a tax charge to event parking fees? Who knew winning would require me to get a second job. It’s fun to see more fans at the games and to see everyone getting into the spirit of the season, but my boys better reward my now empty wallet with a plethora of dubyas this season. Just sayin’.
There were a few observations from my new tailgate spot that I would like to share with my faithful readers at this time. The first being, I whole heartedly believe that Jaguars games lead people to think that they can pull off outfits that they literally have no right attempting to even think about wearing, let alone actually wearing. It harkens me back to a line from one of the greatest movie sequels of all time when Will Smith entered the scene way over dressed for police work in Bad Boys II. “What are you a cop or a model?” Except nobody here at this tailgate can be accused of signing any modeling contracts. Secondly, I appreciate the absolute love of the game. Fans are into the spirit of the season so much so that in (please hold while I check my weather app) 90 degree sun where the “feels like” temperature is 101 degrees they are running patterns in front of my car throwing and catching a football like they’ve just come from a sit down with Trent Baalke and put their John Hancock on Jaguars letter head. To give you an example of how I feel while typing this column, I’m breaking a sweat hitting the keyboard on my laptop in an air conditioned vehicle. By the time I make it to the stadium it will look as if I showered in my clothes but smell as if I hadn’t. That is all I have for you guys at this point. It is time to put away the computer and begin the weeks long journey to Everbank. I hope that you are all here when I return for a bit of a recap.
That was definitely an ending I’ve never witnessed before. Obviously the Damar Hamlin incident from last season played a role in tonight’s decision to end this game early. Though we learned very quickly after the game that Miami’s Daewood Davis is conscious with movement in all extremities, thank you God. So let’s talk about this game. First of all, the NFL is going to have to let the Jaguars keep more than 53 rostered players this year. Has Goodell seen Seth Williams, Elijah Cooks, and Jacob Harris? “Him” Jones is going to take the last WR roster spot but each of these three guys above are NFL caliber receivers. We aren’t going to be able to hide them on our practice squad. Cooks was awesome again tonight (3 receptions for 35 yards). Not to be outdone, Williams came to play with 2 for 50, and Harris was one for nine. The Jaguars went from bringing in all new starting wide receivers last year (Kirk, Jones, and Jones Jr.) to having to cut many who should be starting in the NFL this year. And, they will be, unfortunately just not in Jacksonville. One of the main reason these kids won’t be able to hide on our practice squad is the Detroit Lions. They are hurting in this position and got a full weeks worth of looks at our WR room spanning a couple scrimmages and a pre season game. JaguarsTalk would not be surprised if some of these guys move to the motor city next week.
The Jaguars first team offense, minus Tank tanking on the one inch line and fumbling away a sure Jags TD, looked phenomenal. The expectations are unbelievably high this year and the question isn’t if but how much will JAX score each game. Pederson has been preaching getting off to a fast start and while Bigsby’s fumble negated possible points on the board, the offense had 12 first downs on the first two drives. They looked unstoppable, even on a 4th and 6 completion pass to Christian Kirk. Calvin Ridley was never not open when he was on the field leading to a circus catch which set up a score and proved that #0 is back and one of the best in the league. The Baalke masterclass strikes again. Luke Farrell was on fire with two receptions for 24 yards. Every player who can catch a ball did, with the exception being Evan “big money” Engram. But that new contract is not going to slow him down in the regular season. Lawrence spread the love like it was day one at Woodstock. Bigsby bounced back with some ground and pound hard earned yardage, like a bowling ball putting some turkeys on the board. Brenton Strange looked good. D’Ernest Johnson looked good. JaMycal Hasty, Nathan Rourke, CJ Beathard…I can’t think of a single player that didn’t look good.
As for the Jaguars defense. They bent but didn’t break. They held Miami to field goals. They created turnovers. They contained (minus the first Dolphins’ pass to Tyreek Hill). They were a solid unit doing some severe damage to a playoff caliber offensive Miami Dolphin team. Josh Allen had some solid edge play not allowing running backs to bounce outside. Walker and Lloyd are improved and wreaking havoc on every play. RRH and Foye regaled us with some strong and dominating take down tackles. Even Shaq Quarterman and Montaric Brown had their names mentioned often. It was extremely good to see how well Yasir Abdullah, Gregory Junior, and Erick Hallett played. In fact the biggest defensive question in my mind is who will start at nickel for the Jags? Did Pederson see enough from Gregory Junior to name him the starter over Tre Herndon? What a story that would be for the first ever player drafted from Ouachita Baptist. He had one hell of a pre-season, including three tackles tonight. By comparison, Tre Herndon had one tackle all pre-season.
The offense was impressive. The defense was stout. Logan Cooke remains a super hero with no equals. The only chink in the Jags armor may be the fact that they still seam to be one step too slow to boost the sack total and if we are getting picky, their kick coverage seemed lacking throughout the entirety of the pre-season. Folks, the Jags look exceedingly ready to repeat as AFC South Champions and, knock on wood, go further into this coming post season. The only thing I need to figure out is how to park closer to The Bank. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.