The AFC South Championship Game
JT: Both the Titans and the Jaguars seek a playoff birth and the AFC South title
This is a big one folks. Quite possibly the biggest Jacksonville Jaguars game since 2017. With the holidays, and life, happening JaguarsTalk has been on hiatus when you’ve needed us most. I’d like to apologize, but we were with family and, let’s be honest, they are our main readers (self-deprecating humor is always the best). But we are here now and you are itching for a good read. Let’s give it a scratch.
We are typing this column as we sit here at THE SLAB for little pregame festivities. Let’s hope there is spell check on this puppy as I can not promise what this column will look like as time progresses. I will try to use all of my advanced vocabulary early on. To give you an idea of the magnitude of this game, The Slab opens at 1pm. for tailgating for an 8:15pm prime time game. We arrived at 12:15 and it was already half full. This match-up is no joke. Doug Pederson has said throughout the year that the Jaguars season will come down to week 18. Technically, he would have been correct no matter, because the season always comes down to week 18, for every team. It’s literally the final week of regular season football. But Doug meant something different, he meant that the Jaguars have the talent to play meaningful football in January.
Take a trip with us in the way back machine and try to remember when, after losing four pre-season games, fans just wanted 6 wins and to be playing meaningful football in November. That would have counted as a successful season and good first year for the new head ball coach. Then remember, after week three, when the Jags had shut out the division favorite Colts and beat the LA Chargers in the cereal state. A win in the land of nuts and flakes had eluded JAX for years. At that point we were all, including JaguarsTalk, looking at the schedule and somehow convincing ourselves that a 12-5 season was reasonable and within reach. That is when the proverbial s%^t hit the fan. During the winless month of October, 2023 draft talk started. Trent Baalke should be fired talk started. Lawrence is a bust talk started. Etienne is a fumbler talk started (well, unfortunately that actually continues). And the clowns, yes all of the clown faces, swamped social media once again. The Jags were bottom of the AFC South barrel and heading for another top five draft selection. To be fair though, nobody ever said they cared about playing meaningful football in October.
Then November rolled around and the Jags hit their stride. Something happened in London after the loss to the Broncos. Maybe T-Law was bitten by the same spider that found Peter Parker because Lawrence did a 180. He was transformed (so maybe he was stung by Bumble Bee - see what I did there?) into an unstoppable machine. The Jags went on a tear, turning a 2-6 season into an 8-8 season. Jacksonville is one win away from the AFC South title and a playoff birth where the First Coast would get to host. It doesn’t get any better than this. So here we sit, at The Slab, 7 hours before kick-off, with all of the other Jacksonville Jaguar hooligans. We brought our teal, our tailgate and our libations. We fully expect to not be able to talk tomorrow because it will be our voices (the collective 70,000 fans) who cause Tennessee to waste time outs and accumulate false starts. This is what football is all about folks. It doesn’t matter that it’s an 8-8 team playing a 7-9 team. What matters is that for Jacksonville, the Jaguars have a very bright future and today we get to celebrate meaningful football in January.
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