Jaguars tired of 'moral victories' | jacksonville.com

Following tighter-than-expected wins over the Jaguars this year, players from Green Bay, Houston and New England were complimentary of the Jaguars’ effort. It happened again after the Patriots’ 23-16 win over the Jaguars on Sunday. "They sure didn’t play like a team that has only won two games," New England defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said. And, frankly, the Jaguars are sick of it. All they see during a now franchise-worst season (2-13) is blown leads, bad second halves and losses.

What we learned... Patriots vs. Jaguars

1. Justin Blackmon is improving. The rookie wide receiver has shown signs in the second half of the season, and he continues to show those signs. He’s not all the way there yet. He needs a lot of growth and progress in the offseason, but if he can build on what he has done, he has a chance to be very effective. 2. This team hasn’t quit. There were some troubling signs the last month when the Jaguars came out of halftime and got dominated on both sides of the ball. The Patriots had rallied in the second quarter, and seemed poised for a big third quarter. Instead, the Jaguars’ defense played well enough to keep the Patriots close and the Jaguars very nearly tied the game in the fourth quarter.

Jaguars proud, disappointed

JACKSONVILLE – A day later, Mike Mularkey felt much the same. And that meant while a lot went right for the Jaguars Sunday in the final home game of 2012, including maybe their best overall performance of the season, the end result was still a loss. So, within a lot of talk from the Jaguars’ head coach about pride and heart Monday, there was just as much talk about disappointment and frustration. A lot of disappointment. "I thought our guys played extremely hard, and fought all the way to the end," Mularkey said a day after the Jaguars lost, 23-16, to the New England Patriots at EverBank Field. "I was very proud of them the way they played.