The Jacksonville Jaguars finished their season with a disappointing 5-11 season, unable to take advantage of the best quarterback play in franchise history, a blossoming offense, and a weak AFC South.
Before the season began, we made 15 predictions on how the team and players would do. How well did our predictions fare this year?
Blake Bortles: 3,600 passing yards, 18 touchdowns — An improved running game (albeit, still not a good one, in my opinion), a stronger offensive line, and an offensive scheme with Greg Olson that looks to play up Bortles' strengths better than Jedd Fisch's all give him the potential to have the best single-season yardage for the Jaguars since 2008, but will he do it? Yes.
Our take: Over on yards, under on touchdowns
Verdict: Right on yards (4,428), very, very wrong on touchdowns (35)
Allen Robinson: 75 catches — Allen Robinson is the best hope the Jaguars have at reclaiming the receiving corps dynasty they had in the latter half of the 1990's. He had just one drop in 76 targets last year and averaged 4.8 catches per game through 10 games. Take that average out over the season and it's 76 receptions.
Our take: Over
Verdict: Right (80)
Marqise Lee: 5 games missed due to injury — The second-round pick in 2014 struggled through injury in his first training camp and sat out of OTA practices with a hurt knee. He's an explosive player with great speed, but there's something up with his fitness and conditioning.
Our take: Over
Verdict: Right (7)
Julius Thomas: 5.5 touchdown catches — While I think Thomas greatly improves upon his yardage totals (489 yards in 2014) his touchdowns will take a nose dive. As Blake Bortles goes, so goes Thomas.
Our take: Under
Verdict: Right (5)
T.J. Yeldon: 1,000 yards — The second-round running back out of Alabama will be the feature back in Jacksonville, but Toby Gerhart and Denard Robinson figure to steal some carries from him. Even if not, it's hard to imagine a running back not named Fred Taylor or Maurice Jones-Drew getting 1,000 yards.
Our take: Under
Verdict: Right (740)
Toby Gerhart: 30 rush attempts — The Toby Gerhart Experiment lasted all of a few games last year before coaches finally figured out he's just not that good. He'll have an even more diminished role in the running game than people realize. H-back could be in his future.
Our take: Under
Verdict: Right (20)
Allen Hurns: 400 yards, 4 touchdowns — The arrival of Rashad Greene and the improved play of Allen Robinson means Hurns will have less opportunities in 2015.
Our take: Under on both
Verdict: Hilariously wrong on yards (1,031) and touchdowns (10)
Marcedes Lewis: 2 touchdowns — Julius Thomas is the beginning of the end for Lewis. He'll see 1-2 receptions per game (maybe) but he'll rarely see the end zone.
Our take: Under
Verdict: Right (0)
Jaguars defense: 45 sacks — Will they do better or worse than they did last year? I have to imagine that with Michael Bennett being the only upgrade and an ACL injury to the best defensive line means the unit struggles. Not by much, but it still struggles.
Our take: Under
Verdict: Right (36.0)
Jaguars defense: 6 interceptions — Again, will they do better or worse than they did last year? They'll collect a few less sacks, but I think they get at least 2-3 more interceptions than last year. Another year for Demetrius McCray and Aaron Colvin will do wonders.
Our take: Over
Verdict: Right (9), but so, so wrong on Colvin and McCray.
Points per game given up: 25.5 — The Jaguars gave up over 25 points per game last year? Jesus. Well, I don't think that gets any better. In fact, I think it gets worse. With an improved offense, teams won't be letting off the gas as quickly. We'll have more wins and closer losses, but they'll be higher-scoring.
Our take: Over
Verdict: Right (28)
Points per game scored: 15.5 — Higher scores, closer losses, more wins. That's going to be 2015. I suspect a much higher points per game average.
Our take: Over
Verdict: Right (23.5)
Josh Scobee: 84 percent on field goal attempts — In the three seasons prior to 2014, Scobee was accurate on at least 89 percent of his kicks. In the three seasons prior to that, he was never better than 79 percent. Will he get back to being more accurate?
Our take: Over
Verdict: lol (but Jason Myers was good for 86.7% of his kicks)
Punt/kick returns for touchdown: 0.5 — Quick! When was the last time the Jaguars returned a punt or a kick for a touchdown? Give up? 2010, with Mike Thomas. That's four full seasons with nothing. I don't expect it to change in 2015.
Our take: Under
Verdict: Wrong (1)
Regular-season wins: 5.5 — Despite the fact that the Jaguars have gotten better across a lot of positions, they're still not a very good football team. Even in a weak AFC South, I don't see six wins on the schedule.
Our take: Under
Verdict: Right, sadly (5)