After an 0-3 start to the 2003 regular season in Jack Del Rio's first season as head coach of the Jaguars, Byron Leftwich started for the Jaguars in their week four matchup against the Texans in favor of the injured Mark Brunell. While the circumstances regarding Blaine Gabbert replacing Luke McCown are different than that of Leftwich replacing Brunell, the situation for Gabbert is not that much different than it was Leftwich.

The 2003 Jaguars finished as the league's fifteenth ranked passing offense, eighth ranked rushing offense, eighteenth ranked passing defense and the second ranked rushing defense. Ultimately, they were a team that ran the ball well and stopped the run well.

While the Jaguars obviously hope for a higher level of performance from Gabbert over the long-term than they received from Leftwich, Leftwich's performance in his starting debut provides a good bar for expectations from Gabbert.

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Today, I get back to my listing of some of the Jacksonville Jaguars' greatest games of all time. I ended last week with the greatest upset the Jaguars have ever dished out, and today we move on to another great playoff victory. The Jaguars defeated the Steelers during the regular season of 2007, but up 'til this point in history, no team had ever defeated the Steelers at Pittsburgh twice in the same season.

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As Jaguars fans, it's practically a prerequisite that we love the running game. For all of you who do love running, this is the holy grail for you. The Jaguars got the running game revved up in a hurry. First Fred Taylor ran for 76 yards on his first touch of the day, and the very next play Murice Jones-Drew dusted off the final 17 yards of a 93 yard drive. I watched the highlights from this game, and it's greatly satisfying.

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Today's game was all about defense. A true to form battle. On September 18, 2006, the Jaguars played host to the defending Super Bowl champions, the Steelers, on Monday Night football. The stadium was absolutely electric, as; the Jaguars had one of the best defensive units in the league. This was the height of the "yeah but" in reference to the Jaguars. Nevertheless, the Jaguars showed up for this primetime game, and gave the national audience one of the  most physical displays in recent history.

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A little housekeeping before we get to the game. These will be in no particular order, and you may have to forgive me if I get too into some of these.

If you like defensive struggles, then this is the game for you. Byron Leftwich had been struggling for 58 minutes to do anything positive for the Jaguars when he was given the ball with just over 2 minutes left with the Jags trailing 6 to 10. Leftwich picked that moment to put together one of the most famous drives in Jacksonville Jaguars history.

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Starting tomorrow, I want to start taking a look at some of the Jacksonville Jaguars' greatest games. There are a few games that immediately come to mind such as the 1996 Jaguars knocking off the #1 seeded Broncos in Denver and the 2007 playoff game in Pittsburgh. As you would expect, those will be covered, but I want to hear from you about other great games I should cover. Please throw up suggested games in the comments section, and I'll check them out. I'm really looking forward to this little trip down memory lane, and I hope you'll enjoy it.

Really, what does it do? Most decent coaches in the league wind up at around .500 in wins and losses. If you're looking for outliers, Belichek is a coaching genius and had a career 63% win ratio, and Tony Dungy has 66%. Let's be serious though, those guys are Hall of Fame coaches with a couple of all-time greats at QB for them. A better example would be Tom Coughlin, who coached the Jaguars for their first eight years of existence. He has a 55.4% win ratio, and he's a good coach. A super bowl winning coach. A coach who took a 2nd year franchise to the AFC championship game. Jack Del Rio is a .508 coach on an average team. Seriously, how much of a drop off is that, and how many more wins would a different coach have brought to the team? Of the guys out there, I'd imagine the difference is negligable.

Honestly, based on the talent of the teams he's dealt with, I think he's done an incredible job. Think about it: look at the Jaguars roster this. Half of those guys are castoffs and young guys. Now look at all the guys on IR and the injuries this team went through this year. Think of the 4th downs and good time management that led to the last minute wins. Del Rio should get a medal for getting this team to .500 this year. Go watch the "Hard Knocks" they did in for the Jags in 2003-04. I watched it and found myself really sad. If not for Byron Leftwich, Reggie Williams and Matt Jones, this team could have been great. We had the defense and a powerful running game. Then we collapsed in 2007 and never got the defense back. Still, for reasons I will explain, I think Wayne Weaver will have to fire Jack Del Rio.

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In 2003, the Jaguars were in full blown rebuilding mode. By 2002, the salary cap Devil had come to collect on all of those backloaded contracts that fueled the 1999 team. Franchise players like Keenan McCardell and Tony Boselli were no longer on the team. However, 2003 saw the full effect of that change. Tom Coughlin was fired in December 2002, and Jack Del Rio hired to replacement Coughlin in January. In addition, Marshall QB Byron Leftwich was drafted 7th overall to replace star QB Mark Brunell.

Fast forward to October 5th, 2003 and the team is a  wreck. Star WR Jimmy Smith was suspended for four games because of drug use. Byron Leftwich had the longest holdout in team history and dug himself into a PR hole he never got out of while in Jacksonville. The terms "Blackout" and "Ticket Issues" were beginning to become a fact of life for the Jaguars. Fewer than 49,000 people attended this game.

Despite a close fought opening day loss to Carolina that showed promise, the Jaguars entered the game 0-4. In addition, the week prior, Mark Brunell was injured vs the Texans and replaced by Byron Leftwich. With all of this, in stepped the last team the Jags had never played,  0-4 San Diego. In what was dubbed "The Toilet Bowl", the loser was expected to hold the #1 pick in next year's upcoming draft.

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