The Jacksonville Jaguars ended the 2011 NFL season and began the new year on a high note, beating the Indianapolis Colts 19-13. It was a pretty straight forward game plan for the Jaguars offense, hand the ball to Maurice Jones-Drew who historically has great games against the Colts. Once again, Jones-Drew had a great day running for 169 yards on 25 carriers, locking up the NFL's rushing title for 2011 and setting a franchise record for rushing yards in a season with 1,606 yards.

Rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert was off and on, ending the day with just 92 yards on 19 pass attempts, but the game plan was clearly for the Jaguars to run the football, running the ball 32 times on the day. Gabber did pick up a 23-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Chastin West. It was a nice anticipation throw on the pattern with West holding on and breaking a tackle to get into the endzone.

The Jaguars defense once again gave up under 300 total yards to their opponent, despite missing a ton of starters. Defensive end Jeremy Mincey saved his best day for the last day, causing trouble for Colts quarterback Dan Orlovsky all day long and ending the game with 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble. Another good day by the defense allowed them to finish sixth overall on the season, the only team ranking in the top seven with a losing record.

The team was able to send Wayne and Delores Weaver out on a victory as the franchise begins to transition to new ownership and a new coaching staff.

Finally the 2011 Jaguars disaster of a season is over and it ended the right way, with Maurice Jones-Drew having a huge day and the Jaguars beating the Colts. While the Jaguars win gave the Colts the first overall pick, it was only right for the Jaguars to send off the Weavers with a win on their last game of Jaguars ownership.

The story of the game was obviously Jones-Drew who stole the show with 25 carries for 169 yards. It was more than enough to secure the 2011 NFL rushing title and made him the 34th different player in NFL history to rush for more than 1,600 yards in a season. It was also enough to make him the franchise record holder for rushing yards in a single-season.

The offseason has officially begun for the Jaguars and it will likely focus on improving one of the league's worst offenses, but the Jaguars can rest assured that they have a running back of potential Hall of Fame caliber to build around.

With the Jaguars long eliminated from the playoffs, the only thing left to hope for is improvement from the team. Particularly, improvement from Blaine Gabbert and the Jaguars offense.

While the defense allowed 350 yards passing from Matt Hasselbeck, including 169 yards to Jared Cook (a new Titans receiving record for tight ends), it's hard to put too much blame on a unit that has been decimated by injuries as much as the Jaguars pass defense has. With pass rushers Matt Roth, Austen Lane, Aaron Kampman and John Chick out and defensive backs Rashean Mathis, Derek Cox, Dwight Lowery, William Middleton, Courtney Greene and Chris Prosinski out, Hasselbeck had his way.

But the most important silver lining was the play of Gabbert. While the performance still left plenty to be desired, anyone who believes that he has not improved over the course of the season is refusing to see it. On the third offensive possession of the game, Gabbert went 5 for 5 and led the Jaguars on an 82 yard drive down the field that resulted in a touchdown.

Gabbert still has a long way to go before he becomes a franchise quarterback that the Jaguars can rely on weekly, but the signs of improvement are certainly there and were evident in today's 23-17 loss. Oh and Maurice Jones-Drew is still a beast.

The Jaguars winning 41-14 was fun to see. The Jaguars losing 41-14 was extremely painful to watch.

Blaine Gabbert and the Jaguars offense was abused by the Falcons pass rushers, particularly John Abraham who finished with 3.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. The Jaguars depleted defense was abused and allowed more than 40 points for the first time all season.

It wasn't until Kassim Osgood blocked a Falcons punt that was recovered by Zach Potter for a touchdown did the Jaguars break the shutout. Gabbert finished the game with a drive against the Atlanta backups that culminated with a Chastin West touchdown in the final minute of the game.

Only two more games and the monster that is the 2011 season is finally over.

The obvious storylines about Sunday's blowout, 41-14 win over the Buccaneers are about the breakout performance of an offense that has struggled mightily in 2011. Maurice Jones-Drew's four touchdowns and Blaine Gabbert's visible improvement are encouraging signs for the future of the Jaguars who have already been eliminated from contention in this year's playoffs.

Also encouraging, though, was been the performance of the defense. While the Jaguars were playing the very average Buccaneers offense, who came in to Everbank Field on a six game losing streak and left with their seventh consecutive loss, the emergence of a few players in the absence of injured starters is promising.

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