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NFL Week 8 Power Rankings Wrap-up!

By River City Rage

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Here we are, halfway through the season.  Let's take another look at how the media is treating our Jaguars through the always amusing "Power Rankings" approach.

Vic Ketchman with Jaguars.com starts us off with a bit of brutal honesty:

      9        Jaguars  (5-2  ) --  Trying to buy time for Garrard.

The slight here is that the Jaguars are placed behind the Titans...

The Word Wide Leader:

8     Jaguars     5-2-0     Who figured that the first backup quarterback ever to beat Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin would be the Jags' Quinn Gray? Of course, the Jags didn't ask Gray to do much; they opened with 14 consecutive running plays.

Fox Sports:

5         Starting his first NFL game, Jags fourth-year man Quinn Gray looked inept three quarters into Sunday's battle with the Buccaneers. Late in the third quarter, Gray had completed just two of eight passes on the day, overthrowing receivers throughout the game. Then something clicked. Trailing 23-17, Gray led the Jags downfield, completing passes to Ernest Wilford and then connecting on a game-winning touchdown score with Matt Jones. Gray's final stat line -- 7-16 for 100 yards and a touchdown -- won't make him a sexy fantasy football pickup anytime soon. But if he can continue winning games on the road, Jags fans will be more than happy with him under center until David Garrard returns.

Pete Prisco of CBS Sports:

7 They got by the first week without David Garrard at Tampa Bay. Now they play the second of three road games against a hot New Orleans team.

Cold Hard Football Facts Through NBC :

7. Jaguars (5-2)

Previous rank: Seventh.
Record vs. Quality Teams: 1-2, -5.0 PPG

Last week: Jaguars didn't turn it over, beat the Bucs 24-23 in Tampa despite being outgained 385-219.

Cold, Hard Football Facts: Watch out, DTs: The Jaguars have sent 75.2 percent of their running plays up the middle, easily the highest percentage in the league.

Next: at New Orleans. Maurice Jones-Drew (UCLA) and Reggie Bush (USC) renew their rivalry.

You know, I had forgotten all about that in the madness of victory that Bush and Jones-Drew would be on the same field for the first time since college.  That's something to think about...

Finally Peter King (ugh) :

5. Jacksonville (5-2). It's not pretty with the Jags. Never is. And with Quinn Gray at the helm now, this is a team that's going to win with defense and the running game the next two weeks -- at New Orleans and at Tennessee.

So there you have it, a lot of 5's around the board.  It says a lot about our team that we won such a gritty game.  The national media probably doesn't know what to expect out of us and quite frankly I'm OK with that.  Call me old school, but I don't really care for the whole "respect" issue that some fans bring up.  I know full and well that on ESPN and even the NFL Network I probably wont see any intelligent analysis of the Jaguars.  In fact, that's a large part of why I started blogging.  I wanted to fill in the gaps between the traditional coverage and what I saw on TV.  You see, us Jags fans, we're our own best resource for infomation.  We know for sure that there's going to be less than 13 words said about the Jaguars as we head into New Orleans, especially with that OTHER game coming up...

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