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Power Rankings Round-up!

By River City Rage

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Power Rankings Round-up!

Here we are again with our weekly look at where people who are smarter than me think the Jaguars fit into the general scheme of the league.

Let's start with the Worldwide Leader, who wonder (along with the rest of the world, I'd hope) about the Hall of Fame credentials of Fred Taylor:

6 (10)     Jaguars     6-3-0     Is Fred Taylor a Hall of Famer? Most running backs who surpass 10,000 career yards (as Taylor did Sunday) make it to Canton. But if he wants to seal the deal, he probably needs another 2,000. That may be asking too much.?

Next we have the folks over at Fox Sports.  These guys, they're funny.  I don't know that the Jaguars have any real "hope" of capturing the AFC South.  That died on that painful Monday night.  Any shot we'd have now would be "backing in" on the merits of a complete and total Colts breakdown.  While I would watch such a breakdown with joy and glee, I don't see that happening.  Dungy is too good for that.

12     (+4)     4/18     The Jaguars needed a W and a Colts loss to keep any hopes of an AFC South division title alive. They got both on Sunday. Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor each ran scores against Tennessee, while the defense kept the potent Titans running game relatively quiet. Quinn Gray is not going to win any fantasy league titles, but he seems to win games. For the second time in three weeks, the Jacksonville quarterback threw for less than 110 yards but got a victory. He's the new Trent Dilfer. And yes, that's a compliment. I think.

Our good friend Pete Prisco with Sportsline first waxes poetic about the up and down nature of the NFL and uses the Jaguars as an example:

What about the Jaguars? They were blown out by the New Orleans Saints a week ago Sunday and had to deal with the arrests of two players, their owner coming down hard with a statement that he won't tolerate that behavior anymore and defensive tackle Marcus Stroud getting suspended for four games for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing drugs.

Not only that, they were playing the third game of a three-game road trip against a good division rival with a backup quarterback. So all they do is go into Tennessee and dominate the Titans in an upset victory to get to 6-3.

Three teams, one week, and proof again how quickly your status can change in the NFL, whether for the good or the bad.

And his ranking:

7 (10)  By winning two games on a three-game road trip, they've set themselves as a real factor in the wild-card race. Now they get big ones at home against San Diego and Buffalo.

Cold Hard Football Facts (who I like) via NBC (who I don't)

6. Jaguars (6-3)

Previous rank: Ninth.
Record vs. Quality Teams: 2-2, -2.2 PPG

Last week: Jaggyl and Hyde put up a surprising 28 points on the road to beat stingy Tennessee.

Cold, Hard Football Facts: Veteran safety Sammy Knight, picked up off the street well into training camp, leads the Jaguars with 56 solo tackles.

Next: vs. San Diego. Jaguars will most likely be in the playoffs just by holding serve at home; after San Diego, they host Buffalo, Carolina and Oakland.


USA Today puts us in a tie at 6.  With the Giants.  I don't really agree with that.  Not in any sort of "how dare you slight the Jaguars with a tie" way, but in a "are the Giants even good enough to be in the top ten" sort of way:
6 (tie) Weathered Garrrd's loss.  Time to target ivison lead now with Colts just one game ahead.

Peter King of SI.com is a sycophantic slob that cares more about his coffee than his... Actually, I'm gonna leave the King bashing to Kissing Suzy Kolber.  I know I don't bring the funny nearly enough.  Peter King isn't my type of target. I'll let you guys mock his words.

11. Jacksonville (6-3). You go figure the depths of the AFC South. All I know is the Jags need David Garrard back -- now.

Yeah, that's 11.  Well below the Titans who we completely decimated. (I promise never to use the word Decimated ever again unless the Jaguars actually reduced the Titans by eliminating every 10th player.  You could  say that the Chargers "decimated" the Colts, cause they did injure what felt like every player.  Anyhow, from here on "Decimated" is no longer in Big Cat Country vocabulary.  Anyhow here's what he said about the Titans...

8. Tennessee (6-3). I almost put Albert Haynesworth in my MVP top five this week. Maybe I should have. Jacksonville abused the Titans with a 166-yard rushing day with Haynesworth out of the lineup.

And we've got The Big Lead who might dish the hate on the Jags a bit, but they hit the Titans a little harder, so they're OK by my book.

7. Jacksonville Jaguars - Further proof that the chasm between 6 and the rest is massive: Quinn Gray.
8. Tennessee Titans - Ya know, road trips to Denver and Cincinnati aren't gimmies, and there are still games against San Diego and Indy ... it's mean, but we'd love for these guys to miss the playoffs.

Finally there is Dr. Z.  Dr. Z goes to the end for producing this piece of garbage fluff reporting.  He claims that Manning had one of his "toughest performances" against the Chargers.  I'm sorry, I just don't see it.  He melted down at the end.  I'm surprised he didn't throw everyone under the bus...again, anyhow here's the ranking:

6 (12) Quite a scene in Tennessee Sunday when Fred Taylor hit his 10-G mark for yards rushing. It was announced over the PA system and the fans gave him a nice ovation, leaving him visibly moved. See, that's the difference between Europe and the USA. Say it happened in a soccer match over there. They would have stopped the action, uncorked the bubbly and everyone would have drunk his health.

So there you go, lots of 6's, which I'm OK with.  

-C

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