How's everyone feeling about the Jacksonville Jaguars now? The last three weeks have been pretty sweet right? It sounds awful but I'm ready to come back to earth. This week's match-up against the Giants is a real test to see how far the Jags have come.
And it doesn't look good.
On offense the Giants are 4th in the league in touchdowns, 3rd in the league in plays over 20 yards and maybe most importantly they have only given up 12 sacks this entire season. That's tied for 1st in the league.
They are 5th in the league for average rushing yards per game, 1st in the league in rushes of over 20 yards and have put up 10 rushing touchdowns compared to the Jaguars 6.
Receiving wise, they are 7th in the league in receiving yards, and 3rd in receiving touchdowns. One bright spot, for the Jaguars, is that their main receiver, Hakeem Nicks (800+ yards) is out for this game.
Had enough of the stats? Yeh me too. I love what Raheem Morris said a few weeks ago, "Stats are for losers, so you keep looking at stats, we'll keep looking for wins." Brilliant.
I'm right with him. The Jacksonville Jaguars just aren't one of those teams who will dominate the stats categories, apart from being near the top in rushing categories. They probably never will be either because the play calling is well balanced, the quarterback has his limits, and the defense is...well we know about the defense.
But that doesn't always matter. The team just knows how to grind out wins. This isn't the first year they've been able to do this.
Now they go against a good "stats" team who have had their ups and downs as well. The New York Giants are favorite for this game by 7.5. That's why it's called gambling.
For the Jags to be considered a real contender for the division crown, winning this game isn't imperative, but it's damn close to that. I happen to think next week's game is more important but if you want recognition, beat the Giants, in New York.
The Jaguars have to start fast. And I mean really fast. All units of the team have to come ad play lights out. The defense has to play up to the standard they did last week and the offense has to play as they know they can and have. If you can get on top of the Giants early, they have a tendency to struggle. I really want the Jacksonville Jaguars to win this game...
I just don't think they will.