When does it stop being "Just the preseason"?

Over the past three seasons, the Jacksonville Jaguars have a regular season record of 20-28. In those three seasons, the team has struggled both offensively and defensively in the preseason. For those three years and even through three preseason games, fans have been told "It's just the preseason."

Well, how long is it "just the preseason"?

The third preseason game is typically every team's dress rehearsal. The first team units generally play more than a half and teams will typically game plan a bit, to give it more of a regular season feel. Jaguars fans should absolutely hope that it wasn't a regular season feel, because they were absolutely handled by a Buffalo Bills team that finished 4-12 and was beaten handily by the Jaguars in 2010. The Jaguars defense, albeit missing starters Tyson Alualu, Clint Session, Aaron Kampman, and rotational end Jeremy Mincey, was absolutely shredded. Ryan Fitzpatrick had all day long to throw the ball and went right down the field with minimal effort against the Jaguars starting defense.

Cornerback Rashean Mathis, who up until now had been fantastic, was beaten rather easily over the top in single coverage by Stevie Johnson. Derek Cox on the other side was routinely beaten for positive yards. Newly signed safety Dawan Landry overran quite a few plays and was late to break up a pass that wound up being a touchdown. Newly signed linebacker Paul Posluszny was beaten deep down the field by running back Fred Jackson for a long pass reception.

Point blank: The Bills did whatever they wanted on offense. Don't worry though, it's just the preseason.

So far in the 2010 preseason, Jaguars quarterback David Garrard completed 54.5% of his passes for 205 yards, 0 touchdowns, 1 interception and a QB rating of 60.8. The only drives that resulted in touchdowns for David Garrard were two drives that had more defensive penalty yards than offensive yards. Against a Buffalo Bills defense the Jaguars were able to carve up in 2010, the Jaguars were hardly able to even get out of their own way. Passing the football was a chore. Catching the football was a chore. Pass protection was a chore. Everything offensively was a chore.

Point blank: The Jaguars offense looked inept and actually worse than it did the previous week. Don't worry though, it's just the preseason.

When does it stop being just the preseason? When the regular season starts and we get the same thing that's been trotted out since 2008? Does Maurice Jones-Drew really mean the difference in the Jaguars offense being solid and totally inept? If he means that much to the offense, what does that say about the rest of the offense?

Jack Del Rio stressed all week that the offense needed to be more efficient than it was the previous week against the Falcons. What he got on the field was a big steaming pile of inefficiency. How's this correctable? I don't know. The issue with the quarterbacks has come down to the lesser of two evils with a 10 year veteran in the 5th season under the same offense and a rookie quarterback with just 5 weeks of practice under his belt. It shouldn't be this painful to watch someone try to step up and take hold of the position and eliminate all questions.

Am I frustrated and mad? Absolutely.

Same crap, different year. What's the difference?

So when does it stop being just the preseason? When it's the regular season?