Ranking Jaguars 2016 schedule from most to least winnable

The Jacksonville Jaguars finished the 2015 season with a 5-11 record against what ended up being one of the easiest schedules in franchise history, thanks to quite a few injuries and circumstances going in their favor. The 2016 Jacksonville Jaguars schedule appears to be much more daunting, facing off against five playoff teams and some teams they played last season that will likely not be as decimated by injuries.

I saw another team blog rank their team's games by the most winnable to the least winnable, and I thought that would be a fun thing to do rather than go down week-to-week and give you my overall prediction on the win total, which as it stands right now is right at the 6-10 range. The Jaguars can still add pieces in the NFL Draft and after some cuts, but for the most part they have all the major players on the roster they're going to have.

The two games I have as the least winnable are coincidentally the first two games the Jaguars play. I don't see them beating the Packers in the home opener because I don't believe they've improved their pass rush to the level it needs to be to slow down Aaron Rodgers and a returning Jordy Nelson. I'm sure it will be improved, but until I see it on the field I can't bring myself to believe it will be significantly better. As far as the Chargers are concerned, the Jaguars simply don't win in San Diego and Phillip Rivers is a Cover 3 destroyer.

Conversely, the most winnable game I see on the schedule for the Jaguars is their Christmas Eve match up at home against the Tennessee Titans. It's late in the season and a lot of things can change, but the team typically splits with the Titans and I think that will probably be the case this year. After that, I think it's going to be some tough sledding. I think the Ravens will be a lot better than they were last year, and that's a team the Jaguars lucked out to beat, thanks to a mistake by the referees. I also think the Colts will be much tougher to beat simply for the fact that they should have Andrew Luck back, and even with their offensive line issues, he kills the Jaguars.

The Texans match ups I view as a likely split scenario this year, mostly because I just don't think Brock Osweiler is any good.

So anyway, here is how I would rank the Jaguars 2016 schedule from most winnable to the least winnable.

Week 16: December 24: Tennessee Titans (Saturday), 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 10: November 13: Houston Texans , 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 8: October 27: at Tennessee Titans (Thursday), 8:25 p.m. (NFLN)
Week 11: November 20: at Detroit Lions, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 14: December 11: Minnesota Vikings, 1 p.m. (FOX)
Week 13: December 4: Denver Broncos, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 7: October 23: Oakland Raiders, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 12: November 27: at Buffalo Bills, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 15: December 18: at Houston Texans, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 3: September 25: Baltimore Ravens, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 6: October 16: at Chicago Bears, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 4: October 2: Indianapolis Colts (London), 9:30 a.m. (CBS)
Week 17: January 1: at Indianapolis Colts, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 9: November 6: at Kansas City Chiefs, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 2: September 18: at San Diego Chargers, 4:25 p.m. (CBS)
Week 1: September 11: Green Bay Packers, 1 p.m. (FOX)