This is the most I have ever cared about the Jaguars since 2017

The original headline for this article was “This is the least I’ve ever cared about the Jacksonville Jaguars,” and I wrote it about Week 12. In truth I’d felt like that since about Week 6 and just hadn’t mustered the motivation to finish writing it, but that all changed late Sunday afternoon. The Jacksonville Jaguars got embarrassed by the Baltimore Ravens in a game that was probably the worst, most boring game of Jaguars football I’ve watched in a number of years.

Then the New York Jets won and it literally changed everything.

Back during Gus Bradley’s tenure I wrote an article about how I was a big mark, but it got to the point where I just couldn’t be bothered with the Jaguars anymore and was just going through the motions. I quit going to the games and couldn’t even be bothered to give away my tickets, let alone sell them. It showed in my writing, my overall attitude about the team, etc.

I’m sure you’ve noticed I haven’t written much this, for better or worse, for largely the same reason. Between family, work, COVID nonsense, etc., care about the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2020 is way down my totem pole of things to care about.

But, Sunday afternoon showed just what the power of hope can do to even the most jaded and cynical of fans. I can’t remember the last time I jumped off the couch watching a game in excitement, with something that involved the Jaguars. It was probably in 2017 when the team beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs and we spontaneously decided to head to the stadium in the middle of the night with thousands of other fans.

I’m a fan of Justin Fields and Zach Wilson as quarterback prospects, but even knowing we’d have the second overall pick and end up with one of them, it’s not the same as suddenly moving into position to get a potential franchise defining player like Trevor Lawrence.

Sure, every player has potential to bust, the Jaguars will find a way to screw it up, yada yada yada yada. Miss me with all that right now.

Lawrence has the potential to pull this franchise off of the scrapheap it has been on for the last decade plus, and really almost all of Shad Khan’s tenure as an owner.

I have the power of hope now.

You can’t hurt me now.

Please don’t hurt me again.