Jacksonville Jaguars Early Struggles
The 2007 season for the Jacksonville Jaguars was supposed to be the stepping stone for bigger and better things. The Jaguars went 11-5 in the AFC South and defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers at Pittsburgh (which is almost unheard of) in the Wild Card playoff game.
While the team did lose veteran running back Fred Taylor, the Jaguars have a magnificent athlete in Maurice Jones-Drew, and many NFL experts call him a top five running back in the league. This could be an enormous season for Jones-Drew, as he’ll get more carries for the Jacksonville Jaguars than ever before. Many experts are concerned if MJD can handle more work at his size.
Then there’s the acquisition of Torry Holt at wide receiver, adding tremendous strength to the team’s passing game. Holt’s proven himself to be one of the top in the league, but does he still have it considering he’s on the wrong side of 30?
The team headed to Indy in week 1 of the NFL season. While the team usually plays some pretty good football against the Colts, beating the Colts on their own turf is a tall order, especially in week 1 while emotions are running high.
While the Jags almost won this game, they fell just short, losing a—12 squeaker in the fourth quarter. This was a frustrating loss for the Jacksonville Jaguars, but the team simply didn’t have enough in the tank to overcome the Colts.
Week 2 was somewhat disappointing after the solid week 1 effort. The Cardinals, who had fallen to the 49ers in week 1, visited Jacksonville and ripped apart the Jaguars defense at the seams, winning by a 31-17 margin. Kurt Warner was 24 of 26 at quarterback, and such a high completion rate raises some serious questions about the defense in Jacksonville.
Can this team turn things around? Week 3 at Houston will be another tough test, so the Jaguars may find themselves in an unpleasant hole from here. The offense in Houston is a very tough group and will be a handful.
If they don’t get things right, they’re going to end up worse than their 5-11 record last year.