The Rise of the Jacksonville Jaguars

As a die-hard Buffalo Bills fan, it’s hard for me to admit this, but the Jacksonville Jaguars are a seriously good team.  All they did in the regular season was defy expectations, and that has carried into their playoff run.  Although it was apparent that the Jaguars were going to improve with last year’s fourth overall pick, running back Leonard Fournette from LSU, no one expected it this soon.  

The most unexpected player this year that carried Jacksonville thus far is quarterback Blake Bortles.  Although he has been pretty shaky the whole season, including the playoffs, he’s shown that he can help the team win.  In the Jaguars opening wild-card game against the Bills, he ran for 88 yards.  That’s one more yard than he passed for the entire game.  Four of his ten rushing attempts ended with a successful first down for the Jags.  One can see his performance in that wild-card game in one of two ways.  Some will say he had an awful passing game that limited the team offensively.  However, others could see his performance as MVP worthy.  Bortles performance was the only offense that the Bills defense couldn’t stop, so he abused that and put on a rushing clinic.  Jacksonville’s quarterback has had performances like that all year.  His play may not be pretty on paper, but he gets the job done and leaves with a win.

It may not be a surprise for most people going into this year’s NFL season, but rookie running back Leonard Fournette lit up the league.  In regular season play, Fournette averaged 3.9 yards per carry, had 268 rushing attempts, and totaled 1,040 rushing yards, ranking him eighth this year in total rushing yards.  He had a rough start to the postseason with only 57 rushing yards in the Bills game, but he bounced back to be one of the catalysts in the amazing Jags win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Fournette had 109 rushing yards on 25 attempts with three touchdowns on the day.  He is currently second in total rushing yards this postseason.  With a considerably weak offense talent-wise, Fournette has helped carry a lot of the weight this year and has driven Jacksonville to this year’s playoffs.  

The driving force this year for the Jacksonville Jaguars has been their defense.  Led by 2017 All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey and 2017 Pro-Bowler A.J. Bouye, their secondary is one of the best, totaling 21 interceptions as a team, averaging 14 yards per interception, and acquiring 55 sacks overall in the regular season.  In postseason play, the Jags defense has done everything they are supposed to do and more.  They allowed only 10 points in the wild-card game against the Bills, and plays in the late parts of the game showed the talent of the Jaguars’ defense.  Trumping everyone was Jalen Ramsey who made an amazing interception against replacement rookie quarterback Nathan Peterman (Yes, the same Nathan Peterman that threw five interceptions in one half of play against the Los Angeles Chargers).  Although the game against the Steelers will be one that their defense is hoping to forget as they gave up 42 points, they did force an interception and had two sacks against future Hall of Famer Ben Roethlisberger.  With most likely the best team in the NFL, the New England Patriots, looming in front of the Jags, don’t expect their defense to back down from Tom Brady’s big challenge.  

Fighting with an underdog feeling has been their motto the entire regular season.  Since then, they have carried that same mindset into the postseason play.  Jacksonville has defied expectations in the entire regular season and throughout the playoffs; what makes that any different now?

Photo Credit: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2018/01/14/jacksonville-jaguars-stun-steelers-earn-trip-to-afc-title-game.html