2009 Record: 7-9
2009 Rankings:
Total Offense – 18
Run Offense – 10
Pass Offense – 19
Scoring Offense – 24
Total Defense – 23
Run Defense – 19
Pass Defense – 27
Scoring Defense – 24
Jacksonville is a hard team to read. On paper, they look worse than the team that lost 5 of their last 6 after being squarely in the playoff hunt. So which Jacksonville team will we see this season? The one that lost to the Colts by a combined 6 points in 2 games or the one that lost 41-0 to Seattle? Both on Offense and Defense, Jacksonville fans were treated to feast or famine. Their offense scored 30+ points 3 times while behind held to under 14 points 6 times. The Defense gave up over 30 points 5 times last season.
On offense, the Jaguars figure to be mediocre again, with the team reliant on Maurice Jones-Drew running the ball. David Garrard is a decent quarterback when given time to make the throws. His core of receivers is young and has some talent. Mike Sims-Walker has a lot of skill, but needs to learn to keep his mouth shut and just play ball. In 15 games last year, MSW had 869 yds and 7 TDs. In Jacksonville’s relatively weak passing offense, MSW is easily the star.
On defense, the Jaguars needed to improve their pass defense, starting with their pass rush, which had a paltry 13 sacks all of last season. The Jaguars went out and acquired DE Aaron Kampman from Green Bay, who fits much better in the Jags 4-3 scheme than the 3-4 system Green Bay was running. The Jags spent their first 4 draft picks on defensive linemen. In the secondary, the unit is essentially the same as the one that gave up over 285 pass yards 5 times last year. The only new addition is former Steeler Anthony Smith who is most famous for running his mouth off the field and getting torched for big plays on it.
Ian’s Prediction: 5-11
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
