They look like championship contenders and at least contenders for the AFC South. The defense is studly, even though Reggie Hayward going out will hurt big time. They will have one of the best defenses in the NFL this season. The key to the season though will be the health of Fred Taylor. Wtih Greg Jones out as well, the Jags need Taylor healthy. I like Maurice Drew, but I'm not sure if he will be able to carry a whole workload for a bunch of games. I would rather Drew be used as a return specialist and spot carrier and getting around 8-10 carries. I do have to say despite not putting up really good numbers, I really like the Jags passing attack this year, especially in the red zone. Wilford, Jones and Willliams are huge and they can all go up and get it. Leftwich just has to throw jump balls to them in the end zone. 3 people their size and speed are defensive nightmares and then just wait until Mercedes Lewis gets a more prominant role. They need to develop the same as Leftwich and they will be fine. This is a team to be reckoned with, IMO.
i agree with all u said gators...i really like the effort of all the wr's for that jags...that was a huge question mark with jimmy smith gone but now they seem like nice dangerous tandem
The WRs have stepped up a little bit. Everyone believed that Jacksonville was going to lose to Dallas but our WRs stepped up. We have a lot of big guys mainly with 6'6 Matt Jones anchoring the endzone threat. If Marcedes Lewis is healthy, that's another 6'6 giant with excellent speed for a TE to spread the field. Obviously Jimmy Smith used to spread the field a lot, but Leftwich did a good job feeding the ball to open teammates. The problem like GatorsowntheNCAA said was that Greg Jones is out and "Fragile" Fred might get injured again. If that happens, the Jags are screwed. Maurice Drew-Jones is more of a specialist and a RB who can carry the ball maybe for 5-10 carries a game. Reggie Hayward is out for the season but they got good backups like M.Wiley who was a former ProBowler. Obviously the Colts are a lock to win the division, but I think the Jags can give them a run for their money.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting CLos:</div><div class="quote_post">The WRs have stepped up a little bit. Everyone believed that Jacksonville was going to lose to Dallas but our WRs stepped up. We have a lot of big guys mainly with 6'6 Matt Jones anchoring the endzone threat. If Marcedes Lewis is healthy, that's another 6'6 giant with excellent speed for a TE to spread the field. Obviously Jimmy Smith used to spread the field a lot, but Leftwich did a good job feeding the ball to open teammates. The problem like GatorsowntheNCAA said was that Greg Jones is out and "Fragile" Fred might get injured again. If that happens, the Jags are screwed. Maurice Drew-Jones is more of a specialist and a RB who can carry the ball maybe for 5-10 carries a game. Reggie Hayward is out for the season but they got good backups like M.Wiley who was a former ProBowler. Obviously the Colts are a lock to win the division, but I think the Jags can give them a run for their money.</div> I have confidence that Maurice Drew can eventually carry the load, but I wouldn't want to put the pressure on a rookie. I would rather just let him get acclimated with the NFL level on special teams and 5-10 carries a game. I won't say that he wouldn't be able to do more than that, because I believe he can. If Taylor goes down again, I see Toefield, Pearman and Jones-Drew splitting the carries. (I'm not sure if they even still have Pearman). I wouldn't even say the Colts are a lock for their division. I picked the Jags to win it at the beginning of the season.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting GatorsowntheNCAA:</div><div class="quote_post">I have confidence that Maurice Drew can eventually carry the load, but I wouldn't want to put the pressure on a rookie. I would rather just let him get acclimated with the NFL level on special teams and 5-10 carries a game. I won't say that he wouldn't be able to do more than that, because I believe he can. If Taylor goes down again, I see Toefield, Pearman and Jones-Drew splitting the carries. (I'm not sure if they even still have Pearman). I wouldn't even say the Colts are a lock for their division. I picked the Jags to win it at the beginning of the season.</div> I think the Jags could win their division, but their next game is against the Steelers which looks like it's a lost. I think 5-10 carries is good for Drew-Jones. I think that Maurice is too undersized to be able to carry 15 carries a game. Jacksonville still has Alvin Pearman and is their 3rd string RB. Toefield did pretty good for us last year splitting carries with Greg Jones(too bad that he's injured).
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting CLos:</div><div class="quote_post">I think the Jags could win their division, but their next game is against the Steelers which looks like it's a lost. I think 5-10 carries is good for Drew-Jones. I think that Maurice is too undersized to be able to carry 15 carries a game. Jacksonville still has Alvin Pearman and is their 3rd string RB. Toefield did pretty good for us last year splitting carries with Greg Jones(too bad that he's injured).</div> I wouldn't say against the Steelers is a loss. They beat the Steelers last year, without Ben and they play them again this likely without Ben. This year the Jags offense looks more sharp then last year. It should be a close game and just remember the Jags ALWAYS play to the level of their compeitition, regardless of how good or bad the team is. They are barely ever in a blowout for either way. (the playoff game was the one exception)
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting GatorsowntheNCAA:</div><div class="quote_post">I wouldn't say against the Steelers is a loss. They beat the Steelers last year, without Ben and they play them again this likely without Ben. This year the Jags offense looks more sharp then last year. It should be a close game and just remember the Jags ALWAYS play to the level of their compeitition, regardless of how good or bad the team is. They are barely ever in a blowout for either way. (the playoff game was the one exception)</div> Well, I heard that Ben was starting. If he isn't then I'm actually not worried then. Charlie Batch did good last week against the Dolphins but Jacksonville has better D in my opinion. Leftwich needs to be alert of the Steelers blitzing and throw the ball quicker. Yeah, the Jags didn't play well at all against the Pats but New England was looking sharp last year.
Well Jags shut out the Steelers 9-0. I was more worried if Batch played to be honest with you, since Batch looked great in the opener and Ben hadn't played in awhile. Gonna be interesting if they can shutdown a team like the Colts who put up 40 last week.
The thing is that the Colts also allowed 20+ pts to the Texans last week. That was surprising. Ben Roethlisberger wasn't feeling it and the defense gave him hell which I enjoyed lol. If we can get an early lead on the Colts, I think we will be able to stop them. The Jags have a better offense than the Texans and certainly a better D so if they start the season 3-0, they will go deep in the playoffs.
