Jaguars This Week – Zoltan Edition

Three things caught my attention.

The Jaguars signed their first drafted rookies of the ’10 class; Larry Hart and Austen Lane. I think the fact that the front office chooses Larry Hart to be the 1^stguy is more then just coincidence. I think the coaches and Gene Smith like this guy maybe even more than during the draft. I hope as Terry wrote in his article,  D’ Anthony Smith; Deji Karim; and Scotty McGee will be signed within a week too. I think Tyson Alualu will be a very difficult case; but not –just-because of Tyson and his agent. Folks, we will see record number of holdouts this year. The rookie salary cap is just around the corner and the agents will try to push the money as high as they can from the teams; and small market franchises (especially those who have high picks- Bills; Jaguars; Bucs comes to my mind) will face tough negotiations in the upcoming weeks. So when you see the headlines “Tyson Alualu is holding out”; think about big picture; and do not rush to blame him and/or office because of it.

I want to talk about 2 things which sound looks like two completely different issues, but I think we can connect them.  At least in my mind. The two issue I’m talking about is Gene Smith’s recent comment about this roster as being the “most competitive roster ever” in Jaguars history. The other is ticket sales, which looks scary! Very scary. (More after the jump)

Let’s see the ticket sales first. There is a common thinking in Jacksonville that July is the strongest month for ticket sales for the Jaguars. Well this year is so far not proving that theory, not even a slightly. In fact in the last 7 days the team sold less then a 100 new tickets. I know it is the dead zone but we are in the middle of the month; and the recent details posted regularly on Jaguars.com showed less then 500 new (season or game day) tickets were bought in the month of July. When ticket sales looked good in the spring one Hungarian Jaguars fan told me back then: “I hope these ticket buyers are not the same guys; who are buying their tickets otherwise in July; just now (because the fantastic work of Tony Boselli; Team Teals; Touchdown Jaguars; and others) they did it 2-3 months earlier”…Sadly -so far- It looks to me; that this scenario could be a real possibility. If we will not see major (at least between 500-1000) new tickets being sold when the site is updated next Thursday, then every Jaguars fan must start to worry. Reports are saying there is at least 5000 tickets are required to be sold to avoid blackouts.  The good news is the first four home games will be sellouts. Denver is a 99% lock already (sadly not just because of the Jaguars; but because of Denver QB Tim Tebow-who most likely will not see any action that day on the field – too…). And the Colts; plus the Monday night battle against the Titans are looking good too; when we speak about attendance. I not worry too much about the Eagles game either. I think Philadelphia fans traveling well; so I count them to give the Jags a helping hand -if they need any outside help at all. But the rest of the schedule (Browns; Texans; Raiders; Redskins) do not look sexy at all. So I guess for those games; the Jaguars must convince their fans with the play on the field.