Jacksonville Jaguars Will Need To Be Road Warriors Early In 2017
By Billy Long
The Jacksonville Jaguars will have to win road games early if they want to be successful in 2017.
The league schedule for the 2017 NFL regular season was announced on Thursday night, as each team learned what their path to the Super Bowl looks like.
When it comes to the journey that the Jacksonville Jaguars will have to navigate, road tests come early and often, including the season opener against the division rival Texans in Houston. For a team like Jacksonville looking to break a streak of futility, these games could prove to be the deciding factor.
More from Jacksonville Jaguars News
- Jaguars RB Travis Etienne expected to have bigger impact in 2023
- 5 bonafide stars from the Jacksonville Jaguars 2022 season
- Jacksonville Jaguars haven’t heard any Calvin Ridley news from the NFL
- WR Marvin Jones Jr. will give 110 percent with the Jacksonville Jaguars or wherever he plays in 2023
- Jacksonville Jaguars keeping TE Evan Engram in 2023 one way or another
Including the annual game in London, against the Baltimore Ravens in week three, the Jaguars will open having to play five of the first seven games of the season away from the friendly confines of EverBank Field. To put that in some perspective, the third true home game for the Jaguars will not be played until November 5th. Jacksonville’s hopes of potentially making a playoff push late in the year will rest on being road warriors in September and October.
The Jaguars have consistently stumbled out the gate early and have gotten off to sluggish starts in recent years, having only won five games total in September and October since 2013. With the slate of games in the season’s first two months in 2017, Jacksonville is going to have to find a way to not only get off to a fast start to build momentum and show they can be a contender, but do so by winning games on the road.
For the Jaguars to have an opportunity at success this season, they must first navigate their way through a gauntlet of roads games early. If the Jags can get to November with a handful of wins under their belt, Jacksonville could very well find themselves in unfamiliar territory: playing meaningful games late in the season.