Jacksonville Jaguars talented enough to go 13-3? Hold on a minute
By Luke Sims
Jacksonville Jaguars safety Barry Church made headlines in saying the Jags are more talented than the Dallas Cowboys. That may not ring true.
It’s not shocking that safety Barry Church is talking up his new team. After seven seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, Church knows what mediocrity, failure, and success looks like. The Cowboys have gone through all of that during his time there.
During those same seven seasons, the Jacksonville Jaguars have only known failure. So when Church compared the Jags’ talent in a favorable way to the 13-3 Cowboys, the soundbite got plenty of attention.
#Jaguars safety Barry Church says he feels this Jags team has more talent than his #Cowboys squad last season.
— Brian Chojnacki (@BroadcastingBri) July 28, 2017
Dallas went 13-3. pic.twitter.com/EcbxfUGsvy
Former teammate Sean Lee responded in a goodhearted manner.
LB Sean Lee's answer to former #Cowboys S Barry Church's claim that @Jaguars have more defensive talent than the @dallascowboys pic.twitter.com/qlqO5FGId9
— Joe Trahan (@JoeTrahan) July 29, 2017
The best takeaway here may not be that the Jags are actually talented enough to go 13-3 or that the Jags are even necessarily as talented as a dominant squad like the Cowboys (they aren’t). The takeaway should be that the Jags have managed to get buy-in from its key members.
Church’s comments come on the heels of Malik Jackson declaring that he thinks the Jags can win a Super Bowl and Calais Campbell backing that up shortly thereafter. Jackson and Campbell are the two biggest free agent additions of the past two years. Church is arguably the third or fourth biggest.
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Even though head coach Doug Marrone refuses to express a similar level of optimism, the Jags are decidedly on the rise. The Jags are putting in the hard work that will (hopefully) back up the big talk during the season.
Regardless of whether Church is simply stirring the pot or actually a true believer that the Jags are among the most talented teams in the NFL, it’s clear that the team is ready to rise up. The talent is there but the execution has to match the talent. A team like the Cowboys under owner Jerry Jones and head coach Jason Garrett have a level of stability that the Jags have not found yet.
Year one under Marrone may show glimpses of that talent starting to emerge, but even if the talent is on par with some of the better teams (not necessarily the Cowboys) there is a lot more that goes into making a winner.