A week of celebration for this Jacksonville Jaguar fan
By Kathy Clark
The Jaguar game on Sunday made the hurricane a little more tolerable for this Jaguar fan. It has been a long time since the Jags won their season opener.
This is a week of celebration for Jacksonville Jaguar fans and players as well. The entire team played well and we fans are not avoiding the local sports page for a change. Ken Willis sports writer of the Daytona Beach Journal wrote his lead column today about the Jaguars. It was titled The Jaguars Are Undefeated. An additional positive article by George Stockburger of NFL MOCKS stated that the Jags may be a quarterback away from being a true contender. I can’t actually remember a positive week like this since the days of Mark Brunell and Jimmy Smith. Lets take a look at more positives.
POWER RANKING
The Jaguars were ranked from the 29th to the 32nd team during the off season. In addition they played to that ranking the entire preseason. I don’t believe anyone expected the type of performance we saw on Sunday. The Jaguars are now ranked 21 or 22. That is quite a jump. However, it has only been one game. My excitement comes from the way they looked on the field. In fact, they looked like a real football team.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The Jaguars free agent defensive end was named AFC defensive player of the week. He had four sacks. This was a career high for him and a franchise record for the Jags. It was an impressive day for him and a memorable day for the fans.
JAGUARS DEFENSIVE PLAY OF THE WEEK
Zach Goodall of bigcatcountry.com named Dante Fowler‘s fumble recovery and return for a touchdown as the Jaguars play of the week. Also, he had a total of three tackles and recovered two fumbles. Fowler has yet to live up to the hype that surrounded him as a high draft choice. It was more than hopeful to see his potential in this game.
THE RUNNING GAME
Leonard Fournette, our first round draft choice, rushed for one hundred yards and added an additional 24 additional yards. Equally important, Chris Ivory proved to be a very competent runner as well.
MORE GOOD NEWS
Tony Boselli, Fred Taylor, and Jimmy Smith have been nominated for the Hall of Fame. There is a clear case for all three. The multiple losing seasons and small market have been difficult to overcome. Another fun positive…there is a T shirt on sale with the log “Welcome to Sacksonville.”
SOME BAD NEWS
Our best receiver, Allen Robinson is out for the season with a knee injury.
TO SUM IT UP
There were so many positives last Sunday that it would be easy to anoint the Jaguars as the heir to the New England Patriots. I have been a Jaguar, Tampa Bay Buccaneer, and Florida Gator fan for many years and am very familiar with overreaction to one game. I am cautiously excited and confident but remain on the wait and see fence.