Jacksonville Jaguars Week 8 Power Rankings: Shooting up again
By Daniel Lago
After another dominant win, the Jacksonville Jaguars have put up enough solid performances to warrant a high slot on most power rankings in week 8.
For at least one week, we’ll see some consistency in where the Jacksonville Jaguars stack up in power rankings around the web.
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The Jaguars have followed the formula ‘win-loss’ to a tee so far this year, and luckily their bye week comes up during one of their ‘loss’ time slots.
The Jaguars have become arguably the most fascinating and difficult teams in the league in terms of pure analysis. They have the second highest point differential in the league, but they are only one game above .500.
All of their wins have been in emphatic fashion and their losses have been far from impressive.
In reality, the Jaguars may not have an “average” performance in them – they are either overwhelmingly good or a dumpster fire (at least on offense).
With that in mind, it’s not too surprising to see them creep up ever so slightly in the power rankings this week.
So where does that leave them in the power rankings? Lets find out:
"15. Jacksonville Jaguars (4-3, LW: 18)It was just the Colts, but here’s why Sunday’s win was impressive: It wasn’t a game that the Jaguars could hide Blake Bortles. Not with Leonard Fournette out. And Bortles threw for 330 yards, and it didn’t all come with the Jaguars trailing by four touchdowns as it usually does for Bortles. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if the Jaguars looked terrible in their next game, because they’ve been teasing us all season, but the upside of this team is clear. The AFC South is competitive but the Jaguars should believe they can win it."
"15. JaguarsThey head to the bye with the most-dominant defense in the league. They are on pace to set a league record for sacks in a season."
"11. Jacksonville JaguarsThe Jags aren’t going away. Call Sunday’s 27-0 shutout a quiet romp, as no one outside of Jacksonville (or Indy, unfortunately) seemed to pay much attention. Maybe Blake Bortles enjoying one of the better games of his career doesn’t get the networks all hot and bothered. T.J. Yeldondoesn’t lather ’em up, either. Yet, both were keys to the win, complementing a secondary that wouldn’t give Jacoby Brissett anything most of the afternoon. Yeldon gained more in two carries (a 58-yard touchdown and a 21-yard run) than Colts running backs gained all day (65). Bortles went 18 of 26 for 330 yards, a touchdown and, most importantly, no picks. That’s almost 13 yards per throw."
"13. Jacksonville Jaguars2017 record: 4-3Week 7 ranking: No. 1959.3 percent. The Jaguars haven’t won a division title since 1999, but FPI currently has them down as the favorites in the AFC South. The defense has been the driving force behind Jacksonville’s resurgence, leading the league in sacks (33), takeaways (16) and interceptions (10)."
My take:
Just like the folks above here, I’m finding it pretty darn difficult to pin down where to rank these Jaguars.
As I scroll through the teams ahead of them, I find myself thinking “on a good day, the Jaguars could beat them.”
Yes, the Jaguars can absolutely beat anyone else in the league. If the team scores early and their defense gets a chance to go after the quarterback, the Jaguars are hard to attack.
Unfortunately, the Jaguars also appear to be a team more than willing to play down to the level of their opponent if Blake Bortles and the offense isn’t clicking.
So sure, all of the rankings above are valid. If someone wanted to put the Jaguars at 5, that would be fine too.