Jacksonville Jaguars Week 15 Power Rankings: #powermove
By Daniel Lago
With a statement win now firmly on their resume after defeating the Seattle Seahawks, the Jacksonville Jaguars are near the top of the power rankings.
The Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Seattle Seahawks 30-24 last week at home and the win was more dominant than the score would suggest. MVP candidate Russell Wilson managed to take advantage of some coverage breakdowns late in the game to pull within one score, but the Jaguars were consistently better top to bottom for essentially the entire game.
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Moving forward, the Jaguars don’t face anyone nearly as good as the Seahawks. The Houston Texans will be starting T.J. Yates next week, while the last two weeks will feature matchups against the San Francisco 49ers and the Tennessee Titans.
Frankly, I’m more worried about the 49ers game with Jimmy Garropolo than I am about the Titans game.
That being said, it would a mild surprise if the Jaguars didn’t close out the season with 3 straight wins.
If they do, we’ll see them pretty high in the season ending power rankings.
So where does that leave them this week? Lets find out:
"7. Jacksonville Jaguars (9-4, LW: 8)The Jaguars are getting close to making sure their Week 17 rematch with the Titans doesn’t matter. If the Titans are within a game going into the final week, that contest will determine the division title. But the Jaguars lead by a game now, and the Titans could open the door for the Jaguars to clinch early if they trip up in the next two weeks."
"6. Jaguars – Don’t look now, but Blake Bortles is playing good football. If he can continue that, watch out for this team come playoff time."
"7. Jacksonville JaguarsThe Jaguars might not be wowing everyone at this point, but they are as sturdy a top-10 team as any other. While the defense racks up sacks and turnovers, and Leonard Fournette closes in on a 1,000-yard rookie campaign (he’s only 77 yards shy with three games to go), the undercurrent of truth to this team’s playoff narrative is the steadier hand of Blake Bortles. Don’t look now, but the oft-critiqued quarterback (that’s putting it rather nicely) has strung together a couple of quality starts in a row. Also, he’s only tossed eight interceptions all season. The last time Bortles turned the ball over was Week 12 in Arizona, where he more than made up for that giveaway with two rushing touchdowns. That road loss was actually more on the defense."
"8. Jacksonville Jaguars2017 record: 9-4Week 14 ranking: No. 8The Jaguars are allowing nearly 10 points fewer per game than they did last season, and currently boast the league’s best defense in terms of points allowed, takeaways and Total QBR. Last season they ranked 25th in points allowed, 30th in takeaways and 14th in opponent QBR."
My take:
Surprisingly, there isn’t much movement compared to last week. The Jaguars were hovering around 7 or 8 before beating the Seahawks, and you’d think such a big win would move them, but not the case. It’s clear most of the analysts are still giving the traditional “power” teams like the Saints and the Panthers the benefit of the doubt.
That being said, the Jaguars aren’t in a bad spot and they’ll be a top 5 team if they end up 12-4.