The Jacksonville Jaguars were overlooked in the regular season, and understandably so. They went 4-13 the year prior and had a first-year head coach in Liam Coen. Couple that with the fact that Trevor Lawrence regressed in 2024, and expectations weren't particularly high around the Jags. It didn't matter.
Jacksonville won 13 games in Coen's first season at the helm, Lawrence is playing like a top-10 quarterback once again, and their defense is one of the best in the NFL. Nevertheless, the Jags don't appear to be getting nearly as much recognition.
Sure, several analysts have hopped onto the bandwagon, but the Jaguars are still not being discussed in the same breath as the Buffalo Bills or the New England Patriots. Mina Kimes of ESPN believes they need to be.
Mina Kimes belives the Jaguars are a legite playoff contender
Mina Kimes and Domonique Foxworth had an exchange ahead of the Bills playoff game and stated that the Jags cannot be overlooked, noting that they're one of the most well-rounded teams.
"I love this, I am so Jags pilled right now, I don't think people understand how good the Jags are, Kimes told Foxworth. "Since week nine, the Jacksonville Jaguars are the only team in the NFL to rank in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive EPA."
Foxworth goes on to say that Jacksonville would be garnering more hype if it were one of those teams that routinely contend.
"It's one of those things where it's if they were one of these teams that we expected to be good. It's like the confirmation bias thing. We expected the Jags to be good, we'd be a lot higher on them after winning eight in a row. Having a No. 1 overall quarterback who's playing as well as any quarterback in football right now, combined with the fact that they do have like Hines-Allen, is a game-closing type of pass rusher," Foxworth said.
"You have that advantage, and they have a cadre of receivers that I think are super dangerous, and depending on the week, they might run the ball. Well, that's a valuable asset that they have."
Kimes responds that she's not sure whether the Jags can take advantage of the bad Bills run defense, but overall believes they have a legitimate shot to go all the way.
I'm like, "Can they take advantage of the Bills' bad run defense, but they're good at literally everything else. I mean, the run defense, which is also important in playing Buffalo, is exceptional. This dude, Anthony Campanile, man, like, they started out hot, they had a little bit of a dip, and then they have been amazing."
The Bills rank 28th in rushing yards allowed and 31st in rushing touchdowns surrendered. This is something Kimes has previously pointed out. Of course, the Jacksonville defense will also have to deal with quarterback Josh Allen, so this won't be a walk in the park.
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The Jaguars have what it takes to make a deep playoff run
Just like other teams shouldn't underestimate the Jaguars, they cannot take the Denver Broncos, the Patriots, the Bills, or the Texans lightly. Just like them, they showed in the regular season that they deserved to be in the playoffs.
The one thing working in the Jaguars' favor is that they're just focused on the next game, not the one before or the one after. That kind of helps take a bit of pressure off their shoulders. This will come in handy in the playoffs, where the stakes are significantly higher.
When you add it all up, the Jaguars have the quarterback, the defense, the head coach, and the mindset to rise to the challenge in the playoffs. No wonder Mina Kimes is buying into the hype.