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~~JUNGLE CAT 2017~~ · 03-22-2018, 12:15 PM

Let me see if I can tie this into the discussion...

I think DiRocco recently wrote a fair article about Keenan McCardell for ESPN.com, but the headline doesn't seem to represent what DiRocco is attempting to convey.

http://www.espn.com/blog/jacksonville-ja...-receivers

More pressure on Keenan McCardell with inexperienced Jaguars receivers

That headline seems grim, but when you read this:

McCardell was arguably the offensive MVP last season when he had to heavily rely on a pair of rookies following the loss of Allen Robinson in the season opener and Hurns for six games late in the season. McCardell turned Keelan Cole, who was undrafted after playing at Kentucky Wesleyan, and fourth-round pick Dede Westbrook, who missed nine games after sports hernia surgery, into reliable options for Blake Bortles.

DiRocco is conveying what a great job 'Old Thunder' had been doing for us. Anyone who knows Keenan, even in brief terms, knows he is a awesome, positive influence. He had all of Jacksonville asking, "Why not us?"

Is it really any surprise McCardell is doing a terrific job?

That said, we are going to have to really dig deep and play harder than before. The old adage is, " with each victory, the samurai tightens the helmet."

Having key people like Keenan McCardell gives us an inside track for another highly successful season.

The spirit and atmosphere around the team, with the exception of veteran roster subtractions, is nowhere near the kind of down after the 1999 Jaguars fell in the AFC Championship game.

One gets the sense that apart from not addressing the only true need of a quarterback upgrade and over-killing tight end, there is reason to remain positive.

Is it possible Bortles can upgrade himself? After so many seasons, it seem incredulous that he is still trying to figure out how to play quarterback. Last season he flashed here and there being what a NFL QB looks like. Yet, with the ball in his hands with 2:48 left in the AFC title game, he failed to produce in a way the exceptionally talented QBs always do.

Blame a lack of running game late doesn't hold true, particularly with so many of Bortles' supporters pining away about how they wish Blake would finally get the ball in a big game to show what they believe is a great QB. Take a look at the final four drives in the title game against New England. Failure after failure.

Why keep repeating this? Because the Jaguars will now have to survive another season of NFL play just to get back to the place they left business unfinished.

2018 for the Jaguars means making a statement about who they are every snap of every game. In one season they earned the privilege to contest the title against the best the conference has to offer. Maybe some of the pressure to perform with perfection the Patriots feel year after year will rub off on the Jaguars.

What the Jaguars' do with that pressure upon them in 2018 will either dumbfound them or challenge them to reach the peak of their competitiveness.