With a few days remaining until Doug Pederson's first training camp with the Jaguars opens, I figured it might be good to give our thoughts and predictions about the Jaguars and the league as a whole coming into this preseason.
1. I know we are all eager to see improvement from the Jaguars under Pederson, but I wouldn't expect too much too soon. The Jaguars are presumably getting an early start to preseason by playing in this year's Hall of Fame game. Ordinarily, teams who are slated to play in the Hall of fame game are allowed to enter training camp early. But the Jaguars didn't take advantage of that. Despite having a new coach with new schemes playing in the Hall of Fame game, the Jaguars don't open camp until the 24th, which gives the team about two weeks to prepare for the game in Canton. While i want the team to look good, even in preseason, I expect sloppiness-even for first game of the preseason standards. But if the team is making progress and is staying healthy, I can live with a sloppy HOF game.
2. What is with the media's sudden love affair with black helmets? Nothing is wrong with them, but I find it odd the media is going gaga over the alternate black helmets to be donned by the Panthers and Saints this year. We've had black helmets pretty much our entire existence, and nobody in the media gave them much consideration. Now? It's as if Carolina and New Orleans somehow invented black helmets.
3. Looking at the roster, I think Washington has a ton of speed at WR with Curtis Samuel, McLaurin, Dotson, and 2nd year Dyami Brown. I think with Gibson and Robinson, they can offer balance with a good running game. To maximize our chances of winning opening week against a team we typically haven't fared well against, we'll have to shut down the run, get pressure against them in passing situations, and force some turnovers. When the schedule first came out, my main concern was the Commanders' defense. But their offense won't be a walk in the park, either.
4. Snoop Connor could be a key contributor for us early on.
5. In this division, I think each team offers multiple guys on the hot seat. In Houston, even though he's a good coach and just got there, I think Lovie Smith is on the hot seat. The pressure stemming from the Brian Flores litigation contributed to the Smith hire. The team was rumored to be interested in hiring Josh McCown for goodness sake. Anything short of 6 wins will have Smith one and done for Houston. While Davis Mills was a bit of a pleasant surprise for them, you have to think with all of the picks flowing from the Watson trade and the strong QB class, i could easily see Mills quickly becoming a bridge QB if he and the team falters.
As for the tacks, I could see three guys on the hot seat-all of whom are on offense: 1) Tannehill, Henry, and the rookie first round pick from Arkansas, Treylon Burks. After last year's playoff disaster at home against Cincinnati, Tannehill ha much to prove. But with the loss of AJ Brown, it'll be harder for Tannehill to perform. Derrick Henry has proven himself to be a great back over the years. but he's taken punishment over that time, and last year, he missed a substantial amount of time to injuries. If he can stay healthy, he makes things much easier for the tacks and maybe he even gets another deal, but if he shows signs of further decline or misses another large chunk of time like last year, things will be ugly offensively. Finally, tackland was not happy to lose Brown. While Burks measures up amost equally to Brown in terms of physical build/dimensions, it remains to be seen whether he can match his productivity. If he doesn't, he will come under increasing scrutiny.
Indy will need to hit on their rookie LT pick this year, or their hopes to contend will once again fall short of expectations. I also think CB Stephon Gilmore can improve their defense in Gus Bradley's scheme, but he's clearly a stopgap. The general perception is Matt Ryan will be an upgrade over last year's signal caller. but if he starts showing signs of age and the Colts skill players still can't give him substantially better play than what the Colts got out of their skill positions last year, the Colts could end up trying to find yet another QB.
6. Can't believe I'm typing this, but I'm looking forward to see how the kicking competition plays itself out for the Jaguars this year. I believe whomever wins the job will definitely have a stronger leg than Wright had last year. i think we'll see improved accuracy this year (how many games did we go without kicking a FG last year? Six?) amd better kick coverage. Short kickoffs were contributing factors in the kick returns for TDs allowed late last year vs. Houston and the Jets.
7. I am eager to see how Etienne will be utilized. Considering he played and coached under Andy Reid, I think Pederson will utilize Etienne much like Brian Westbrook was used by the Eagles under Reid. If so, Jaguars fans will notice an element of dynamic play in terms of creativity we've never seen here before.
8. How does Cisco NOT start at S this year?
9. Even though we are months removed from the draft and days before the start of training camp, part of me still has the nagging sense we could have and should have done more to give Trevor Lawrence more direct offensive help. That said, it was far from unreasonable for the team to have made the emphasis on defense they did. The Jaguars only had two games (out of 17) where the defense held opponents to less than 20 ppg (Buffalo and the 2nd Indy game), while allowing over 30 points in EIGHT (9) games. With this in mind, it doesn't take a Bill Walsh to figure out you take pressure off your QB-especially your young one-to make him not have t score 30 PPG to have a chance at winning.
Worst to 1st. Curse Reversed!
