postseason?
Everyone around here is starting to get excited about the NFL playoffs and the Jaguars first foray into that environment in too many years. I'm sitting here thinking, "Not so fast, people." Let's not be puttin' the Hail Mary before the rest of the prayers. There's still quite a bit of football to be played and there are still some nagging questions.
The offense seems to be getting better, but it's against teams that haven't won three games all season. I don't think that's coincidence, but at the same time, realistically, there are no gimme games in the NFL. The difference between the Jaguars and the Titans, quality-wise, isn't that glaring. Then there's the fact that the offense doesn't seem to do shit until the second half. The optimist in me says they're making good adjustments at halftime and coming out and winning in the second half. The pessimist is screaming, "Yeah, but what about that first half? Can't we prepare to score then like the other team does?" We can't be spotting the other team a touchdown or two when the Colts come to town.
Speaking of the Colts, was I the only one not terribly impressed with the win over Cincinnati? I'm missing the whole love affair with the Bengals, who I think are pretty much a paper tiger. Carson Palmer looks like the real deal. After that, I'm not seeing it. Every time they play one of those games where they can "make a statement", they don't. Lucky for them, their schedule doesn't have many of those games. Lucky for me, neither does the Jaguars schedule from here on out. Playing the "we get no respect" card, there are 8 teams with 7-3 records. Only seven of them can make it into Tom Jackson's top 10 at ESPN.com. Guess who the odd man out is. Of course! Never mind the fact that his top 10 includes the Seahawks, the Steelers and the Bengals...three teams that make up slightly less than half of the Jaguar wins. (Yes, I know the other side of the argument is, "but that means you lost to the freakin' Saint Louis Rams.) I like the fact that we're still managing to stay under the radar more or less, though. It hopefully gives our boys a chip on their shoulder to play with, as we head to Arizona in the second of three straight road games. That game is a no win situation, though. If we win, nobody cares because it's the Cardinals. If we lose...oh please, please let's not go there.
The offense seems to be getting better, but it's against teams that haven't won three games all season. I don't think that's coincidence, but at the same time, realistically, there are no gimme games in the NFL. The difference between the Jaguars and the Titans, quality-wise, isn't that glaring. Then there's the fact that the offense doesn't seem to do shit until the second half. The optimist in me says they're making good adjustments at halftime and coming out and winning in the second half. The pessimist is screaming, "Yeah, but what about that first half? Can't we prepare to score then like the other team does?" We can't be spotting the other team a touchdown or two when the Colts come to town.
Speaking of the Colts, was I the only one not terribly impressed with the win over Cincinnati? I'm missing the whole love affair with the Bengals, who I think are pretty much a paper tiger. Carson Palmer looks like the real deal. After that, I'm not seeing it. Every time they play one of those games where they can "make a statement", they don't. Lucky for them, their schedule doesn't have many of those games. Lucky for me, neither does the Jaguars schedule from here on out. Playing the "we get no respect" card, there are 8 teams with 7-3 records. Only seven of them can make it into Tom Jackson's top 10 at ESPN.com. Guess who the odd man out is. Of course! Never mind the fact that his top 10 includes the Seahawks, the Steelers and the Bengals...three teams that make up slightly less than half of the Jaguar wins. (Yes, I know the other side of the argument is, "but that means you lost to the freakin' Saint Louis Rams.) I like the fact that we're still managing to stay under the radar more or less, though. It hopefully gives our boys a chip on their shoulder to play with, as we head to Arizona in the second of three straight road games. That game is a no win situation, though. If we win, nobody cares because it's the Cardinals. If we lose...oh please, please let's not go there.
John put this out here at 8:12 AM
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