By John Sarianides

Tom Coughlin is back in Jacksonville. Coughlin was hired this off-season as the head of football ops. Coughlin’s first order of business was to hire Doug Marrone as head coach. Marrone was the offensive line coach under former coach Gus Bradley.

Marrone’s first order of business is to get more out of quarterback Blake Bortles. Bottles struggled this pre-season but Marrone named him the starter and is showing faith in him and offensive coordinator Nate Hackett. 

Defensively, the Jags are loaded with talent but they have underachieved this far. Defensive coordinator Todd Wash will look to get the most out of this group and justify the money general manager David Caldwell has spent to assemble this group. 

Here are three keys for the 2017 Jags.

1. Blake Bortles: Bortles struggled in the first two pre-season games but played better in week three and beat out Chad Henne for the job. Bortles inconsistency is maddening. He needs to show improvement this season because as long as he struggles, the Jaguars will struggle.

2. Feed Fournette: The Jags drafted Fournette to be a workhorse back so they need to feed the man. Sure, Fournette was injury prone at LSU but he is more than capable of carrying the ball 20-25 a game this season.

3. Defense Must Live Up to the Hype: The Jags are talented defensively but they must live up to the hype. Owner Shad Khan has spent a lot of money on this side of the ball. These guys need to earn it now.

In the End: The Jags can contend for a wild card spot but in order for that to happen, Bortles needs to play at a higher level and the defense needs to be good. If those two things don’t happen, it will be business as usual for the Jags. They will lose again.