Image courtesy of Jacksonville Jaguars
FOXBOROUGH – It’s hard to believe for those of us that grew up as 90s kids, but the Jaguars organization has been around for 31 years.
I vividly remember the 1996 AFC Championship win here and I remember Mark Brunell beating the Pats down there in the 1998 playoffs. I was there for the 2005 Wild Card win where Willie McGinest dominated and got to Byron Leftwich for 4.5 sacks, breaking the NFL career playoff sack record. The 2008 (2007 season) meeting literally doesn’t resonate in my mind anywhere and that’s still my favorite season of all time despite the ending. Everyone remembers Stephon Gilmore locking the 2017 AFC title game up in Foxborough.
I say all this to say that in my 34 years of following the Patriots, I have never been able to take Jacksonville seriously as a franchise.
Sure, they’ve had good teams and they probably got screwed by the officials here during that 2017 title game, but have you ever really thought they were a threat as a fan?
Don’t lie. The answer is no.
As New England prepares to head down to Jacksonville for a 1:00 p.m. game on Sunday, the Jaguars are theoretically a very big threat thanks to head coach and former UMass star QB Liam Coen.
This could (again, theoretically) be a big game when it comes to the AFC standings in January. The Patriots are still trying to figure out what they are and the Jags are coming off a loss in Denver after blowing out Cleveland to open the year.
The heat is always a factor whether teams are in Miami, Tampa or Jacksonville this time of year, but could it actually be a hostile environment too?
“They play well at home. They’ve been getting great first half leads. I think they have been outscoring their opponents at home in that stadium by probably 10 points in the first half, so that’s something that really sticks out,” Mike Vrabel said Wednesday when asked about the Jags winning five straight games at home.
“They feast off turnovers. They’ve been creating turnovers and turning those into points. From what I could tell from Cleveland, I think that there were 42,000, but they were into it, and they were loud for what it was recorded as from an attendance standpoint.
“So, I think that those fans are football fans. They crave football. Just like us, if they give them reasons to cheer, they’ll be loud.”
I still refuse to believe Jaguars ‘fans’ can produce a legitimately tough place to play and the heat won’t be that bad according to forecasts, but even if they do, the Patriots opened up the season in the loudest stadium there is.
Vrabel also spoke about what he learned from that first road trip.
“I think some of the stuff that we learned in Seattle, obviously, being able to handle the environment, not putting yourself in long yardage situations, being deep at third-and-long,” he added. “I do not think they’ve given one of those up in a while, and their defense is excellent. You’ve got to take care of the football.
“You’ve got to hit some returns; you’ve got to be able to find some X plays in the kicking game. And then take advantage of your opportunities – your scoring opportunities – but certainly take care of the football.
As long as New England’s defense continues to play well and Drake Maye finally starts to look like the 2025 version, there’s no way they drop to 1-2 with Buffalo looming next weekend.
The Jags will always be the Jags.