By Jeff Moeller, Florida Sports Wire
When you watched the Jaguars’ debacle – either live or on TV against the Bears last weekend, you probably made an initial turn to the Jacksonville Iceman even though the Jags gave you a bigger chill.
Chicago did enter the game with a 3-2 record and rookie quarterback Caleb Williams is starting to turn the corner, but the Jags simply didn’t show up.
For the most part, they quit last week, especially the defense. It was hard to watch Chicago looking more like the Super Bowl days of Jim McMahon and company.
Head coach Doug Pederson believes he has the support of owner Shah Khan, but the owner also announced an agreement to build his new football palace. Khan also wants some more bangs for the bucks he has spent for the players, and a playoff appearance is still expected.
So, is it over? Believe in Yogi Berra’s prime Berraism ..”it ain’t over until it’s over.”
It’s Game Two in London Sunday against the New England Patriots, the place where the Jags would re-energize before they returned home.
It will be another showdown between an anticipated future franchise quarterback against the Jags’ embattled defense.
Now it becomes a must-win against the Patriots, which you may consider a task they should accomplish like they should have beaten the Bears.
But these are two 1-5 teams squaring off in a sense of a fog. And they really aren’t far apart from each other despite the Jaguars’ obvious talent advantage.
The Jaguars will try to rattle and roll Patriots rooke and future quarterback messiah Drake Maye, who completed 20 of 33 attempts for 243 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions in a 41-21 loss to the Texans last week.
That wasn’t bad for his debut.
It also could spell trouble for the Jags’ pass defense. They have allowed a league-worst 276.7 yards per game with a 70.8 completion rate. Over the past five games, their pass defense has allowed 1,406 yards with a 72.6 completion rate with 13 touchdowns.
This is an overall defense that has 14 sacks and just one interception this season. Losing tackling machine Foyesade Oluokon after three games hasn’t helped. When your leading tackles are from your secondary, that doesn’t help either
Still, the Pats will enter the game with the league’s worst pass offense (134.3 yards per game), and lead running back Rhamonde Stevenson is unlikely to play,
Yet, there is still the chance that another rookie stud quarterback could again have a big day.
Trevor Lawrence has looked better in the past two weeks, but he only had four touchdowns and two interceptions during the recent span.
It’s hard to hang most of their troubles on the offense even though they have looked putrid at times.
This one’s on the defense.
It’s a must-win Sunday in Big Ben’s town, and the defense must show up.
It ain’t over.
Just look back to the 2022 season when they started 2-5 and won seven of their next 10 and then the historic playoff victory over the Chargers before the Chiefs’ loss.
It ain’t over..but it’s getting close.
