Jaguars play down the hype
JACKSONVILLE, Florida — The Jacksonville Jaguars haven’t played a home game with this much at stake in nearly a decade.
An outside shot at clinching a post-season berth. A perennial playoff contender and recent Super Bowl champion in town. A chance to prove they belong among the NFL’s elite.
Some might even call today’s matchup against the Seattle Seahawks (8-4) a “statement game.” Not the Jaguars (8-4).
Jacksonville refuses to acknowledge what a victory against the 2014 Super Bowl champions would mean, even if everyone else does.
“You all hype up who you all want to hype up,” said Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey, chiding the media . “We were sorry last year, but we’re not this year. We ain’t talking about last year.”
Maybe not. But for a team that lost 74 of 96 games over the past six seasons and hasn’t been this close to the playoffs in December since 2010, putting itself in this position is a huge turnaround and should be part of the discussion.
“You all have to stop doing that,” Ramsey said. “It’s a new year, it’s a new league — everything. There are new big dogs around the NFL.”
If the Jaguars are one of the “new big dogs,” then facing Seattle late in the season should be the measuring stick. After all, the Seahawks are an NFL-best 20-5 in regular-season games in December and January.
But the Jaguars aren’t willing to go there. “I don’t know if you can quite say it’s a statement game,” Jaguars safety Tashaun Gipson said. “I think that we’ve proved that, if not the best, one of the best. It’s just going out there and collectively doing what we know and what we can do.
“A statement game? We don’t want to put that type of pressure on this game. We know it’s a bigtime game and has a lot of implications. They’re trying to get their ninth win and set themselves up. We’re trying to do the same thing.” Unlike Seattle, Jacksonville can clinch a playoff berth this week. Both are currently projected as the No. 5 seed in their respective conferences.
The Jaguars need a victory, combined with losses by Buffalo, Miami, the New York Jets and the Los Angeles Chargers, to reach the post-season for the first time since 2007. They also need the Oakland-Kansas City game to not end in a tie.
Seattle hasn’t even mentioned the post-season this week, surely because they’ve been there five consecutive seasons and 11 times in the previous 14 years.