Jaguars want win against Brady
Jacksonville is 0-8 against New England since he took over at quarterback
Jacksonville, Fla. Tashaun Gipson remembers his first game against Tom Brady five years ago as vividly as his last one eight months ago.
They had similar endings.
Brady threw two touchdown passes in the final 61 seconds to stun Gipson and the Cleveland Browns in 2013. The three-time league MVP tossed two scores in the final 9 minutes to defeat Gipson and the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC championship game in January.
“There’s just nothing you can do when you’re playing a guy like that,” said Gipson, a free safety.
The Jaguars understand that as well as anybody. They are the only AFC team that has never beaten the New England Patriots with
Brady under center. Their 0-8 record includes a few tight games, several lopsided losses and, most recently, a come-from-behind gut punch that kept Jacksonville from the Super Bowl. Now, the Jags believe they are overdue for a victory. Their next opportunity comes Sunday against the Patriots (1-0), a rematch of the conference title game. And there’s no doubt the Jaguars (1-0) have had it circled on the calendar for some time.
“Jacksonville has never beaten him?” Gipson said.
Nope. Winless in eight tries.
“So, 1 of 9,” he said, predicting a victory. “I like it.”
Jacksonville has stewed since its last loss to New England, lamenting missed opportunities to put the Patriots away and what they insist was a bad call on linebacker Myles Jack’s forced fumble and recovery.
Although players understand it’s Week 2 and there’s little at stake, they also know what knocking off the defending AFC champs could do for a young team moving forward.
“It would definitely show that we’ve grown and we’ve gotten that little monkey off our back,” Jaguars defensive tackle Malik Jackson said. “I think the outside world would really see us graduating to that next stage. But we’ve still got 14 games to play. This isn’t an end-all, be-all, but it is a meaningful game.”
For the Pats, it doesn’t seem to mean so much.
“It’s going to be an emotional environment,” Brady said. “I think everyone, whenever you play some of the best teams, you want to see where you’re measured up to, and that defense has been ranked very high all last year, and I could see why.”
Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette expects to be a “gametime decision” because of a strained right hamstring.