Jaguars head to offseason with new hope
JACKSONVILLE, FLA. » The Jacksonville Jaguars won’t shock anyone next season.
A day after a disappointing loss to New England in the AFC championship game, players packed up their belongings and headed into the offseason. They carried with them more hope than heartache.
The Jaguars were one of the NFL’s biggest surprises in 2017. They ended a sixyear run with double-digit losses by winning the AFC South for the first time in franchise history.
They hosted a playoff game for the first time in 18 years, stunned Pittsburgh in the divisional round and had a 10-point lead on Tom Brady and the Patriots in the fourth quarter.
It was far from a fluke. With young and stillemerging talent on both sides of the ball, the Jaguars look poised to be a postseason participant for at least the next few years.
“Going forward, we know that this team is going to be a true contender and we’re going to go out there and earn it,” AllPro defensive end Calais Campbell said Monday.
Campbell was quick to point out that meeting higher expectations will only happen if they take the same approach to next season.
“You don’t get nowhere off of what you did last year,” he said. “It’s only what have you done for me lately. I’ve been a part of a team that went to the NFC championship and the next year we missed the playoffs. It happens quite a bit. This team is definitely, I feel like, we should be able to go out there and be a great team next year, but we’re going to have to put the work in.”
Before the next phase begins, the Jaguars will have to get over a stinging loss at New England.
They surely will be haunted by four plays that were as much a part of the outcome as Brady:
The league’s best pass defense gave up a 21-gain on a third-and-18 play early in the fourth quarter. The Patriots went on to score a touchdown that cut the lead to 20-17.
Linebacker Myles Jack stripped the ball from Dion Lewis at the end of a 20-yard gain in the third quarter. Jack picked up the fumble and started running the other way, but officials whistled the play dead. The Jaguars felt like it should have been a touchdown. Instead, the offense went three-and-out.
With 55 seconds to play remaining in the first half and two timeouts, Jacksonville took a knee on consecutive plays instead of trying to make something happen.
“Let’s get ourselves going and let’s take this lead into halftime,” coach Doug Marrone said. “That is exactly how I thought, right or wrong.”
Blake Bortles was flagged for delay of game — following a timeout, no less — and negated a 12yard completion to Marcedes Lewis on a thirdand-7 play in the second quarter. Instead of moving the chains and milking the clock, the Patriots got the ball back and scored a momentum-turning touchdown heading into the locker room.
“It was just a lapse on our part,” Marrone said.
All of those contributed to Jacksonville’s collapse.
By Monday, players and coaches had started to recover. Soon, they will turn the page.
“Getting there and showing the world that we can play good ball and be consistent against a good team like that and not fold under pressure was big,” Pro Bowl defensive tackle Malik Jackson said. “We answered a lot of critics now. People want to give us our respect; they don’t have to. We proved a lot to ourselves, and I think we’re going to continue to build from there.”