WEEK 7 STATE OF THE JAGUARS

A look at where the Jaguars stand after seven weeks of football. 

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After another dominant odd-week win for the Jaguars they find themselves at 4-3 and 2nd (The Titans own the Tie Breaker) in the AFC south behind Mariota’s Titans. Week 7 was another defensive domination for the Jaguar’s who produced 10 sacks for their second of the season, keeping the Jags in the lead for the most sacks by a defense on the season thus far with 33 - that is on track to break some serious ’84 Bears sack records.

Unfortunately, the Jaguars like many other teams have dealt with a lot of inconsistency. Our win/loss pattern so far through week 7 has gone W,L,W,L,W,L,W, losing on every even week and they have yet to win a true home game (London doesn't count). Right as I feel like the team is unbeatable they go off and take an L the next week and crush my hopes. Luckily we have an even week bye so we will pick back up on an odd week and break the curse with another odd week win! All jokes aside though, it seems likely that the most inconsistent portion of our offense has been the passing game. Bortles has had my hopes up and down the whole season long. Every win seems to go hand in hand with a decent Bortles play, and in some of the wins he has seemingly been the x-factor.

While you might be saying "obviously you need a good game by the QB to win games" it doesn’t seem to be so obvious for the Jags. Our defense has bailed Bortles out on countless occasions this season setting him up for success because a QBs best friend (besides a solid running back like Fournette) is a turnover hungry defense that will give the QB more chances to punch it in for 6. BB5 has the tendency to stare down his targets, hold on to the ball for too long, and just make bad decisions. But, while has gotten better under Marrone, I still cringe with fear every time he steps back to pass. Although my trust in Bortles has died and I’m praying for a new QB and new WRs, I do believe he could still win a couple games for us in the right conditions. As long as our O-Line stays healthy (thank God Cam Robinson is healthy), Bortles doesn’t hold on to the ball for too long, and he works on his throwing motion he could potentially revive the passing game just like he did against the Ravens and Colts. Our consistently solid run game along with our great pass defending defense can and will hopefully help push us to our first playoff appearance in over a decade.