2010 Jacksonville Jaguars Team Preview/Predictions
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2009 Record: 7-9
ATS: 5-11-0
The Jaguars’ 2009 season was marred as much by the fact that they couldn’t fill their stadium as by their uninspired level of play. Of course, the latter didn’t help the former, but the team still looked like the poster child for everything from a bad economy to a bad football team.
Unfortunately for Jacksonville (the team and its fans), many of the problems that existed in 2009 look almost certain to haunt the Jaguars in 2010 as well.
Quarterback David Garrard is shaky and inconsistent, something that’s exacerbated by the unreliable play of nearly everyone around him on offense that’s not named Maurice Jones-Drew. Receiver Mike Sims-Walker seems to be coming into his own, but after that who can Garrard throw to?
The Jags brought in receiver Kassim Osgood from the Chargers, but Torry Holt is gone, and tight ends Marcedes Lewis and Zach Miller may add up to one really solid pass catcher together, but that’s not how it works.
All this adds up to the fact that the Jags have to get back, and admittedly want to get back, to what made them a threat in years past: running the ball. Thankfully they have the talent to do that in Drew. The question is, how good will he have to be behind a line that gave up a wrenching 42 sacks last year?
Moreover, how long can their defense keep other teams off the board to let that running game work?
In fairness to Jacksonville, coach Jack Del Rio’s team is trying to solve some of its problems. The Jags had the fewest sacks in the league last year (14) so they shelled out the money for lineman Aaron Kampman (Green Bay).
They then stole linebacker Freddie Keiaho away from division rival Indianapolis and nabbed linebacker Kirk Morrison (Oakland) in the offseason. They also spent their first four draft picks entirely on defensive linemen.
Unfortunately while that helps the trenches, those players still have to fit together, and the Jags still have a middling secondary and what is starting to become a significant problem at safety.
All of this screams of rebuilding, which Jags fans won’t like – especially since they didn’t get Tim Tebow in the draft – but they should accept it if only because the rest of the division is so strong right now. Jacksonville really has no room to run here and only some of it is the Jags’ own fault. If the Jags over-spent to make a run now, it still wouldn’t have likely ended well, given the teams they’d have to go through just to have a shot in their own division.
It’s better for the long-term health of the franchise to start rebuilding in the trenches and at the skill positions while the organization waits for the tide to turn.
Jaguars 2010 Outlook
In 2010, look for Jacksonville to do things consistent with teams that are trying to rebuild their identity: struggle in fits and starts (again), and for the coach (Del Rio) to find himself on the coaching hot seat sooner than later, as the Jaguars will struggle to finish around .500. A 6-10 year sounds about right.
Jaguars 2010 Futures
Super Bowl Odds: +8550
Conference Odds: +4050
AFC South Odds: +375
2010 Jaguars Predictions
Place they’ll finish in AFC South: 4th
Place they’ll finish in AFC Conference: 13th
Over/Under Season Wins Prediction: Under 7.5 Wins
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Dave Golokhov has written for BETUS Sportsbook, Sportsfanmagazine.com, FOX, Askmen.com, Sports-central.org, and the FOXSports.com Funhouse.
