Jacksonville Jaguars – AFC South Preview

Jacksonville Jaguars Head Coach Jack Del Rio is on the hot seat. After a 12-4 campaign in 2005 the Jaguars were the definition of mediocrity last year posting an 8-8 record. Del Rio saw a need for change therefor deciding to fire three assistant coaches. In the off-season Jacksonville made upgrades to the O-line and WR crew in an effort to bolster a pedestrian offense. SportsBetting.com has the Jacksonville Jaguars 30 to 1 odds to win the 2008 Super Bowl.

The Jaguars like two use the running game to set up the play action to throw the ball deep. The two headed running monster of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew is a good one. Fred Taylor has been injury plagued throughout his career but when healthy he still has home run speed. Drew is more of an interior runner with great receiving skills. QB Byron Leftwich is in the same hot spot as his Head Coach. Leftwich has been somewhat of a disappointment. Byron has arm strength that would make John Elway proud but has been unable to stay healthy and he has slow footspeed. Despite his struggles I expect this to be the year that Byron Leftwich delivers in a big way. If Leftwich falters mobile and strong armed backup David Garrard is an able replacement. The wideouts have been slowly improving and this year the big trio of Matt Jones, Reggie Williams and Ernest Wilford should be better. The Offensive line was a bright spot last year as the Jags running game broke a franchise record with 2,541 yards.

The defense was injury riddled last year which is one reason why Jacksonville was disappointing. The Jags D revolves around their big Defensive Tackles Marcus Stroud and John Henderson. The combination of those to mammoth guys up front makes it difficult for opponents to run up the middle. There are question marks at DE with both Paul Spicer and Reggie Hayward lacking true burst off the edge. The D-line does a great job of freeing up a set of Linebackers that are very good. Mike Peterson and Daryl Smith are both aggressive players with Pro-Bowl potential Peterson is a leader on the field who has a nose for the ball.