The Jacksonville Jaguars are bad and they should feel bad. That sentiment is reflected in this week’s collection of power rankings.
Not much analysis in this week’s aggregation of power rankings. Why? Because things haven’t changed much for the Jacksonville Jaguars
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The defense plays fine for another week against a horrendous offense, but they failed to force a turnover yet again against an awful quarterback. The offense was stagnant for the better part of three quarters and Blake Bortles continued to miss open receivers for huge plays. It’s a sad state of affairs in Jacksonville, with the most depressing aspect perhaps being that one could imagine it getting even worse over the final 7 games.
Here’s a brief collection of some rankings around the web as the Jaguars go on the road for what seems like an unavoidable loss against the Detroit Lions:
The Jaguars held Brock Osweiler to 99 passing yards … and still lost. That shows just how bad the offense is. Blake Bortles threw for just 265 yards on 49 attempts as he continues to regress. His stat line looks better than it really was thanks to the fact that his second interception off the foot of T.J. Yeldon was ruled a fumble. The Jaguars need to seriously think about whether he’s their future at quarterback.
Another ugly outing camouflaged by a late charge from the offense. (Well, it’s hard to imagine the Jags’ uniforms obscuring anything.) The research on Blake Bortles is startling. His production from Quarters 1 through 3: seven touchdowns, eight interceptions, 71.3 passer rating. Fourth quarter: nine touchdowns, three interceptions, 96.6 passer rating. They say games are won or lost in the fourth quarter. Not in this case.
Four straight losses have the Jaguars down to 2-7, and with two straight road games at Detroit and Buffalo and then home games against the Broncos and Vikings, there could be trouble brewing for coach Gus Bradley & Co. This is the Jags’ third losing streak of four games or longer in the past two seasons.
My take:
There’s some comedy in this week’s power rankings, mostly in the decision by the folks at ESPN to move the Jaguars up one spot. If it weren’t for the Cleveland Browns (and their quest for 0-16) and the calamity of Chip Kelly’s 49ers, the Jaguars would be the clear-cut worst team in the NFL. To be frank, I would expect the Jaguars to lose to both those teams if they played this week.
Another takeway from perusing the rankings is this: Blake Bortles has effectively no support nationally anymore. It began quietly with some whispers about his poor mechanics, but now every national analysts is aware of his inability to move the offense in the first half and his total regression.
