The Jacksonville Jaguars took the league by storm last season, as they won the AFC South and made it to the AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots. Led by a fearsome defense featuring cornerback Jalen Ramsey and defensive end Calais Campbell. Heading into this 2018 season the defense is heavily expected to once again be one of the elites. Will quarterback Blake Bortles and the offense be able to carry their weight?
1st Down: Can Blake Bortles be better than average?
Bortles is coming off a season in which he threw for 3,687 yards and 21 touchdowns with 13 interceptions. The biggest thing the Jacksonville coaching staff can want from him moving forward is ball security. With the second stingiest scoring and yardage defense on the other side of the ball for you, they aren’t in need of the offense exploding every week. A level of consistency and smart play from the Jags offense should be more than enough for the elite unit of this team to carry the franchise over the top. Bortles also shouldn’t have to feel like he has to do too much with workhorse Leonard Fournette in his backfield. The Jaguars are constructed in a way that they really just need some level of competency under center, and if Bortles can tighten up his game they should be in a great spot.
2nd Down: How will the offense replace Allen Robinson?
During the off-season, Jacksonville lost its best receiver to free agency. It is important that they find a way to replace the kind of talent he is. They brought in Donte Moncrief and also drafted D.J. Chark out of LSU. Those two guys plus Marqise Lee, Keelan Cole, and Dede Westbrook are who Bortles will now be leaning on in the pass game. If the Jags are able to create dangerous plays passing the ball it will not allow opposing defenses to stack the box and key in on Fournette in the run game. That kind of multidimensional attack is exactly what can help improve Bortles’ numbers, in addition to taking some pressure off of the defensive side of the ball for this team moving forward.
3rd Down: How dominant will Ramsey and this defense continue to be?
With how well the Jags defense balled out last season there probably has to be an expectation that they could regress somewhat this season. They have a considerable amount of young pieces, but great health was also a factor for their success. Their starters combined to miss 3 games all of last season. That kind of availability throughout a unit is invaluable, but not necessarily something you can count on in the NFL. I and many others still do fully predict that this defense will be a Top 5 unit across the league again, but they will need a little more production out of the offense so they won’t have to play near perfect football week in and week out. Ramsey and A.J. Bouye should still be arguably the best cornerback duo in the league for many years to come, which is scary. If Jacksonville’s front office can keep the young stars of this defense under contract this team will be shutting offenses down for the foreseeable future.
4th Down: Can Jacksonville get over last season’s hump and reach the Super Bowl?
The Jaguars definitely have the potential of a Super Bowl contender, especially considering that defense wins championships. Bortles and the offense is the big key here though. We all know what to expect from the other side of the ball, but Bortles and his unit tend to be a bit unpredictable week to week. If head coach Doug Marrone can get this offense humming, or at the least just solid, this team definitely could be in a position to fight for the Lombardi in the final game of the season. The odds on favorite in the AFC will probably be the Patriots at season’s start, but these Jaguars can change that quickly if they show up as an even better ball club than 2017’s 10-6 version. Jags fans all across the nation should honestly have high hopes for this season, because they are clearly the current cream of the AFC South crop this year.
