Football, that great bastion of weekend happiness, is almost here. Read on for everything you need to know about the Jacksonville Jaguars in their preparations for the 2014 season and check out our previews for fellow AFC South teams the Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans.
The Jacksonville Jaguars were able to improve on their 2-14 record from 2012 last year, jumping to a whopping four wins in 2013. However, there is still (a lot of) room for improvement. They’re sick of being the nobodies of the division, so they set out on a number of key offseason preparations to boost their stock. Can the laughing stocks of the league jump forward in 2014?
[sc:”Football Articles” ]Jacksonville Jaguars Team Preview for the 2014/2015 NFL Season
Offseason Updates (8/22/2014)
Rookie quarterback Blake Bortles, whom the Jags selected third overall, has done well in the ongoing preseason games. He’s completed 64 percent of his passes for 277 yards, and could’ve put up better numbers considering three of his 10 incomplete passes were drops.
Bortles’ performance in the preseason is clearly ahead of other rookie QBs like Cleveland’s Johnny Manziel, and could lead to Bortles becoming the Jags’ Week 1 starter.
Overview
2013 Regular Season Record: 4-12 SU/5-10-1 ATS
The Jacksonville Jaguars had one of the worst starts to the 2013 NFL season, going 0-8 for their first eight matches. Included in those losses was a 28-2 loss (the first time in NFL history that a game ended with this score) to the Kansas City Chiefs as well as a 37-3 romp vs. the Indianapolis Colts. The Jags continued to suffer from having one of the weakest running games in the NFL, ranking 31st with just 4,701 yards.
[sc:NFL240banner ]Jacksonville doesn’t look to have much room to improve against their AFC South counterparts, especially after sweeping the lowly Houston Texans last year, a team that should be much better in 2014.
This year, they drafted and signed a number of key players to bolster their offensive line. However, it remains to be seen how much they can improve on their horrible 2013 season. As it stands, the Jaguars are +15,000 to win the Super Bowl.
Offseason Highlights
The Jaguars drafted a pool of players to bolster their offensive lineup. One of their biggest acquisitions was quarterback Blake Bortles as the third pick overall. In his last season in college, Bortles completed 67.8% of his 382 passing attempts for a total of 3,581 passing yards. Bortles should help the Jaguars improve their passing game, which finished 22nd in 2013 with 3,441 yards.
To feed Bortles the ball, the Jaguars drafted Luke Bowanko as a center. Bowanko will be competing with Jacksonville’s Mike Brewster for the position, but can give way by playing as a guard. When it comes to defending Bortles, Brandon Linder and Zane Beadles were drafted as right guard and left guard, respectively, in the hopes that Jacksonville can revamp their O-line in one fell swoop.
Aside from defending Bortles, Jacksonville drafted wide receivers Allen Robinson and Marqise Lee to give the quarterback a couple of fresh weapons. Robinson had a total of 1,432 receiving yards on 97 catches last year playing for Penn State, while Lee had 791 yards on 57 catches for USC.
The Jaguars didn’t just rely on acquiring rookies for their offensive lineup. Jacksonville signed free agent Toby Gerhart at running back to improve on their awful rushing offense (31st in the NFL with 1,260 yards). Gerhart put up 1,305 yards on 276 rushing attempts in four seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, good for a 4.7 yard per carry average behind Adrian Peterson.
Key Betting Matchups of 2014 NFL Season
The Jacksonville Jaguars have a lot of rookie players suiting up for the upcoming NFL season. They will likely need a couple of seasons to fully live up to their potential, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t start performing well as soon as the 2014 season. Here are two matchups to determine how much maturing the rookie-powered team has to undergo. The Jaguars are +2,000 to win clinch the top spot of AFC South.
September 21 – vs. Indianapolis Colts
What better way to test a rookie-bolstered team than to go against AFC South giants Indianapolis at home. The Jaguars will show how much more growing they’ll need to do to handle the class of the division, who stomped them last year.
December 7 – vs. Houston Texans
The Houston Texans are a good measuring stick for Jacksonville. Last year, the Jaguars managed to sweep the back-to-back defending divisional champions in two games over the regular season. Doing so again this year would be a good sign for Jacksonville who will want to stay ahead of the Texans while gaining ground on the Colts.
Prediction
The Jacksonville Jaguars will show promise, but ultimately falter due to the inexperience of their players. Expect Jacksonville to go 6-10 in the 2014 NFL Regular Season.
Don’t get caught sleeping waiting for the 2014 NFL Season. Create a betting account now to start on NFL Futures and first week matches.
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