While getting ready for football season, I took a good look at the Jacksonville Jaguars 2008 shcedule. The home schedule is amazing. Here are some highlights of what is probably the best home schedule ever for the Jaguars.
Week 2. First home game of the season. The Buffalo Bills come to town. A good young team with some exciting players including Marshawn Lynch and Lee Evans. Last years game was won by the Jaguars pretty handily but was probably the final nail in J.P. Lossmans coffin as a Bill.
Week 4. A division game against a team that always gives us trouble, the Houston Texans. The Jaguars split with the Texans last year with the Jaguars beating the Texans at home early in the season and the Texans thrash the Jaguars in a late season game where the Jaguars didn't play all their straters (including David Garrard, Fred Taylor, Paul Spicer). I am alway nervous playing against the Texans. They have in my opoinion the 2nd best WR in the NFL in Andre Johnson. They also have a very good young defense. It should be a good smash mouth game.
Speking of Smash Mouth.
Week 5. Sunday night football, primetime, nationally televised. All day to tailgate. Steelres fans coming in from around the country. This is a big one. Jaguars vs. Steelers is always one fo the best games of the year. No two teams hit harder and play more physical then these two teams. The Jaguars were built based on a model that the Steelres perfected. Run the ball, stop the run, hit hard and run fast. The Jaguars won twice last year at heinz field (The first team to ever win twice in one season at Pittsburg) and haven't lost to them in the last 4 meetings including beating the Steelers 3 times at home in a row. Last years playoff game was exciting all the way to the end when David Garrard busted out with a 32 yard scramble on 4th and 2 with little time and left that set up a game winning FG that stopped a 18 point comeback by the Steelers. In the lst 6 games these teams have played only one has been decided by more than a touchdown (9-0 in 2006). This will be another classic Jaguars Steelres game.
Week 8. Another good young team comes to town, the Cleveland Browns. The Jaguars and Titans beat out the Browns for the wildcard spot last year. Many Jaguar fans are still think David Garrard deserved to go to the Pro Bowl over Derrick Anderson. These teams haven't played since 2005. The Browns could pose a difficult matchup for the Jaguars. They have talent they have at WR and TE with Kellen Winslow Jr. and Braylon Edwards. Edwards had 2 TS's last time he played against Rasheen Mathis. Dennis Northcutt is a former Brown and did not enjoy his stay there. This may be the opposite of the Steelers game and we could see lots of points put up. It is also our only 4 o'clock kickoff this year and probably a nationl game which means lots of tailgating time.
Week 11. The Jaguars biggest rival (in my opinion) comes to town. The Tennessee Titans and the Jaguars do not like each other. They have a long history. The Titans shredded the Jaguars to peices at home last year. The Jaguars forced 6 turnovers and beat the Titans with little trouble at Tennessee. Jeff Fisher has made enough smart a$$ comments about the Jaguars and Jacksonville over the years to make him the second most hated man (behind Bill the Whiner Pollian). Vince Young never should have won Rookie of the year over Murice Jones-Drew. The Jaguars all know that and they love to make him look like the scrub he is. These games always seem to be a blowout for one team or another. The road team actually wins more then the home team. It should be a wild one.
Week 12 brings the Minnesota Vikings to town and one of the most dynamic players in NFL history in Adrian Peterson. How many chances will we get to see this guy in Jacksonville? Probably not very many. In addition, the Vikings are like the Jaguars 3 years ago. A suffocating D-line, an awesome defense, a good offensive line and running game and who knows what a QB. The Jaguars bottled up two of the best RB's in the NFL last year holding Ladainian Tomlinson to 62 yards and Larry Johnson only rushed for 12 yards. This should be a playoff type atmosphere with both teams playing for division titles and playoff spots.
Week 15. Another playoff team comes to town, the Green Bay Packers. While this game would be even more exciting with Brett Favre still playing, it shoudl still be a good game. Again, both teams should be deep in the playoff race and fighting for positioning. This is another team that will probably not be in Jacksonville for a long time. They have a good offensive line and a potent offense (depending on Aaron rogers) and should be another test for the Jaguars ddefense.
Week 16. Probably the biggest game of the year. Jaguars vs. Colts on Thursday night football. Another primetime game. This game will hopefully determine who wins the AFC south and will probably be for a a first round bye. The Jaguars have spent years trying to knock Peyton Manning and the Colts off the top of the AFC south. I think this is the year. This game always ends up with the most fights and arrests. No doubt Bill Poliian will complain about something that happened in the first game they played. Last year he whined to the NFL the the Jaguars mascot was interfering with the game. Come on Bill, the mascot? At Jacksonville the Jaguars the game looked competitive until David Garrard went down. The Colts defense shut down the Jaguars after that. At Indy, it was a close game. The Jaguars were not allowed to challenge a blown TD call and ended up with a field goal. They lost by one. There was a lot of controversy because of controvesial comments made by Jaguars players and coaches abnout Indy's D-line getting away with calling out false "hike" calls leading to several false start penealties. In the end the Jaguars could't come up with the points to beat the Colts. This will be the final home game of the season, it is in primetime, it will determine playoff seeding, and it is against the one team the Jaguars have struggled with the last couple of seasons. What an end to what will be an incredible season.
What more could you want on your schedule? The Jaguars get 4 playoff teams from last year, some of the best players in the league such as Peyton Manning, Adrian Peterson, Braylon Edwards, Andre Johnson, and Ben Roethlisberger, and just about all these teams should be competing late in the season for playoff spots.