The drought is finally over. The Jaguars hadn’t won a road game in this country in over a year. And to get it done in Tennessee with an ugly 10-6 win, well, color me impressed.
Tennessee historically has been a house of horrors for the Jaguars. This is just the second win in Nashville since 2014, so this definitely isn’t something to sweep under the rug. It could give the Jaguars a little life down the stretch to finish the season with a few wins. Look ahead to their last four games. It is honestly a cupcake schedule.
Recommended Videos
Realistically, the Jags could finish the year with six or seven wins. That sounds crazy when you watch the games, but it is not out of the question. Wins are always good but in this case, they can also be bad. Because if this does give the team a little bit of a spark and they finish the year on a little run, does that convince Shad Khan to give Trent Baalke and Doug Pederson another year? That is the nightmare scenario.
If they get to seven wins this would be the most over a three-year period since Khan has bought the team in 2012. So, change would be far from a guarantee. After the win against the Patriots, I said stay the course, don’t let a win stop the agenda for change. And that is even more true now. Khan dropped the most quoted bar of the season when he said this was the “best team assembled by the Jacksonville Jaguars, ever.”
EVER.
Having three wins in December doesn’t exactly back that up. Now, let’s be serious, Khan didn’t just make that line up on his own. Someone in the building told him that. Pederson said it wasn’t him. That leaves one guy. Yep, all roads lead to Baalke. I don’t know how it is at your job, but at most jobs I have ever had making the boss look bad by giving them bad information was frowned upon.
And this wasn’t even a little white lie. He didn’t just stretch the truth. This was like I’ve got some beachfront property in Idaho for sale-level lies. This was the Jags scored 10 points against the Titans and that seemed like a small-miracle-level of a lie. So, let’s not lose sight of the need to gut the building.
And while Pederson will get most of the blame the line of folks that need to pack up should start with the guy who told the owner that this was the best team in franchise history. When the bar was set, high wins against teams who are in the race for a top 5 draft pick shouldn’t be applauded, they should be expected. With that in mind, even if the Jags run the table the rest of the way, the only quality team they will have beaten this year is the Colts. Even at 7-10, that should be considered nowhere near good enough.