Jaguars vs. Chargers Recap

The Everbank Field electronic scoreboard/message strip read, “When You Think of Garbage, Think of Us.” The not-so-well-thought-out message was an advertisement for a waste management company, though, given the Jacksonville Jaguars season so far, it may as well have been the team slogan. Yes, the Jaguars were once again defeated. This time the hapless Jags were back on their home turf as they fell to the San Diego Chargers 24-6, falling to a “record” of 0-7. There was some hope that the Jaguars were improving after the Mile High Moral Victory in Denver [the linked post is not published yet], and some (including me) were making bold predictions of a sneaky Jaguars victory given that the Chargers were on a short week after a Monday Night game and traveling all the way to the east coast from San Diego. At the very least, I was convinced that they Jags would cover the 10 point spread. No such luck on either front.

Philip Rivers [the linked post is not published yet]—who looks like the bully from every John Hughes’ movie in the 80s—completed 22 of 26 passes and had a stunning 125.2 rating for the game. Only taking a sack once in the contest, it’s really not that much of a surprise that Rivers and his quick release lit up the Jaguars defense like a Blackmon [the linked post is not published yet] breathalyzer, but the Jaguars D somehow managed to make the very mediocre Chargers running back duo look of Ryan Mathews [the linked post is not published yet] and Danny Woodhead [the linked post is not published yet] look like Ladianian Tomlinson [the linked post is not published yet] and Michael Turner [the linked post is not published yet] when they were both on the Bolts in their prime.

On offense, Henne [the linked post is not published yet] passed for over 300 yards for the second week in a row and the receivers had good days, especially slot machine Mike Brown [the linked post is not published yet], who had 5 catches for 120 yards including a nifty 43 yard catch-and-run. That is where the good news ends for the Jags team. The Jaguars [the linked post is not published yet] had a few milquetoast trips deep into the red zone, but could never manage to come away with a TD as they seemed as nervous as a virgin on a first date every time they sniffed pay dirt. It is true that the refs made a few horrendous calls against the Jaguars and the zebras were certainly not the Jaguars’ friends last Sunday, but there’s no point in dwelling on that…it probably wouldn’t have made a difference in the final outcome.

Usually, there is not much to be taken away from the post game press conferences, especially with the perpetually positive coach Gus Bradley [the linked post is not published yet] at the podium…but this one was noticeably different. For the first time since the beginning of the regular season, coach Bradley looked emotionally defeated after a loss. He was not chipper self at all after this one and if anything was downright negative. He went on to explain that the Jaguars, in his eyes, had been improving each week but in this game they had taken a step backwards. He also suggested that for the first time this season he witnessed a lack of effort on the field. Bradley was at a loss for words when asked just what exactly was wrong with his team and, to me, looked like a man who was coming to the sudden realization that his team is not buying what he is selling. I could tell something was not quite right with Bradley and, though my read on him may have been correct, the reason for it may have been a completely different one—we learned later that day that his father, Roy James Bradley, had passed away at age 85 following a lengthy illness which, depending on how much he knew at that time, may have been the real reason behind his somber demeanor. We here at EU Jacsksonville give Bradley, his family, and his team our best as they head to London.

49ers vs. Jaguars in London

Aaawhooooooooooooooooooo, Jaguars of London

Next up, the Jaguars head across the proverbial pond to take on yet another California team, this time in the form of the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers [the linked post is not published yet] and super freak of nature Colin Kaepernick [the linked post is not published yet], AKA the Kaeped Crusader. When are the Football Gods—or at least the schedule makers—gonna realize that we DO NOT like West Coast teams…no matter where we play them. The Jaguars are technically the “home team” in this contest, so it will be interesting to witness their inaugural reception by fans at their new “home field” at Wembley Stadium [the linked post is not published yet]. We already know that the Brits love soccer, which is great news for the Jaguars because they’ve been scoring like a soccer team. Who knows, perhaps we’ll be an entirely different team in the motherland. Warren Zevon once wrote a song called Werewolves of London; will our Jaguars one day make themselves worthy of an awesome British song based on the fear of them? The legend of the Jaguars of London begins this Sunday…be there, cheerio.