Florida Sports Wires

  The Jaguars have a gimme Sunday, and they have to take advantage of it.  Good teams do that. The 4-2 Jags are in that category. They host the reeling 2-5  Colts, who are in the beginning of a massive rebuild, Sunday the Bank, and they need to take advantage of the obvious in front of them. At the time of this writing, running back Jonathan Taylor was still with the team, even though he is expected to be jettisoned soon. Guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner recently found new homes. General manager Chris Ballard was recently canned, and wide receiver Josh Downs has requested a trade. The Colts have lost three straight, one loss gave Tennessee its first win. Jacksonville has won 11 straight home games against Indianapolis and are 10-point favorites.  This should all add up to an easy Jaguars’ victory Sunday, right? Yet, there is some hesitation in the minds and voices of plenty of Jaguars’ fans. Taylor can still be a threat, but the Jags’ defens...

  In their bye week, the Jaguars are in a good position, but it could be better. At 4-2, they have a two-game lead over Houston in a division they should win. A win in their last game over Houston would have placed them in a very comfortable position, but they are in a good spot.   The Jags have worked their way to the tier of the game’s elite. But every team in that category has a few falls along their way. They had a slow start and eventually let a game against Houston slip away from them. They initially looked like the team that flew into London instead of the one that was there for a week.  Jacksonville rolled up 402 yards, but they uncharacteristically allowed 412 yards. Uncharacteristically, though, their defense allowed 114 yards rushing, 42 more yards above than their league-leading 72.2 yards allowed per game. Yes, Houston, their old avenger, was in their craw again.  It was an emotional ride in London with them winning in the last second and losing in ...

  Even though the scenery has changed to London, Jacksonville will face a rival that has caused them plenty of frustration and anxiety over the years. The Jaguars will tangle against the Houston Texans for a morning tea in Wembley Stadium. These are the same 1-4 Texas, who picked up their first win last week against the winless Titans.  They are also the same 1-4 Texans who have been a severe thorn in the 4-1 Jaguars’ paws. Houston has been a true scourge overall, winning 32 of their 48 meetings. Don’t be fooled by their 1-4 record. Houston will be hyped.  Can you say, trap game? This is as perfect an example as any, especially with the Jags coming off their roller-coaster, last-second win over the Eagles week in London’s other stadium in Tottenham.  Yes, the Jags don’t have to look at the Texans twice. They are well aware how they have hunted and trapped the Jags over the years. In other words, they have been the Jaguars’ biggest pain-in-the-you-know-what over the y...

By Jeff Moeller, Jacksonville Sports News Memo to Jaguars’ head coach Liam Coen: Take the points.  Second memo to Coen: Thank God for Cam Little.  Third memo to Coen: Good teams have their share of luck. The football world and most of the rest of the country know what happened in the Jaguars-Eagles' game in London Sunday morning. The dust has settled from across the pond, and reality has surfaced. It also could be a microcosm for the rest of their season. Jacksonville could have lost the game, but they didn’t deserve to lose it. Philadelphia deserved to lose the game, and they did. Instead, they survived a tussle with their share of stars, notably Trevor Lawrecne, Parker Washington, Bhayshul Tuten, and Josh Cameron to name a few.  They walked away from their first of two London weekends with a sense of relief, but also with a stronger sense of fortitude, confidence, and practicality. The undermanned Eagles held more than their own in the fight, and the crowd for a presume...

 By Jeff Moeller, Florida Sports Wire Normally if Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow throws for 414 yards, there’s a very good possibility that his team will win the game, In fact the Bengals accumulated 437 yards of offense. Did the Bengals win? No, in fact, they lost the game in question to the Jaguars, 22-17,  Sunday.  The Jags finally won a game over the Bengals. In the last three meetings, the Bengals won by a winning touchdown with 18 seconds left in the game, a last-second field goal, and an overtime field goal. Sunday’s win was another testament to the Jaguars’ defense that appeared ready to break again in Cincinnati. Rayuan Lane III made a leaping, first-down saving tackle that gave the Jags the win. It was another sign that this defense continues to look like it will be something special. This unit succeeds with a true team effort.  Yet, to the naked eye, their defensive stats can be somewhat deceiving. On paper, the Jags’ defense likely doesn’t look like one that is ...

  By Jeff Moeller, Florida Sports Wire The Jaguars are back. They desperately needed a convincing win and they put one together against the Patriots. Their 35-6 win was a complete one in many ways.  After a bad second half in Denver last week, Jacksonville proved to themselves and their fans that they are legitimate AFC South contenders and can be among the AFC elite.  The Jags looked as good and probably better as they did in their home opener thumping of Cleveland two weeks ago. They had a dominant showing on both sides of the ball against a reeling Patriots’ team that again showed that last year’s Super Bowl run was truly sparked by a soft schedule. Pats’ quarterback Drake Maye proved he can run the ball effectively, but he still needs some fine tuning as a passer with his subpar 14 of 25, 199-yard, two-interception day. In some ways, Maye has mirrored Trevor Lawrence in his early years, but Lawrence had a breakout season in his second year after a lackluster rookie se...

JACKSONVILLE - The Jacksonville Icemen, ECHL Affiliate of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild and the AHL’s Iowa Wild, announced that forwards Drew Kuzma and Blake Biondi, along with defenseman Reilly Webb, have been assigned to Jacksonville by the Iowa Wild. Defensemen Jaden Condotta and forwards Will Hillman and Brandon Yeamans were released from their training camp try-out contracts with the Wild as well. All six men will be available for Icemen training camp beginning on October 5. Kuzma, 23, played 13 games for the Greensboro Gargoyles in the ECHL last season while recording five goals and three assists for eight points. 6-6, 218 lb native of St. Albert, Alberta, he played four years of NCAA college hockey at Lindenwood University from 2022-2-26. Eventually rising to be the team’s captain his senior season. Biondi, 24, brings both size and experience to the Icemen this season. A former 4th-round draft pick (109th OVR) by the Montreal Canadiens in 2020, Biondi is a veteran of 36 AHL contests ...