Moeller: Jaguars Will Win Another AFC South Title This Season
By Jeff Moeller, Florida Sports Wire
JACKSONVILLE (www.jaxsportsday.com) - The Jacksonville Jaguars will again win the AFC South.
Remember, this team won 13 games last year, and had a hiccup against Josh Allen and the Bills in a playoff game.
Should you take it to the bank? No.
However, the Jags have a real chance to make a deep run in the postseason. In order to do that, they have to be on their A-game. (Trevor Lawrence can’t throw that untimely interception.)
On paper, Denver may be the best team in the AFC. They have all the tools and the coach in Sean Payton. You can’t count out Seattle, who will see how the season plays out.
Cincinnati and Buffalo also should be near the top this season.
Kansas City lost some key personnel on their defense, and they don’t have the same offensive weapons. Yes, Patrick Mahomes is still Patrick Mahomes, even though he is coming off a knee injury. But the Chiefs, like tight end Travis Kelce, are getting old.
New England had the benefit of an easy schedule, and they are not a guarantee to get back to the Super Bowl.
On the other side of the league, it’s the Rams, who are loaded across the board, especially with Aaron Donald, Trent McDuffie, and Myles Garrett now in the mix.
It will just be a matter of how quickly they can play together well.
As far as the rest of the NFC, it’s still too early to see who will rise to the top.
But, back to the Jags..
When you look at their division, the Texans shouldn’t scare you.
They have a top-tier defense, but they also have C.J. Stroud at quarterback. Stroud is 3-2 lifetime against the Jags with eight touchdowns and two interceptions.
Yet, this is about him as a whole. Stroud had the horrendous playoff game last year in which he had four interceptions against the Patriots.
Tennessee is an intriguing team with Cam Ward in his second season and a cast of new faces in place as well as Robert Saleh in charge.
Can Daniel Jones duplicate what he did last year before he got hurt? That’s another intriguing and interesting scenario to watch.
I still see the Jags as being a step up above all of these teams.
Anthony Campanile’s defense will need to raise its game, and Jakobi Meyers and Parker Washington have raised the level of the offense. Trevor Lawrence has plenty of passing targets this season.
You’ll have a good read on the Jags’ season after the first five games. They travel to Denver, where they picked up a huge win last year, in Week Two, and then to Cincinnati before they embark for London for a meeting with the Eagles.
Houston comes to Jacksonville in Week Five.
It will all start with Cleveland and Deshaun Watson Sunday at EverBank Stadium. Is it safe to assume they register 13 wins? That's a high mark, but I believe they will be close.
It also will mark the beginning of the Jaguars toward defending their AFC South title.
