Are Jacksonville Jaguars this season’s Indianapolis Colts? – NFL Feature
It took Indianapolis Colts 13 games to record their first victory of the 2011 season, which they ended with only two wins. This year they are doing fine. They are far ahead of the past record, and are probably replaced by the Jacksonville Jaguars at their
place.
With the season halfway through, coach Mike Mularkey-led side have only single win to their credit, and are in dire as far as search for the second is concerned. Interestingly, their only win is against the Colts. This may well be coincidence but the Jaguars
are well on the path of collapsing.
The team particularly found themselves struggling at their home ground. They so far have lost all home games miserably, and it is a total team failure. While the Colts attributed their failures to absence of Peyton Manning last seasons, the Jaguars seem
short of excuses.
Shahid Khan – the new owner – is even more frustrated over performance of his team than Jim Irsay, who was dejected with Colts’ last season record. Khan had expressed ambitions of making the team consistent winners on the field but his dream is far from
realisation, for this season at least.
A plus out of this season, if they finish at bottom the way Colts did, would be that can they qualify for the top draft pick. The Colts were lucky to have picked up QB Andrew Luck, whose performance is changing the fortune of Irsay’s franchise. Khan hopes
for the same, but he has to wait to see how his team performs in the rest of the season.
The season is halfway through and some of other teams i.e. Cleveland Browns and Tennessee Titans are struggling to make a mark on their ends and might end the season on a disappointing note.
So far, Mike Mularkey is baffled where to look at and who to rely on. He backed quarterback Blaine Gabbert in spite of last year’s failings, but he has been inconsistent throughout. The team do not have alternative on the offensive line so they are probably
sticking with him for the entire season.
The coach has also accepted some of the blame, because some of his decisions did not pay off in the overall strategy of the team. For example, in one game he plotted Gabbert and pushed back running Maurice Jones-Drew. The decision was poorly timed because
Jones-Drew had led them to victory over the Colts a game earlier, and minimising the number of plays for him cost the Jaguars the game.
It is also the quality of talent that the team, which is through a rebuilding exercise, possess this season. Out of the drafts lot, wide receiver Justin Blackmon was rated to be the most talented player but he has not given an impressive run so far.
The main question remains how much the owner is ready to invest in the quality of talent, as without making some reasonably good offers they cannot attract highly rated players like Tim Tebow, who became a subject of speculated deal with the Jaguars recently.
The ability to spend is doubted on part of the Jaguars, which was also reflective in their refusal to give pay raise to running back Maurice Jones-Drew.
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