Jacksonville Jaguars face tougher New England Patriots amid dying win hopes – NFL Preview
The Jacksonville Jaguars are hosting the New England Patriots this Sunday (Dec. 23) amid dying hopes of victories in remaining two games of the season.
With only two wins on the points table, the Jags are heading to end the season on the worst ever record of 2-14 (two wins and 14 losses). It will not be less than a miracle if they pull off a win versus the Patriots. If they go on then to lose last game
of the season, it will be all over for them as far as season 2012 is concerned.
The Patriots are coming out on the field with a comprehensive victory versus the Houston Texans at their back, and will definitely attempt to thrash the hosts by even more comprehensive margin this weekend. No doubts, they are well capable of it.
The Jags are led by replacement quarterback Chad Henne. Although he has performed well in the slots, overall he is yet to lead the side to an impressionable victory. Nevertheless, since the hosts do not have an alternative they will hope that Henne comes
to their rescue this weekend.
On the contrary, Patriots offence leader QB Tom Brady is riding on a strong momentum. He outclassed the Texans a week earlier. The Texans came to face the Patriots with only one loss previously but they could not find a way to stop Brady.
The Patriots’ defence is even more invincible and performed against the Texans at par with their offence. So the depleted offensive line of the Jags will certainly find it difficult to get past them.
Since Henne is an experienced and an average skills player, expecting him to perform so well as to beat the Patriots’ defence should be too much to ask. Also, the team will miss their star running back Maurice Jones-Drew on the day. He has been out of the
side for last eight games straight with a sprained foot and is questionable for this weekend.
A day earlier in an informal update coach Mike Mularkey expressed doubts about availability of the RB versus the Patriots. The maximum he could do to satisfy the team’s and player’s fans was to update his status from highly questionable of last week to questionable
for this Sunday.
In another update the team had good news about return of wide receiver Cecil Shorts, who missed the last week’s action. His comeback should boost the offensive line strength to an extent, although there is no guarantee he can play a hand into their unexpected
victory.
Nevertheless, the Jags need to win both games to equalise their previous worst record of 4-12 since the team has been installed in 1996. It must be a sheer amount of disappointment for the first-year owner Shahid Khan to see his team tumbling down so miserably
since start of the season until its end.
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