Here's a funny thing about rooting for a team that is as transparent, and frankly, as honest as the Jaguars; expectations are well adjusted. You can generally believe Gene Smith when he says this player is playing well, or that he's happy or disappointed with a unit. So when he kept saying the team was alright, and viewing the preseason as largely a success, Jaguars' fans should have believed him, kept the faith, yada, yada. Now, fans being fans, many panicked, and I can't say my expectations for the season weren't adjusted downward with the release of David Garrard. That said, I think this game should have fallen comfortably on the optimistic side of expectations but nothing too astonishing.
The major concerns going into the game were for wide receiver and the offensive line. The message from the team was that the wide receivers were good enough and the offensive line was talented and would be able to run the football. These things were true. Luke McCown was an obvious concern, and although the team has been more hesitant in setting expectations for him, the perception was certainly that he was David Garrard without the ups and downs. Coincidentally (or not), McCown's passer rating of 91.5 was a notch higher than Garrard's 90.8 from last season (To be fair, Garrard's running ability is an asset not captured by this stat).
This was a very fortunate game to start the season off. I don't think the Titans will be very good. More so, they play to the Jaguars strengths. They run the ball well and don't pass particularly well. Matt Hasselbeck isn't the player he once was and I can't think of a good precedent for a player bouncing back from a holdout to carry his team the way Chris Johnson will need to carry this Titans team. Not a bold prediction but I imagine we'll be seeing Jake Locker on Christmas Eve when the teams meet again.
...onto next week...my initial reaction to the David Garrard release was that the team would pull together for this week, play reasonably well, but there would be a let down week 2. Gotta say, I don't think that's going to happen. Just reading the quotes but the team seems to have moved on fairly quickly, and there just a touch of that no-one-believes-in-us-still vibe. On the plus side, I don't think this is going to change the national perception of the Jaguars one bit. That's largely due to 1) Expectations for the Titans were low 2) The score was relatively close and 3) No one saw the game. If you really want the Jags on NFL Tonight, this isn't so hot, but if all you really want the Jags to win, then I think this, combined with the Jets winning in week one, bodes well.
I know this is pretty fluffy so I'll try to bring more substance as the season wears on. Hey, I've been holding out, too
-Q
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