Jacksonville Jaguars 2009 Preview

David Garrard went tat for tat with MVP Tom Brady that fateful Saturday evening in January. But the eventual AFC Champions had too much firepower for the Jaguars, and a great effort was thought to be the precursor to an even deeper run in 2008.

Then the Jags would come screaming back to Earth.

Injury after injury would plague the Jags offensive line, the defense would regress, and the lack of a decent wide receiving threat would begin to take its toll on a promising season.

For the Jacksonville Jaguars, if you wanted to sum up their 2008 season, the word you would use is "disappointment".

And why not? After being within a touchdown of the undefeated Patriots late in the Divisional Round it seemed like the Jags were the team that was about to make the leap. David Garrard almost refused to turn the ball over in 2007, only throwing 3 picks during the year while completing 64% of his passes.

But those numbers also would come with the benefit of strong outputs of the Jags dynamic duo at running back in Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew, as each back would account for over 1200 yards of total offense.

2008 was a different story for Jacksonville. Fred Taylor looked like his older self, only rushing for 556 yards and a single touchdown behind a decimated offensive line that saw both starting guards Vince Manuwai and Maurice Williams go down with season ending injuries, starting center Brad Meester miss the first six games of the season and tragically lost backup tackle Richard Collier after Collier was the victim of a shooting incident that left him paralyzed from the waist down with his left leg amputated.

Maurice Jones-Drew for all intents and purposes had a pretty solid year, but was also not the same explosive all-purpose back we had become accustomed to seeing, in large part because of the injury problems on the Jags line.

While Jones-Drew carried the ball 30 more times and scored 12 touchdowns on the ground, his yards per carry dropped to a career low 4.2 yards. He also added another 565 yards and 2 touchdowns receiving.

Despite all the injuries on offense, the Jags defense may have been the most disappointing element of their 2008 season. In 2007 the Jags defense was a solid 15th overall against the pass, but in 2008 they were only 24th in pass defense—surrendering just under 225 yards a game through the air.

Rashean Mathis had another fine season for the Jags, recording 4 interceptions, but the rest of the secondary was gouged and gouged repeatedly as of the 39 touchdowns scored against the Jacksonville defense a season ago—25 of those came through the air.

What all of this led to was a very up and down Jacksonville team to start the season, as they opened the year 4-5 and wound up losing six of their last seven contests to close the season 5-11, leaving the Jags as the only AFC South team with a losing record.

That record could be deceiving though as a wounded and overall banged up Jaguars team would lose six of those 11 contests by 7 points or less.

Which ironically was the difference in wins and losses from the 2007 season.

WR Torry Holt (St. Louis)
T Tra Thomas (Philadelphia)
S Marlon McCree (Denver)
S Sean Considine (Philadelphia)
QB Todd Bouman (Baltimore)

None

RB Fred Taylor (New England)
OT Khalif Barnes (Oakland)
LB Mike Peterson (Atlanta)
S Gerald Sensabaugh (Dallas)
CB Drayton Florence (Buffalo)
DE Paul Spicer (New Orleans)
TE George Wrighster (New York Giants)
S Pierson Prioleau (New Orleans)
G Tuten Reyes (New York Giants)
WR Matt Jones (Cut)
WR Reggie Williams (Unsigned)
WR Jerry Porter (Cut)

1-8. Eugene Monroe, OT, Virginia
2-39. Eben Britton, OT, Arizona
3-72. Terrance Knighton, DT, Temple
3-73. Derek Cox, CB, William

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