Jacksonville Jaguars: Positives About 2012 Season

Not a lot of things go right when an NFL team finishes a season 2-14, and the case is true for the 2012 Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Jaguars struggled all season in every aspect of the game. Whether it was inconsistent play on offense or poor tackling on defense, it seemed as if the Jaguars could never get all 53 players on the same page.

A small part of the blame for the terrible season could be put off on injuries; the Jaguars led the NFL with 22 players on injured reserve.

Most of the blame, however, had to be placed on former general manager Gene Smith's poor roster moves, which cost Smith his job Monday.

It's tough to find positives in such a bad situation, but luckily for the Jaguars there are some silver linings even in the stormiest of weather. 

Emergence of Wide Receivers

The Jaguars have been looking for playmakers at wide receiver since Jimmy Smith retired in 2006.

They may have finally found those players in Cecil Shorts III and Justin Blackmon, who both had great seasons.

Shorts came out of nowhere during his sophomore season to become the explosive deep-ball threat the Jaguars have been missing. He led the team with 979 yards and seven touchdowns. Shorts' 17 receptions of at least 20 yards ranked him ninth in the NFL.

Shorts was on pace to be the team's first 1,000-yard receiver since Smith, but the Jaguars placed Shorts on injured reserve after he suffered his second concussion in a month against the Patriots in Week 16.

Blackmon finished the season strong after a sluggish start to his rookie campaign. He had just 26 catches for 250 yards and one touchdown through his first nine games.

Blackmon eventually became the player the Jaguars hoped he would be when they made him the fifth selection in the 2012 NFL Draft. Blackmon caught 38 passes for 615 yards and four touchdowns during the final seven games, including a monstrous 236-yard performance again the Texans in Week 11. His 64 receptions led all NFL rookies.

Blackmon's rookie season was the best of any rookie receiver in Jaguars history. He finished with the team's rookie records in receptions, receiving yards (865), and average yards per reception (13.5). He tied Matt Jones for most rookie receiving touchdowns with five.

Shorts and Blackmon were the first pair of Jaguars receivers to each break 800 yards in a season since the tandem of Smith and Keenan McCardell did so in 2001.

Wide receivers have been a weakness for the Jaguars for years, but with the emergence of Shorts and Blackmon, it may be the only position that doesn't need serious rebuilding.

Rookies

Blackmon's rookie season wasn't the only good one for the Jaguars; both Bryan Anger and Mike Harris made solid contributions to the team.

The selection of Anger, a punter from California, in the third round was much-maligned. Although it's almost impossible to justify selecting a punter that early in the draft, Anger showed just how good he was during his rookie year. 

Anger set NFL rookie punting records for gross average yards per punt (47.8) and net average yards per punt (40.8). He also finished sixth in the league with 31 punts inside the 20.

People expected Anger to be a good punter, but Harris was a nice surprise.

Harris, a sixth-round selection from Florida State, was thrust into the starting cornerback role due to injuries in six of the Jaguars final seven games, and he made the most of the opportunity.

Harris recorded one interception and six pass defenses. He proved himself to be a good open-field tackler as he finished the year with 55 combined tackles and a sack.

He was also valuable to the Jaguars' special teams. He blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown in the Jaguars' season finale in Tennessee.

Harris can be a very good nickelback for the Jaguars moving forward.

Fans

Fan support for the Jaguars was great, despite the team's pathetic play at EverBank Field.

The Jaguars had the worst home scoring differential in the NFL at -118, and was the eighth-worst since the NFL moved to 16 games in 1978. The 94 points scored at home was the lowest home point total in the NFL, and tied the 1991 Cardinals for 10th-fewest points scored in the same time frame.

The fans showed up every week even though the team never seemed to. EverBank Field averaged being at 96.8 percent capacity, which ranked 17th in the league. The Jaguars' four percent growth in average capacity from 2011 was second only to the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Jaguars finished 20th in the NFL in average attendance with 64,984 fans per game, which was more than 2,600 more than 2011.

The tarps that cover nearly 10,000 seats were removed three times during the 2012 season, marking the only times seats have been uncovered since the tarps were added in 2005.

Jacksonville showed it can support an NFL franchise, even if the team was as bad as the Jaguars were in 2012.