Greetings all, Jag Fan here.
Had some info for you guys. Here in town we're looking forward to the game. We've been bottom dwellers for a while and feel we finally have an explosive offense again (since the turn of the century). But we also know who's coming to town.
Our first two pre-season games the #1 offense was unstoppable. 5 drives, 3 TD's, 1 FG (after Julius Thomas dropped an easy, short TD pass) - JagFan was going to the Super Bowl. Then week 3 against Cincy the wheels came off, JagFan was going 0-16. So we'll see which team shows up. We had an unusually high number of penalties in all three games, which was concerning even in pre-season, but Gus has been at the bottom of that list during the his 3 seasons here so we hope it was a blip.
Here's what I think you'll see…
Offence:
Blake Bortles - we love him. He's a baller - reminds me of Arron and Big Ben. Loves to throw the deep ball (even if it is a bit wobbly) and has the targets. He's got great pocket presence, steps up like a man (that's where our Gabbert experiment fell apart). And he's just as dangerous on the run. His 4,400 yards and 38 TDs last year we record setting for us. As were his 18 INTs. He got flak for them being "garbage" TD's, but he still made the throws. If he can get the INTs down he is dangerous (none thrown in pre-season).
2 - 1000 yard receivers last year
Allen Robinson (AR15) is a beast. He's the real deal. His specialty seems to be the 50/50 jump ball which around here we call it the 80/20 - because that ball is his and he's going to take it. He's big and physical and will be a good test for whomever the Pack puts on him.
Allen Hurns - is also very good. Blake hit ARob 150+ times last season and Hurns 105. Hurns average yard per catch was 16.1 with 10 TDs and AR15s YPC was 17.5 with 14 TD's. So if you guys shut down AR15 then keep an eye on Hurns.
Marquis Lee was selected before Arob but has been a hamstring magnet for the first 2 seasons. This was the first pre-season he's made it through without issue. We have high hopes as he can easily be yet another major pass threat.
Behind them we have Rashad Green and Brian Walters. Both solid, so WRs we got.
TE Julius Thomas - added last year he broke a finger on the first play of the first preseason game (yes, we are snake bit), but all has been good since. They showed nothing of him in the preseason and it was by design. He will be a big part of the plan this year - watch out for him (as we are - paid him big bucks).
At running back we added Chris Ivory to work with TJ Yeldon. They were both very good in pre-season. I think Ivory led the AFC in rushing last year at Buffalo. Yeldon is good but we didn't run the ball as often as we'd like last year (740 yds). They both average over 4 per carry and our hope his we have another Fred Taylor/MJD combo. We will see.
Our O-line was bad last year. Our #2 overall LT draft Luke Jokel was moved to Guard this year with Kevin Betchum coming back from an ACL out of PIT getting the LT start. He's only played in the 3rd pre-season game so we haven't seen that knee go a whole game. Jokel is also getting his first start at the guard position, so we have concerns. Blake was sacked an insane amount over the last two years. Center Brandon Linder is our best OL, but just moved to Center this season. The right side has been solid, so everyone here has eyes on the O-line.
Defence:
If we had just a slightly better defense we would have won 4+ more games last year. They were bad, especially on 3rd down, we can stop the run pretty good with D-line and Paul Pozlusky our MLB, but had no answer for a passing attack. We couldn't get anyone off the field, and had no pass rush. Our #1 draft selection Donte Fowler Jr. litereally torn his ACL one his first play in training camp and was gone for the year. But! We got busy in the draft and free agency this year. Jalen Ramsey and Miles Jack were the well know draft selections this year, and with Donte coming in it's like we have 3 first round guys taking the field now. Malik Jackson, Prince Amukamora and Tashaun Gipson we're added from FA (House from you guys last year). So on paper we look to be much better, but we haven't seen anything yet. They need to gel so it's better to play them now (like you are) vs/ later in the season if you ask me. But still, we can only go up from where we were! Keep an eye out for our pass-rush, it's been our main focus.
Special Teams:
We were horrible in coverage this pre-season. Where we've been average, we hope it's just pre-season, but we'll see. Our Kicker Jason Myers is ready to be ran out of town. He missed a bunch of extra points last year... (still hurts), he can kick it 60 yards, but accuracy is the issue. We hope we don't have to count on him to win the game. If it come down to that and you're watching on the TV, know that we are all terrified.
Who you should look out for is Corey Grant returning kicks. This guys is nothing but speed, he's got funny speed. Many we're curious if we would have a spot for him, but in preseason he showed it again and when you see it, you just can't cut it from the team.
All that being said, our guess is that we are going to try and keep Arron off the field with our two-headed running attack, we don't want to get in a shoot-out with Arron although we feel Blake can do it. If we get behind look out for the deep ball. How you pass rush will work against our suspect O-line will be another hand wringer over here. We're young across the board and have been in a complete rebuild since the new owner/coach/GM took over 3 years go. We only have 2 guys left on the team from before their tenure. But we are tired of the process and ready for some wins.
As for the weather. I am born and raised in North Florida, and I'm here to tell you, it is a miserable hot. Forecast is for 95• with a feels like 105• and it's no joke. The game is sold out but you will see a lot of empty seats I bet, but those people are in the AC. We've got a huge Bud Zone in one endgame and it's basically a huge open field bar, same thing with the redesigned club seat this year, they built two large windowed decks on both sides so everyone who sits in the posh AC club area with all the games running on big screens can see the field now, but basically it's freaking hot and we know it. How it effects the game is to be seen, but man, it's hot!
I won't guess a score, I hope we win, we seem to play GB well for whatever reason and I'm glad it's here. If we can run the game and the get the heat on your D in the 4th quarter I think we win. If you harass BB all day and stop the run we lose. GL and no injuries!
NOW - Another cool thing. I am painting a mural here in Jacksonville for the Biggest Green Bay Packers Fan of all time! He has a 70' long, 30' wide. 30' tall garage for his (as large as legally possible) Horse trailer/RV. And he wanted the whole inside painted as Lambeau Field! It is a huge job that will end up taking me about 4 years. But I think you guys will get a kick out of it. I track the progress at lambeausouthproject dot com. Go check out some of my videos. I may bring this up on a separate thread in this forum as I am looking for some detail info about the stadium that I can't seem to find in pictures. Also I'll end up painting about 20,000 separate fans and have opened it up for anyone to send me picks and I will put them in the stadium. Brian (the guy_ wants to be in the Fan Hall of Fame - After you see this I don't know how that won't happen.
Whew!! Thanks for good luck Sunday (to us).
