FanNation - The Republic of Sport

After having to listen to Jags and Pats fans argue incessantly for the last week, the game finally occurred. Here are my thoughts on the game:

•  Jacksonville could not have played much better. Garrard's fumble in the first half was critical, but the pick he threw at the end of the game was not an important factor. Garrard played with poise and confidence, much a guy playing with house money, which he was.
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• Northcutt's drop at the two was probably the biggest mistake by the Jags. Garrard could not have thrown the ball better and that is a catch the DN has to make. A completed pass there and the game takes on a different tone.
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• I don't like the fade to Matt Jones. He drops more of those than he catches. He timed it wrong and didn't get a height advantage, despite being 6'6" tall.
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• The late hit on Derrick Landri was a good call. It wasn't much of a hit and he did try to pull up, but he hit him late. Sitting in a sports bar and listening to the people whine about being robbed just reminds me again why I hate living in Gator country.
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• I thought the Jags secondary did a nice job in coverage last night. I thought that they would have a hard time covering the receivers, but they did a nice job. Unfortunately, they overlooked the running game and the tight end.
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• The first td to Ben Watson was as good a pass as you will ever see. Watson was covered and Brady threw it anyway. The only things that could happen there are Watson would catch it or it would go out of the end zone.
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• Jacksonville threw for 260 yds against the Pats, so that means that Indy will beat them, right? Not so fast.
• The Pats took away the Jags' main weapon, the running game. They will not and do not approach the Colts the same way.
  
• That is why this team is so good. They will take away what you do best and you can take away what you think that they do best, but they just use there other weapons.
• This is the most complete team I have ever seen in the NFL.

I do have to take my hat off to the people of Jacksonville this weekend. There were parties galore and events leading up to kickoff. I just wish they could grow up and act like NFL fans. For instance, when an individual shows up at an establishment wearing the oppositions gear, smack talk is okay. Treating them like they just killed your family and challenging them to go outside and fight is very "gator fan". How do I know that it was a gator fan?  They are very hard to miss down here. Everything they own has a Gator head, is blue and orange or has their grade (F) on it.

It gets even worse when the Jags scored first. The Pats offenses hadn't even been on the field yet, and they were getting annihilated. "It is over, It is over!", repeated non-stop until Watson's touchdown. A comment of "he went to Georgia" shuts him up momentarily.

 It was a good game played very cleanly by both teams. Jacksonville has come a long ways and my hats off to JDR for having a monumental pair at the beginning of the season. It seems he has been vindicated and they are on the way. They need to make some decent pickups in FA and in the draft to start rounding out a nice roster which lacks some depth. A deep receiving threat, an edge rusher and some linebacker help would do this team nicely.

I am glad that the game was played on Saturday and that I don't have to go back to work until Tuesday. I think that by that time most of the people will have gotten over it. I just hope that I don't have to listen to people wanting to run Garrard out of town. He just doesn't deserve it.