Author: rae51

Most things in life don’t come easy. You must work hard and build success through trial and error. Starting an expansion franchise in the NFL is no different. Teams such as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks struggled to get things on the right path when it came to winning football games when they were first established. However, for some team’s things fall into place without really expecting it. The story of the Jacksonville Jaguars is the perfect example of this.
The late 1990s were great for the Jaguars organization. In only their second season of being a franchise, the Jaguars made it to the AFC Championship, where they fell to the eventual Super Bowl runner-up New England Patriots. Led by rising star quarterback Mark Brunel, and the untouchable receiver duo of Kenan McCardell and Jimmy Smith, the Jacksonville Jaguars had the best record in the AFC in 1999, going 14-2 throughout the regular season, losing only to the new-look Tennessee Titans who had just relocated from Houston Texas. The trend would continue as the Jaguars were set to appear in their first Superbowl. Unfortunately, the team they would face in their second AFC Championship birth would be the team that handed them their only two losses all season.
Following the turn of the century, the Jaguars organization really struggled to find an identity in professional football. The team of the 90s would eventually disappear as the years went on, and the replacement players would not continue that same type of success that happened before. The Jaguars would only make the playoffs three times after 1999, reaching yet another AFC Championship in 2017, where they would fall to Tom Brady’s New England Patriots. Many thought this was the start of something new in Jacksonville, as their defense was considered one of the league’s best.
Unfortunately, this would be the last time the organization would make the playoffs.
Nowadays, the Jacksonville Jaguars are still one of the bottom-tier teams in the NFL.
Run by owner Shad Khan and general manager Trent Balkie, the Jags have consistently been at the top of the draft board and have really struggled to build a winning culture. There have been a few reasons for this. Unfortunately, the organization’s location is one of these factors, as Jacksonville has never been a huge NFL market. The other main reason they have struggled is poor draft selections.
For most fans, the years of struggling seemed to be over when the team acquired a generational talent in Trevor Lawrence. Since the Mark Brunel years, the Jaguars have only sent one quarterback to the NFL’s version of the all-star game, the pro bowl. This player was former East Carolina product David Gerard, who Jacksonville drafted in the fourth round in 2002. Since then, the Jaguars have gone through a carousel of quarterbacks. Nowadas, the Jaguars have shown flashes of having a star quarterback in Lawrence, but the young QB is still developing.
Going back to Trevor, the Jaguars selected him first overall in the 2020 NFL draft with high hopes of becoming a successful franchise once again. The team also drafted his college teammate and highly touted running back Travis Etn to help give Trevor a running back with which he has strong chemistry. Unfortunately, Etn would get injured in the 2020 preseason, and Trevor would have to play his rookie season alone. This would be a rough start for the rookie QB, as Lawrence’s first season as a Jaguar would be one to forget. By the end of the 2021 season, he would throw only 12 touchdowns to a league-tying 17 interceptions.
After the end of a rough season, the casual Jaguar fan might have given up on Trevor; however, those that followed the team throughout 2021 know that there was more. Before the start of Trevor’s rookie year, the Jaguars hired former Ohio State coach Urban Myer to take the reins of the Jags. This coaching hire failed horribly as Urban could not motivate the team and, more than anything, disrespected the organization. Players didn’t like him, and fans for sure had their own issues. Urban would cause many problems, such as kicking the Jag’s placekicker in the leg before he was let go by the Jaguar’s front office.
While 2021 was a challenging year for the Jags, the team ended 2021 with a win over divisional opponent the Indianapolis Colts knocking them out of playoff contention. Many thought the best was yet to come following multiple free agent picks and, ultimately, the hiring of former super bowl winning coach Doug Peterson. Unfortunately, the losing has continued as the team has only accumulated three wins so far this season. Things seem bleak right now, but there is still time, as Trevor is only 23 years old. While the record doesn’t show it, coaching has been better, and Trevor has shown slight improvement overall as a player, so there is no reason to give up entirely on this team.

 

 

The New York Giants are one of the NFL’s most historic franchises in the league. The team has collected some of the league’s best players and coaches of all time in, Lawrence Taylor and Bill Parcells. However, things have not looked too bright for the organization as of recently, constantly collecting one of the worst records years in and years out, with 2017 being the worst in recent memory, finishing with only three wins.
While the Giants have represented the NFC in three Superbowls in the 2000s, winning two, the team has struggled consistently since then. Entering the 2022 season, most fans were unoptimistic about the team’s chances going into the season. However, most people couldn’t have imagined how much newly acquired head coach Brian Daboll and his staff could have changed the organization in only one off-season. While coaching as an offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills for the last couple of seasons, Daboll built a solid resume to be hired as a coach following the 2021 season. With a struggling former first-round pick at quarterback in Daniel Jones, coach Daboll had a lot of work ahead of him. This wouldn’t be the first time he was given this challenge, though, as Daboll was a massive part in the development of Bills QB Josh Allen.
Most Giants fans saw the hire of coach Daboll as a step in the right direction to helping this team get back to competing for division titles and Superbowl’s. The only question was how he would approach the complete dumpster fire of a team that he was acquiring. With a total of four wins accumulated in 2021, the Giants led the league in the fewest points scored on offense. In 2021 Daniel Jones was a turnover machine, former second overall pick Saquon Barkley consistently dealt with injuries, and the overall coaching staff under Joe Judge struggled to put up results on the field. The team needed an adult presence in the locker room, and Daboll was up for the challenge.
Positive results began to show instantly. In week one, the Giants earned an upset win over the former AFC playoff first-seed Tennessee Titans. Following a botched place kick, the Giants won with a score of 21-20. The team played resiliently as Saquon Barkley had an insane performance rushing for 164 yards and a touchdown. Daniel Jones also played well, throwing for 188 yards and two touchdowns. This would be the first time the organization won its season opener since its last playoff berth in 2016.
Following the week one game, people started saying that the week one win was a fluke. However, the players blocked out the noise as they entered Carolina to play the Panthers. This win was an ugly grudge match between two teams trying to find their identity. In the end, the Giants beat Carolina with a final score of 19-16. Next on the schedule was the Cowboys, and the giants were on their way to Dallas.
Facing a divisional opponent is no easy task, even when playing at home. The Cowboys have dominated the Giants for the last couple of years, and nothing changed in 2022. Brian Daboll’s squad would fall to Dallas, putting the Giant’s record at 2-1. Saquon Barkley pulled off a couple of nice runs throughout the game, but it would not be enough as Micah Parsons and the Dallas defense controlled the line of scrimmage for most of the game. In the end, New York would only put up 16 points in a Dallas-sized one-sided affair.
While fans might have started questioning the hot start to the season, the players kept working. The team would beat up a lowly Chicago Bears squad and eventually travel to London, England, for an early morning NFL Europe game. In this match, they would compete against the reigning NFL MVP in, Aaron Rodgers, and the Green Bay Packers in a game that nobody saw coming. This game was a defensive fistfight where the Giants would knock off the four-time NFL MVP in what would be a statement win for the organization. This game was the turning point for most fans, where the possibility of making a playoff run was not entirely farfetched.
As the season continued, the Giants would continue to grow their case for being a real playoff contender. They would continue to win some close games against the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars before coming back to earth following a loss to the Geno Smith-led Seattle Seahawks. As of right now, the Giants currently hold the third-place spot in the NFC East standings sitting behind the Dallas Cowboys and undefeated Philadelphia Eagles. The team plays Davis Mills and the Houston Texans on November 13th as they’ll continue to fight for a playoff spot. Following that, they will face the Lions in week 10.
While it is still too early to tell what lies ahead for the 2022 New York Giants, the vibe within the locker room feels different. Unlike in recent memory, the team finally has a coach who knows how to build a winning culture and compete for championships. It finally feels like the team has a chance to make a playoff berth and contend for that Lombardi Trophy.

The Texas Longhorns won their third game of the 2022 NCAA College football season on Saturday by a final score of 38-20 over the West Virginia Mountaineers. Many Austinites would say this season has a very different feeling. So how has the young team heightened the expectations of this very early season? Are the Longhorns about to take things to a new level?

The results don’t lie, as the Texas Longhorns have sustained many losing seasons throughout the last decade. Since Colt McCoy last played on the 40 acres in 2009, the Texas Longhorns have only won 5 bowl games. However, many Longhorns fans feel differently about this season. Why shouldn’t they be? It’s only a matter of time until that dark grey cloud that looms over Darrell K Royal Stadium clears up.

Heading into this new season, plenty of storylines were on the horizon. A new era of Longhorn football was about, to begin with, the debut of former five-star recruit out of South Lake Texas, Quin Ewers. Touted as the number one quarterback recruit out of high school in 2020, Quin had plenty of colleges looking at picking him up. After a short stint as the backup to the now Bears starting quarterback Justin Fields at Ohio State, Quin returned to Texas, where he began his mission to earn the starting job. After a rough first year as head coach, where Steve Sarkisian’s Texas Longhorns went 5-7, there was no seat hotter than the one that Sark was occupying.

The Texas Longhorns came into the first game of the season swinging hard as they began the campaign with a one-sided blowout. The Longhorns started their season with a dominating win over the University of Louisiana Monroe with a final score of 52-10. According to author Evan Kirschner of Burnt Orange Nation, Ewers had an average start to his college debut, completing 16 out of 22 passes for 225 yards with two touchdowns. Kirschner said, “Ewers led the Longhorn offense with a 16-of-22 passing performance with 225 yards and two touchdowns.” The season was just beginning, and Quin had made some plays that had fans optimistic as the Texas Longhorns would host the nation’s number one ranked team in the country, the Alabama Crimson Tide, the following week.

This rivalry runs deep. Like the cowboys or patriots in the NFL, if you are not an Alabama Crimson Tide fan, chances are you don’t like them at all. However, its different in the Longhorn community, as the organization is still haunted by the loss to the Tide in the 2010 National Championship game. While that game sparked Alabama’s dynasty, UT fell into a deep losing streak that has lasted nearly a decade. However, with the addition of Ewers under center, the horns came into the game ready to play.

Texas’s second season game was a rollercoaster ride as the Longhorns would fall to Alabama with a final score of 20-19. Quin played well, showing off his deep ball accuracy and poise in the pocket before he sustained an injury to his left elbow. The Longhorns sideline became silent as the medical staff responded to the injured quarterback. After Quin was escorted off the field, backup quarterback Hudson Card entered the game. In the end, the Crimson Tide’s offense was too much for the Longhorn’s defense to cover, as they would earn their first loss of the season; however, controversy began as some fans began questioning some of the officiating after the game.

One of those people would be none other than former USC star quarterback Matt Leinart. Like many longhorns faithful, the former Heisman and National Champion had some complaints regarding the officiating following Alabama’s road win. After the game, Leinart took to Twitter, writing, “Texas should have won that game. They will kick themselves watching this film. Absolutely will be gutted. Also, the refs didn’t help. I don’t like using refs as an excuse but my god sometimes it’s blatant.” Following the loss, plenty of fans were upset but optimistic for the future as the horns only lost to the number one ranked team in the nation by a single point.

After the news broke that Quin Ewers had sustained an SC sprain, backup quarterback Hudson Card would start the next two games for UT. The team would both win and lose a game under Card as the horns would beat the UTSA Roadrunners at home and lose to the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock. Questions began to arise about the reactivation of Ewers leading into Texas’s game against West Virginia; however, ESPN analyst Pete Thamel released information stating that Ewers would remain inactive on the depth chart till the Red River Rivalry game against Oklahoma. Thamel said, “A return against the Sooners would mark four weeks after Ewers was injured, with sources indicating that is the earliest he would be expected to be available to play.” Later that day, the Longhorns’ offense would dominate the Mountaineers’ defense as they would improve to 3-0 on this early season.

Whether it was narrowly losing to Alabama or putting up dominant performances against West Virginia and UL Monroe, the Longhorns have had a wild start to the season. Fans are growing impatient and want to experience a winning culture now. Only with time will the college football gods choose whether to grant horns fans their wish.

Sources:

1. ) Kirschner, E. (2022, September 4). Sunday armchair QB – Texas vs. Louisiana-Monroe Edition. Burnt Orange Nation. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://www.burntorangenation.com/2022/9/4/23336731/texas-longhorns-louisiana-monroe-warhawks-quinn-ewers-jatavion-sanders-dshawn-jamison

2.) Machlin, T. (2022, September 12). Matt Leinart blames Alabama vs. Texas refs: Fans react. The Spun: What’s Trending In The Sports World Today. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://thespun.com/more/top-stories/matt-leinart-blames-alabama-vs-texas-refs-fans-react

3.) Thamel, P. (2022, October 1). Texas QB quinn ewers out vs. West Virginia, focuses on return vs. rival Oklahoma, sources say. ESPN. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34700809/texas-qb-quinn-ewers-vs-west-virginia-focuses-return-vs-rival-oklahoma-sources-say