Win Over Bad Team Still A Win

A couple of weeks ago after the St. Louis game the doors of the elevator opened on my way to the locker room and Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver was standing there.

We shook hands and he smiled a weary smile and said, ?I need a stress test!? laughing about the overtime win by his team. ?It certainly was more exciting than it had to be,? I answered.

The same conversation could have been had after the win over Kansas City on Sunday. A 24-21 win by the Jaguars that puts them at 4-4 halfway through the year was more exciting than it needed to be at the end of the game.

The Jaguars took control early, leading 7-3, 14-6 and 24-6 at different times through three quarters, never looking like Kansas City was going to get into the game. But the ability to finish teams off still eludes the Jaguars and the Chiefs took advantage of it.

A long touchdown pass by Matt Cassell made it 24-13 and a drive with under two minutes left in the game resulted in a 24-21 score and an onside kick opportunity for K.C. Greg Jones grabbed the kick and Maurice Jones Drew got the first down the Jaguars needed to secure the victory.

The problem is the Chiefs are a bad team. I do think there are more bad teams in the league this year than there have been in recent memory but if the Jaguars don?t want to be lumped in that category (KC has one win, the Jaguars have four) then putting these kinds of teams away will be a sign of improvement that everybody is looking for.

The tickets distributed were just over 45,000 with just over 40,000 in the stadium, a far cry from the 85,000 at the Florida/Georgia game. The difference is striking and while winning would certainly help, the Jaguars still have a ?cool? personality when it comes to trying to relate to them. They don?t act passionately about anything: winning or losing. MJD seems to be the only guy who brings that every week but the rest of the team seems to reflect the personality of their head coach, Jack Del Rio.

I can?t tell you how many fans comment on how placid Del Rio appears on the sideline while the game is going on. Maybe that?s his ?in charge? demeanor, but either way it doesn?t engender any kind of confidence or passion from the fans.

David Garrard played better -- 18/27 for 264 yards and a touchdown -- but he seemed to manage the game when asked to do so. Although he fell short of a hundred yards rushing, MJD is the guy who controlled the game with 29 carries and 97 yards. Maybe they don?t want to give it to him 29 times a game, but he sure seems like a guy who can handle it. He also had three catches for 37 yards. Thirty-two touches for 32 and a win for the Jaguars. A pattern here?

Garrard ran effectively, nine times for 29 yards and Rashad Jennings scored his first NFL TD. Its obvious Garrard has a lot of confidence in Mike Sims-Walker. Six catches for 137 yards and a TD. If Torry Holt is the number one receiver, Sims-Walker has to be 1A these days. But who cares? Find the open guy and hit him.

Garrard completed passes to eight different receivers in the game and a win ensued. A pattern here. And two sacks?

Nobody?s going to write home about beating Kansas City this year but a win is what your looking for any week and ?improvement? is what Wayne Weaver says he?s looking for in non-specified areas.

Are the better than last week? Probably. Where they go next will be an interesting gauge on ?improvement.? A game at New York to face the Jets is winnable for this team and a good test of their maturity.

Home games against Buffalo, Houston and Indianapolis back to back to back could be a nice stretch to test the Jaguars. At San Francisco? Who knows? At New England? Not likely. At Cleveland? Winnable but as the last game of the year hard to predict.

They?re still enigmatic to say the least and unpredictable at best.