{"id":1068,"date":"2006-12-13T19:29:16","date_gmt":"2006-12-14T00:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2006\/12\/jags-pound-the-rock\/"},"modified":"2006-12-13T19:29:16","modified_gmt":"2006-12-14T00:29:16","slug":"jags-pound-the-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2006\/12\/jags-pound-the-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"Jags Pound the Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jags Pound The Rock<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Tim Sullivan
\nWagerWeb.com<\/a> contributing writer<\/p>\n

You can doubt their quarterback. You can doubt their head coach and his sideline attire. You can doubt the efficiency of their defense.<\/p>\n

But you can’t doubt 375 rushing yards in an NFL<\/a> game.<\/p>\n

“It’s hard for words to describe it. I felt like we had some things that we’d be good at, and we executed well.”<\/p>\n

Those understated words are of one Jack Del Rio<\/strong>, who coaches one of the more puzzling teams you’ll find the in the NFL. Enter the Jacksonville Jaguars, a team that whacked Indianapolis, 44-17, and handled Dallas, 24-17. Yet it’s the same club that lost to Buffalo and, oh yeah, Houston– twice.<\/p>\n

Either way, at 8-5, the Jaguars are alive and well in the AFC postseason race. And by virtue of that rushing fiesta against the Colts at Alltel Stadium on Sunday, they are just two games behind Indianapolis for first place in the AFC South.<\/p>\n

“We’re not even concerned about the playoffs right now,” running back Maurice Jones-Drew <\/strong>said. “The only thing we’re concerned with is beating the Titans.”<\/p>\n

Who is their next opponent, Sunday in Nashville (monitor the line all week on WagerWeb.com<\/a>). And chances are, with the way Coach Jeff Fisher<\/strong> has his Titans (6-7) playing, they’ll be ready for these rival, runnin’ Jags.<\/p>\n

But will it matter?<\/p>\n

“We are heating up right now,” running back Fred Taylor <\/strong>said. “The formula for success late in the season is to be able to run the ball and stop the run, and we are doing that pretty well right now.”<\/p>\n

And, as a result, they are able to mask some off those bad losses. Because, when it comes down to it, opponents and critics can talk all they want about the mediocrity of backup quarterback David Garrard<\/strong>. Or the fact that the Jaguars defense seems to take a game off here and there. Or that Del Rio, who has donned a Reebok dress suit twice this season, is a little unorthodox.<\/p>\n

The reality of the situation is that Taylor and Jones-Drew form one of the most lethal 1-2 backfield punches in the league. And if you can’t stop the run at this point of the season, you’re not beating the Jaguars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We wanted to get to 400 (yards),” Drew said.<\/p>\n

Don’t worry Maurice. There’s still three games left.<\/p>\n

FEELIN’ IT IN PHILLY: Jeff Garcia <\/strong>has now won back-to-back starts and has kept the Eagles in a three-way tie with the Giants and Falcons for the No. 1 NFC wild-card spot. Left for dead in the NFC East, Philadelphia (7-6) is also now tied with the Giants (7-6) for second place.<\/p>\n

And as fate would have it, the Eagles play those Giants at the Meadowlands on Sunday. Monitor the line all week on WagerWeb.com.<\/p>\n

“We have to keep working,” Coach Andy Reid <\/strong>said. “That’s the reality of it.”<\/p>\n

The other reality is that Garcia, booed at Lincoln Financial Field a week ago, still has something left in the tank. The Eagles’ 21-19 win over Washington was Garcia’s third consecutive victory over the Redskins, in various uniforms, of course.<\/p>\n

And, don’t forget, Garcia’s biggest moment in the NFL \u2013 San Francisco’s miraculous 39-38 comeback win in the NFC wild-card round in 2003 – came against this week’s opponent.<\/p>\n

“We can win in any situation,” Eagles safety and unofficial spokesman Brian Dawkins <\/strong>said. “(But) we definitely need to get better at keeping our foot on people’s throats when we get them down.”<\/p>\n

EXTRA POINTS: Bills RB Willis McGahee <\/strong>left Buffalo’s 31-13 win over the Jets on Sunday in the first half with an upset stomach, but in the end, it was the Jets who were sick. McGahee returned and finished with 125 yards and a touchdown. … Bengals QB Carson Palmer <\/strong>now has 12 touchdown passes in his last five games. Four of them, by the way, were wins. …. Comfortably at 10-3, keep an eye out for a Ravens letdown at some point in the final three games. Baltimore closes with three teams not headed for the playoffs: Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Buffalo. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jags Pound The Rock By Tim Sullivan WagerWeb.com contributing writer You can doubt their quarterback. You can doubt their head coach and his sideline attire. You can doubt the efficiency of their defense. But you can’t doubt 375 rushing yards in an NFL game. “It’s hard for words to describe it. I felt like we … Continue reading Jags Pound the Rock<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press_releases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}