With a new head coach, new owner, new coordinators and a new philosophy permeating the franchise's culture, there's plenty to be optimistic about for Jaguars fans in 2012. However, picking up where the end of the Jack Del Rio era ended, the amount of work in front of both Sam Khan and Mike Mularkey still places the Jags at No. 30 on Pro Football Talk's 2012 preseason Power Rankings.
With nearly wholesale changes across the board, PFT ties any shot of the Jags' contending in 2012 to the development of young Blaine Gabbert. The best news for the Jags is their address at home in the AFC South, which save for returning champs Houston, is fairly manageable on the schedule:
The early returns from the offseason were good, and if he can reverse course, the Jaguars could be a better team in 2012.They have the benefit of playing in an AFC South with at least one team as bad as they are (the Colts), meaning they won’t simply be swamped in the division. And opening at Minnesota gives them an opportunity to steal a road win against another bottom-dweller with reasonable questions about their young quarterback.
Solid-to-respectable would be the upper limit here.
Given the long-term path the teams needs to regain stability, solid-to-respectable is a great start.
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