The Jacksonville Jaguars made a coaching change in December when they fired Urban Meyer and hired a new coach over a month later in Doug Pederson. The move is one that most believe will help the Jags drastically because Pederson seems like a better fit for the NFL than Meyer and will eliminate all of the distractions that came in the 2021 season.
From the perspective of NFL Network’s Adam Rank, things are expected to get significantly better as he predicted the Jags to accumulate a 7-10 record. And while that wouldn’t get them in the playoffs, it would give them four more wins than they had last season.
The wins Rank gave to the Jags were against Washington, Houston (twice), both New York teams, Detroit, and Dallas (a surprise). The losses came from Indianapolis (twice), Tennessee (twice), Los Angeles (Chargers), Philadelphia, Denver, Las Vegas, Kansas City, and Baltimore.
Seven wins would bring optimism to the Jags’ fanbase because the team has only hit that total once in the last 11 seasons. Of course, that one time was in 2017 when the Jags played in the AFC Championship.
When looking at the games that Rank predicted the Jags to lose, an argument could be made for the Jags snagging a few of those, especially the one against Indy at home. As many are aware, the Colts have lost their last seven games in Jacksonville, and even though the team has another quarterback in Matt Ryan, the Jags’ defense got better in the offseason.
It never fails for the Jags to stun a team they have no business beating, but that’s likely because they are often underdogs, which means they aren’t favorites in a lot of matches. Last season, that team was the Buffalo Bills, who the Jags beat 9-6 last season.
As previously mentioned, the team that Rank has the Jags stunning this year are the Cowboys, but they also could surprise the Eagles and Titans (at least once), due to neither having an elite quarterback. Ultimately, time will tell how many wins the Jags get overall, but their chances to at least double their win total are pretty good if they stay healthy.