[JaxRed]

Well, in a gut wrenching game, the Jaguars were able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They lost a 3 point lead they had taken with 20 seconds to go.

It was the usual suspect in cases like this....bring so afraid of a big play burning you that you give up major yardage underneath. With the 20 seconds left to go, the Jags first "squib" kick, which let the Vikings be a little closer, and then they play prevent defense and give up enough yardage to give up game tieing field goal.

So.. let's talk about what went right. The most critical component for the Jags has to be the play of Blaine Gabbert who was the worst QB in the league in his rookie season. He continues to show improvement over last year (as he did in preseason) and had best best game ever according to the stats with a 96.0 rating and career best 260 yards passing. He has not thrown a pick yet in 2012.

LT Eugene Monroe is starting to become the stud LT the Jags envisioned when they drafted him. Last week he totally shut out sack leader Jared Allen.

Wide Receiver improvement showed up. Jags had one the worst (If not the worst) receiving corps last year.

The bad - still no big pressure on the QB from the DL. The Jags took DE Andre Branch in the 2nd round. They supposedly love what they see, but he didn't do anything in game 1. (DE's usually take a while to get going).

Poor game time management by coaches. In the last few minutes of the game, clock management was poor costing the Jags time. They needed to go to a hurry up offense sooner. And when you are on the last play of the game in overtime, needing 3 yards to stay alive.......a 35 yard pass play is not real smart.

So, now we head into a game that no one thinks the Jags will when. The big issue (as it was going into week 1) is health. Somehow we ended up the preseason REALLY beat up and it got worse in game 1.

The O-Line - Going into week 1, 4 OL are on IR for the year. Now for week 2, another is out for the game and 2 more are questionable. The Jags spent the week signing/cutting OL trying to find capable warm bodies on the street.

Linebacker Darryl Smith is out and Cornerback Derek Cox is a game time decision.

So, the Jags are being held together with duct tape.

Probable loss this week.

In off the field issues - Not sure if you know the league has 2 levels of attendance that count towards blackouts. A team can count the lower level but then they have to kick back some money to the league.

The Jags had previously stated they did not need or intend to go to the lower level. And then this week the Jags announced (as they do the home opener) that tickets are already at the point where the Jags will not have ANY blackouts in 2012. (This is the 3rd straight year with no blackouts).