With the sudden and abrupt release of Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback David Garrard and the loss of wide receiver Mike Sims-Walker to St Louis, It may appear that Jacksonville’s hopes of contending in the AFC South may have taken a fatal blow.
While Jacksonville may have running back Maurice Jones-Drew, the main issue for the Jaguars is can quarterback Luke McCown step up with Garrard now gone?
Jones-Drew along with wide receiver Mike Thomas would help in contributing in the Jaguars 16-14 season-opening victory of the Tennessee Titans. Jones-Drew would rush 24 times for 97 yards and one touchdown and Thomas would have six catches for 55 yards.
McCown would go 17-of-24 for 175 yards, while he would complete over 70% of his passes, McCown would also lose one fumble.
A former fourth-round pick—106th overall— by the Cleveland Browns in the 2004 NFL Draft out of Louisiana Tech, McCown has played in a total of eight NFL games and tossed nine touchdowns and ten interceptions.
For his career, The 6’4 217 pound McCown has also completed 60.2 percent of his passes for 1,914 yards while posting a QB rating of 76.2
It appears that Jacksonville’s offense in 2011 will be a conservative run-oriented system that will rely heavily on Jones-Drew with McCown managing the offense until rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert is ready to take over.
With the recent neck injury to Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, all may not be lost for the 1-0 Jaguars and their AFC South title hopes as they have the explosive Jones-Drew and the steady McCown, Jacksonville may just be able to sneak up on a few teams not only in the AFC South, but in the whole NFL.
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