Last Updated on December 23, 2010 12:09 am by Anthony Rome
Redskins vs. Jaguars Preview
JACKSONVILLE, FL (AP) – The Jacksonville Jaguars could have clinched the AFC South title with a victory in their last game. Now, they are going to need some help to even make the playoffs.
The Jaguars look to bounce back from a tough divisional loss when they host the Washington Redskins on Sunday.
According to latest NFL odds, oddsmakers from online sports book SBGGLOBAL.com have made the Jaguars 7-point spread favorites for Sinday’s game against the Redskins. Current NFL Public Betting Information shows that 64% of more than 4,623 bets for this game have been placed on the Jaguars -7.
Jacksonville (8-6) needed only to defeat Indianapolis last Sunday to wrap up its first division title since 1999, but a sloppy third quarter and a poor rushing performance led to a 34-24 loss.
David Garrard was charged with two fumbles on botched handoffs to Maurice Jones-Drew in the third and was intercepted to end the quarter. Despite facing a team that was among the league’s worst against the run, Jacksonville was held to a season-low 67 yards rushing, including 46 by Jones-Drew, ending his streak of 100-yard games at six.
“You’ve got to man up,” said Jones-Drew, who took the blame for the two fumbles. “I didn’t play well. Everybody else, guys were doing a great job. I didn’t play well at all. There’s no sugarcoating it at all.”
The loss was just the second in seven games for the Jaguars, who no longer control their playoff fate.
They can still win the division by winning their next two games while the Colts lose either to Oakland or Tennessee. Gaining one of the AFC’s two wild-card berths is less likely considering Jacksonville is two games behind Baltimore and the New York Jets for those spots.
“We’re going to focus on getting over this one,” coach Jack Del Rio said. “We’ve got two games left and we have an opportunity to finish strong as a team. We still have hope remaining. We have to focus on playing our very best football and let the rest of it take care of itself.”
Del Rio and the Jaguars are trying to avoid a finish like last year. They were 7-5 and in position for a wild-card spot but lost their final four games.
Getting Jones-Drew to bounce back will be critical for Jacksonville, third in the NFL with 151.4 rushing yards per game. The Jaguars had run for more than 200 yards in each of their previous three games.
Though they had little success running against an Indianapolis defense that had been giving up more than 140 yards rushing per game, Jones-Drew and Jacksonville will get another shot at a struggling run defense when Washington visits.
The Redskins (5-9) are allowing 134.4 yards per game on the ground, including 163.7 in the last six contests.
Washington could find it even tougher to stop the run after placing linemen Maake Kemoeatu and Phillip Daniels on injured reserve Wednesday.
Another player who won’t take the field Sunday is Donovan McNabb, now relegated to third-string after serving as the backup last week to new starter Rex Grossman. McNabb spoke publicly this week for the first time since being benched for the rest of the season, saying he felt disrespected by coach Mike Shanahan.
“People are going to question you all the time,” Shanahan said. “It’s part of the process, but you’ve got to do what you believe is right.”
McNabb now will be behind backup John Beck as well as Grossman, who made his first start in two years last Sunday in a 33-30 loss at Dallas. He threw for 322 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions.
Grossman’s touchdown pass to Chris Cooley tied the game with 7:37 left, but Washington gave up a field goal in the final minute en route to its fourth straight loss.
Despite the uncomfortable situation McNabb’s benching has created in Washington, the Redskins were pleased with the results they received from Grossman. The 30 points were a season high and came after the team averaged 13.8 over the previous four contests.
“He is so intense,” Cooley said. “He has a quick tempo and he gets us to the ball as fast as he can get us to the ball. He called a lot of plays on first down; he called a lot of plays quick. He got to the ball when they were moving around on defense and they weren’t able to make adjustments. When he finally got into a rhythm, we got into a good rhythm.”
Washington is 3-1 all-time against Jacksonville. The teams last met in 2006 with the Redskins winning 36-30.
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