Two of their first three games are on the road, at Buffalo and Tennessee, sandwiched around a home game with the Broncos. Last year the Bills embarrassed the Jaguars here, the Broncos are still rebuilding (and it’s the home opener) and Tennessee is starting to feel the effects of the salary cap. Facing Indianapolis here for their first home division game will be a good test in the fourth game of the year. The Jaguars beat the Colts here last year, but it was Indy that went to the AFC Championship game, not Jacksonville.

Jack Del Rio’s “semi” re-vamped defense will get a good test early against Peyton Manning. So let’s say, just for arguments sake, that they go 2-2 in the first four games of the year. Three of the next four are on the road, starting with their first trip to San Diego. The Jaguars should beat the Chargers, who are still searching for that team that went to the Super Bowl in the ‘90’s. Kansas City comes here for the fourth time in the last five year. The Chiefs should contend for the AFC title this year, so again, the Jaguars get a tough team at home. Then its back-to-back division road games at the Colts and at Houston. Winning in Indianapolis will be tough. Beating the Texans in Houston is something the Jaguars should have done last year. So let’s say they go 2-2 in the second quarter of the season and are 4-4 going into their bye week. That won’t be bad, but the team and the coaching staff won’t like it, which is good, heading into the second half of the year.

The next four games are all winnable for the Jaguars, starting with a bad Detroit team here right after the bye week. Tennessee is the ;Jaguars biggest rival, so playing them here in the middle of the season is the right time for an “ascending” team, as the Jaguars like to call themselves. Only a trip to Minnesota the next week interrupts the home games, and the Vikings aren’t going to scare anybody this year. Follow that with their only high-profile game, Sunday night against Pittsburgh. The Steelers were the Jaguars nemesis in the old AFC Central, so it’s a good match up for a young team in front of a national television audience.

Giving them the benefit of the doubt, let’s call them 3-1 in those four games, leaving them at 7-5 with four games to play. A winning record through twelve games means you’re a playoff contender, so how they react in the last quarter of the season will put a face on 2004. The Bears will be better, but playing here in December, Jacks Del Rio and his staff will stress the importance of these kinds of games to teams that are of championship caliber.

The Jaguars first trip to Lambeau Field to face the Packers isn’t what they dreamed of. December 19th in Green Bay? Tough game, much like last year’s trip to New England. You might not see the Houston game right after Christmas as a key game on the schedule, but it could be the make or break contest of the year. Division opponent, at home, a winning record on the line, there’s plenty to play for there. Finishing up at Oakland on January 2nd will either be a walk for the Jaguars ‘cause they have something to play for, or miserable, because they have to go to California for the last game of the year. Let’s call ‘em 2-2 in the last four games, putting them at 9-7 for the year. Is 9-7 good enough for the playoffs? Who know? It’s right on the edge, but right on schedule in Jack Del Rio’s second year. With this schedule, any worst than 8-8 with a healthy team and the Jaguars aren’t getting to where they want to be.

I’ve had a lot of people ask me about the “End Zone” for this year, our weekly Jaguars wrap up show on Monday nights. We’re planning to do it again, for our 10th consecutive year. We’d like to keep it at 7PM on Mondays from Sneakers at the beach and hopefully we’ll have Kyle Brady back as our host for the second year. An official announcement should come this summer.