schumes Blog Posts

Sad to See Dungy Go

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:21:05 EST

I will let all the sportswriters and other bloggers provide the real analysis, but I was deeply saddened, a bit shockingly so, that Indianapolis Colts' head coach Tony Dungy is calling it quits. I am not a true Colts' fan, but have considered myself to be halfway on the bandwagon since going to school in Anderson (IN) and watching all those games with Coach Dungy, Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Edgerrin James, Joseph Addai, Adam Vinatieri, Dwight Freeney, Bob Sanders, Dallas Clark, and others play. Even as one who followed the Jags more closely this year than the Colts, it's been a great run for the Colts, and I'm sad to see it go, at least with Dungy at the helm.
He is a man I deeply respect, and it seems that about everyone does. Everyone but his family loses w

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And the BCS Still Sucks

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 14:33:23 EST

When I played high school sports, I heard coaches throw around the cliche to "Play against the names on the back of their jerseys, not the front" whenever we played somebody that had a history steeped in success. In other words, just because they were good in the past, doesn't mean we couldn't beat them this year.

Well apparently, Bowl Championship Series (BCS) officials think the name on the front of your shirt--not who won the most games--dictates who should get to play for and win championships. Undoubtedly, there will be journalists, fans, sports administrators, coaches, and players everywhere giving lip service to the reality that the BCS just sucks, it doesn't get the best teams playing in championships, and most of all, it's unjust. Suddenly, Barack Obama's "change" and "yes we can" rhetoric seems relevant to college football, and I--along with several deservedly righteous Utah Utes players--are about to start marching against the establishment. If the BCS were a political issue, the word "crises" would be appropriate.

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Loss to the Colts the Epitome of a Season

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:56:05 EST

On this Christmas Eve, coaches, players, and fans draw one day closer to the final week of the NFL 2008-2009 season.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have fit the "playing for pride" bill quite well in the past couple weeks, knocking off an unlucky Green Bay Packers team, at home, and giving the 11-4 Colts everything they could handle before ending up on the losing end of some fourth quarter Peyton Manning heroics, 31-24, finishing the game with the ball on the Indy seven-yard line. Against the Colts, QB David Garrard was brilliant for three quarters, throwing for 329 yards through the air and a touchdown (and also running for one), WR Dennis Northcutt had another good game with 101 yards and a receiving touchdown, and Maurice Jones-Drew continued his late season push to be "the guy" next year with 91 yards rushing. The defense, on the other hand, played forgettably against Indianpolis's traditional offensive machine. This Sunday, the Jags travel to another cold weather city, Baltimore, for one last game that means...well, nothing.

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Pride on the Line Up North

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 12:30:05 EST

It has been embarrassingly long since I've posted. And speaking of embarrassing, that's what the Jaguars' season has been. It's been a difficult year to be a new fan. I just heard on TV that the Jags signed a new punter who will get his first NFL start. Damn it, I knew I should have tried out!

In a week when former Jags' lineman Richard Collier--now in a wheelchair with one leg--spoke candidly to the press about his experience, life, and psyche, in the wake of his own shooting in Riverside, the 4-8 Jags battle another mediocre team, the 6-6 Chicago Bears at frigid Soldier Field. Today's mostly meaningless game pits my childhood loyalty--the Bears--against the local favorite of my post-college life--the Jaguars. The Bears' season started out hopefully but has been miserable for the last four games. The Jaguars have been miserable all year long. The Bears do have something to play for--the slight chance of still making the playoffs out of the subpar NFC North. For the Jaguars, we can no longer say "Well, if they win this won and then go on a streak..." but have succumbed to the reality that the Jags will be watching the playoffs from their living rooms.

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Why the Jags Will Knock off the Undefeated Titans

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:35:43 EST

As the Titans--the only team in the NFL still undefeated--just kicked a field goal to take an early 3-0 lead--here are five reasons why it will be the 4-5 Jaguars who come away winners today:

5. The game is in Jacksonville.

4. The Jags will be looking to avenge their close loss back in week one.

3. Titans QB Kerry Collins is still Kerry Collins, even if has been impressive in his dream season.

2. The Titans are good, but not this good. Their bound to lose eventually. Pardon me for not putting them in the same category as last year's Patriots or the Colts in 2005-2006. There's just no way they run the table. Why not get their first loss today?

1. The Titans are a mediocre team having an overachieving season while the Jags are a talented, underachieving team. The Jags have everything to gain and little to lose, while the Titans have little to gain (other than extending their winning streak).

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What Else is There to Say

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:56:30 EST

What a difference two months make. It was nine weeks ago that Shannon Sharpe was predicting a Super Bowl year for the Jaguars (and Jags fans were silently hoping he was right). Now, halfway through, the Jags sit at 3-5 after two disgusting losses to two lowly teams for Ohio. Another sub-par Midwestern team--the Lions, perennial NFL laughingstock--host the Jags this weekend in the second half opener for the Jags. As the Jags' official website acknowledged, Jax is trying to avoid becoming the first team in the history of the NFL to lose two straight games to 0-8 teams. It goes without being said that last week's cliche status--must-win time--has been upgraded to "do-or-die time." As one who's following the Jags for the first time, I'm finding it difficult to keep watching, keep caring. But if they're going to turn things around and save face, a lot is going to have to change. Almost everything, starting with:

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No More Sunshine for the Jags

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:54:09 EST

If someone read my posts about the Jacksonville Jaguars this year, they'd probably think I was bipolar. Hopeful, pessimistic, optimistic, frustrated, depending on the day. But it's actually not me that's biplar; it's the Jags. One week they are beating the Colts or the Broncos and the next week they are losing to the Bills or the Browns (the Browns, really?!!). One week they are losing at the last minute to the Steelers, another week they are surviving the last minute against the Texans.

I suppose that is the common denominator to their season, games going down to the last minute. Their biggest wins and losses are by the same number of points, a mere one touchdown. It seems that they could play the best team in the NFL or at the local Pop Warner park, and the outcome would still come down to the final minutes.

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A Little More Sunshine in Jacksonville

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:24:01 EDT

I don't know whether it's Jacksonville's disappointing start or the thick of a school year underway, but it's been a while since I've written.

After a brutal six-game stretch that included the Colts, Broncos, Titans, Steelers, and a first-place Bills team, the Jaguars actually sit in decent shape with their next three games consisting of 2-4 Cleveland, 0-7 Cincinnati, and 0-6 Detroit (not a bad time for a bye week and the soft part of the schedule, eh?) before hosting a rematch with Division leader, the Tennessee Titans, which already sounds like the type of game that could change a season if everything goes well.

Coming off what was probably the Jags' best win of the season (24-17 over a sliding Broncos team), the Jags passing game remains quite solid, despite their lack of a big-play threat at receiver. The running game has been spotty, but steadily improving. With RBs Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew splitting time flanking QB David Garrard, one has to think the offensive line is as much responsible with the way the running game goes as the running backs are. If no other question has been answered, it does seem that Garrard is a mainstay as a quality starting QB in the league. The defense seems to be a "bend-but-not-break" type unit, often giving up touchdowns that look easy early in a game, but somehow coming up with enough key stops to make the game winnable in the end. Kicker Josh Scobee is as good as it gets in the NFL it seems, and the rest of the special teams have been adequate.

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Jags Clock Ticking after Learning a Thing or Two from Steelers Fans

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 06:20:58 EDT

I was raised in Northern Indiana, about the same distance in between Detroit's Lions, Chicago's Bears, and Indianapolis's Colts. My mom hailed from Pittsburgh and my Dad from Wisconsin in Packer Country, and my older brother was born in Denver and became a Bronco fan. (My little brother somehow became a Miami Dolphin fan, but no one's quite sure how that happened.) So anyway, somehow my own loyalty ended up with Chicago--perhaps, if measured by mileage, Soldier Field is the closest from Culver, Indiana--though I flirted with the Indy bandwagon while I went to college about forty minutes northeast of the RCA Dome. And now, I live in Jacksonville. I say that not to say that my loyalties are confused--they aren't really--but to say that I've been exposed to NFL fans of all different varieties. One of the few disappointing aspects of Jacksonville is that they don't really support their football team all that well, even though their first decade plus has been pretty impressive. Steelers fans, on the other hand, know a thing or two about being fans. Again and again, Pittsburgh fans are at the top of the discussion about which professional franchise has the most intensely loyal fans. This past Sunday night, they showed why in Jacksonville.

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Jags Win over Texans Answers No Questions

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:00:39 EDT

Last week's win--won again late by Josh Scobee's leg--created more questions than answers for the Jacksonville Jaguars but increased the win total, which is, last I checked, still the main criteria for getting into the playoffs. Though the Texans reputation doesn't exactly instill fear into their opponents, they had won three of the last four games against the Jags.

In their 30-27 overtime victory, the Jags were successful in doing something no other team had done this season: make Houston Texans' QB Matt Schaub look good. All day long. He was 29 for 40 for 307 yards and 3 TDs. The Jax defense continues to give up touchdowns without getting pressure on opposite quarterbacks.

The good news, besides Scobee's accuracy, was the offense. Garrard had another solid outing, going 23 for 236 yards and also ran for 41 times, including several clutch first down runs late in the game. At times, it seemed like he was solely willing his team to win. WR Matt Jones has strung together a few good games in a row, added five catches for 71 yards and a touchdown. His efforts have been welcomed with open arms on a team that desperately longs for a go-to receiver. The usually-conservative Coach Jack Del Rio also contributed to the effort with an early fake punt call that resulted in a 41-yard touchdown for fullback Montel Owens.

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