Jacksonville Jaguars: 3 Vital statistics for 2019 season

When it was all said and done, 2018 wasn’t the year of the cat for this Florida team. Can the Jacksonville Jaguars bounce back this season?

There was a franchise that it had appeared had turned the corner after a long stretch of futility. From 2008-16, the Jacksonville Jaguars amassed a combined 42-102 record, losing at 11 or more games in seven of those nine seasons.

But then came 2017 and Doug Marrone’s club emerged as a contender. Despite dropping their final 2 games of the season, the club captured the AFC South with a tenant 10-6 record, the team’s first division title since 1999 and the days of the AFC Central.

To prove that their first appearance in the postseason was to be taken seriously, the Jaguars knocked off the visiting Buffalo Biils in the Wild Card Round and then traveled to Pittsburgh and outlasted the formidable Steelers, 45-42.

The following week, Marrone and company owned a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter of the AFC title game at Foxborough. But Jacksonville fell short of the club’s first Super Bowl appearance as the New England Patriots rallied for a 24-20 victory.

This past season, the Jaguars jumped out to a 3-1 start, avenging their postseason loss to New England in the process. But it all came apart rather quickly as Marrone’s squad would win only two more games the rest of the season. The result was a 5-11 record and a second last-place finish in the AFC South in three years.

Still, it’s a new year and the Jaguars have a new starting quarterback. And it’s been an interesting few weeks within the division. So what do the numbers say about this team bouncing back in 2019?