(Dec. 26)—The Jaguars' regular-season finale in Kansas City this Sunday will remain a one p.m. kickoff. The league announced its schedule changes for Sunday's games and the Jaguars-Chiefs game was not among them.
Monday night's Jets victory over the Dolphins cemented the circumstances that must occur for the Jaguars to win a wild-card playoff berth. Any chance the Jaguars have of making it into the playoffs, of course, begins with a win over the Chiefs.
Also: The Jets must lose to Oakland, Cincinnati must lose or tie against Pittsburgh, and Tennessee must lose or tie against New England. The Jets, Cincinnati and Tennessee all play at home.
The Jaguars are currently in third place in the AFC South. Indianapolis is the division champion for the fourth consecutive season. Tennessee and the Jaguars are tied for second but the Titans have clinched a better division record.
Should the Jaguars finish in second place, they would host the New York Jets and play at Cincinnati next year. Should they finish in third place, the Jaguars would host Buffalo and play at Pittsburgh.
The rest of next season's schedule is: at home against Oakland, San Diego, Atlanta and Carolina; on the road at Denver, Kansas City, New Orleans and Tampa Bay. Those games are in addition to the six division games.
Rookie running back Maurice Jones-Drew will attempt to reach 1,000 yards rushing this season. He needs 105 yards rushing against the Chiefs for the Jaguars to become the fifth team in NFL history to have two players each gain 1,000 yards rushing in a season. Fred Taylor currently has 1,120 yards rushing.
The Miami Dolphins' Larry Csonka (1,117) and Mercury Morris (1,000) each reached the 1,000-yard mark in 1972. Pittsburgh's Franco Harris (1,128) and Rocky Bleier (1,036) in 1976 were next, followed by Cleveland's Kevin Mack (1,104) and Earnest Byner (1,002) in 1985, and Atlanta's Warrick Dunn (1,082) and Michael Vick (1,022) this season.
In other news, the Jaguars have signed guard Vince Manuwai to a contract extension. Manuwai was a restricted free agent this season.
