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Jaguars News | Jacksonville Jaguars - jaguars.com

Wild-card race could be deep

Join jaguars.com Senior Editor Vic Ketchman as he tackles the fans' tough questions.

Patrick from Jacksonville Beach, FL:
How do the Bills rank stat-wise in offense in both running and passing?

Vic: They are 16th in rushing, last in passing and last overall.

Jeremy from Oceanside, NY:
When the movie is made about your life, what actor do you want to play you?

Vic: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Robert Duval; any of those guys would be fine.

Charles from Hinesville, GA:
For the first time, I convinced my wife to come to a game with me this past weekend. What a game! I think she's hooked. Now we are lifetime fans, no matter what happens from now on.

Vic: I am delighted to hear that news.

Gabe from Jacksonville:
Vic, the national media bugs me. It seems they just quit doing research and just regurgitate old info. I heard Ditka made the comment during pregame that there will only be 25,000 people at EverBank for the Colts game. Despite no blackouts so far this year, we still have talking heads perpetuating the perception. How can you trust the information coming from the national media if they are so off-base with Jacksonville?

Vic: Do you remember my warning from the summer of 2009? I said that if attendance turns out to be as bad as it appears it'll be, look out, the national media is going to hammer this town. I knew no one believed me, but I think they do now. Once you get the reputation for being a bad football town, it's very difficult to reverse that perception. It'll take at least this whole season to do it. If we make it through this year without a blackout, then the perception will change. I gotta tell you, Jacksonville had the reputation for being sold out for a lot of years when, in fact, the games were not sold out. Then the covers went on and trouble started. That's the problem with those seats covers, which is another way of saying that's the problem with playing in a stadium that's too big for its market.

Steven from Jacksonville:
The first quarter of the season is in the books. Give us your thoughts on the division and the conference. Which teams have surprised you and who fades down the stretch?

Vic: I don't see any surprises in the AFC South, and that includes the Colts. Losing in the Super Bowl creates a hangover and I didn't expect the Colts to get off to a fast start. In the AFC, the Chiefs are obviously a big surprise, but they could come back to earth real fast this Sunday in Indianapolis, so let's hold off on making any statements about the Chiefs. I'm surprised the Chargers are 2-2. Looking at their opening schedule, I had them down as a slam-dunk for 4-0. I expected better from Miami, too. Otherwise, I see four tight division races and, most of all, a wild-card race that might be nine teams deep. The stretch? We're a long way from the stretch.

Michael from Jacksonville:
I'm a season ticket holder but I take issue with the blanket statements that we should not react negatively after a horrible loss, or be elated after a big win, and that we should just love the team regardless. I would argue that the fact that we love the team so much causes this to happen, or such heavy losses wouldn't bother us so much.

Vic: I understand your passion, it's just that I expect more in the way of self-control. This is football. This is for tough-minded people who carry themselves with an element of dignity. What you're trying to sell as the expression of passion is something I see as lack of control.

Anthony from Fontana, CA:
Congrats, Vic! I guess you won't have to move to SoCal to follow the Jaguars after this big win against Indianapolis.

Vic: So one win saved the franchise, huh? What happens the next time the Jags lose, back to SoCal? Here's my request of everyone: Just watch the game. You can't play it. All you can do is watch it. If it's a win, enjoy it. If it's a loss, wait a week. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you. It's what I mean when I say: I like to watch.

Tony from Palm Coast, FL:
What was the attendance for Sunday's game? Where can I go in the future to track the attendance?

Vic: I usually provide both figures in my game-day blog. This is an age of complete transparency. Tickets distributed on Sunday were 63,111. The actual attendance was 58,212.

Steve from Jacksonville:
Godfather, I hope the Jags have a few more wins because wins bring out the funny Vic. I laughed out loud three times today.

Vic: Someday, and that day may never come, I'll call upon you to do a service for me.

Cheyne from Greensboro, NC:
I have something for you, Vic. Maybe our defense isn't as bad as we think: The teams we have played thus far are literally the top four teams on offense.

Vic: You're a little off in your statement, but this is the kind of insight that earns my respect. San Diego is number one, Indianapolis is three, Denver is four and Philadelphia is nine. That's stiff competition.

Joe from Atlantic Beach, FL:
I forgot to ask you this earlier in the week: What's up with the jump pass? Is that truly what Urban Meyer wants to be remembered for, an uninspired gimmick play? I have always thought Meyer to be one of the brightest minds in college football, but not anymore.

Vic: I didn't hear any complaining when it worked. All I heard was giggling. I haven't heard any giggling this week. God, I hate finesse football. It's so, so, so … dirty feeling. Yuk!

Dave from Atlantic Beach, FL:
I was not aware of the 80-man limit for active roster and IR. If more than 27 men sustain season-ending injuries, is there a way to compensate them and not place them on IR in order to maintain a 53-man roster, or is placing them on IR required by the CBA?

Vic: You'd have to waive injured however many necessary. If they're not claimed by other teams, you'd then do an injury settlement with them and they would be off your roster.

Bobby from Jacksonville:
Could you explain the "West Coast Offense" for me? I've heard about it plenty but never knew what it was.

Vic: It's a three-step drop, get-the-ball-out-quickly, move-the-pocket style of offense. It's a short-passing, ball-control offense.

Keith from Lakewood, PA:
I think one of the great NFL myths is that quarterbacks who run are going to get hurt more. I was a 12-year-old kid when I saw Randall Cunningham take over for Ron Jaworski against Atlanta in an overtime win. I was an instant fan and I think I saw every snap he took as an Eagle. He ran all the time and never got hurt bad until he got hit standing in the pocket. He was never the same after that.

Vic: I think one of the great NFL myths is that all quarterbacks can run like Cunningham. Hey, kid, are you kidding? Cunningham is one of the two or three-best running quarterbacks in NFL history. He's one of those quarterbacks, like Michael Vick, Bobby Douglas and a few others, who ran better than they threw. You want those guys to run. Do you want Peyton Manning to run? Do you want Tom Brady to run? Kid, there's a simple truth about quarterbacks: The more they get hit, the more likely it is they'll get hurt. You don't want them running and getting hit and you don't want them standing in the pocket and getting hit. You want them standing in the pocket and not getting hit. Those are the quarterbacks that play a long time.

Jordan from Green Mountain, NC:
With the way the Jaguars won, do you think they are a playoff-caliber team?

Vic: That's what we're going to find out this Sunday in Buffalo.

Casey from Honolulu, HI:
Normally, during the weekends, I make the statement: "At least we still have the Gators." This week it felt good to say: "At least we still have the Jaguars."

Vic: I understand what you're saying, but that shouldn't be an opinion that changes from week to week. Win or lose, you want to have the Jaguars in Jacksonville. You want to have them in Jacksonville this year, next year and every year after that. One day, they'll win it all and you want that day to come when the Jaguars belong to Jacksonville. Imagine the hurt if it happened when they belonged to someone else.

Tommy from Gainesville, FL:
To me, what matters most isn't what rank I give this past game as one of the best home games in our history. What matters is the feeling that myself and over 65,000 fans felt in the stadium this past Sunday.

Vic: Easy, Ditka, easy. Let's make sure we get our facts straight.

Chris from Jacksonville:
With the cutting of Todd Bouman, does that tell us Trent Edwards is picking up the offense quickly?

Vic: Chris, Trent went to Stanford, so I assure you, there isn't any offense he can't pick up quickly. He's ready to step in now, if needed. A third quarterback isn't necessary for the Jaguars. Why? Because they have one. His name is Todd Bouman and he'll be sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring. You know what I mean?

Jason from Brooklyn, NY:
Dropping Indy to 19, below the Jaguars? Come on. The Jags lose two consecutive weeks in embarrassing fashion, while both weeks Indy looks pretty good. A loss by a 59-yard field goal is enough to drop 18 places?

Vic: I had to put them behind the Jaguars, for the obvious reason that they lost to the Jaguars, and the Jaguars' consecutive 25-point losses, in my opinion, didn't qualify them to be placed much higher than the middle of the pack. Let's look at this: The Jags and Colts each beat Denver. The Colts' other win was against the Giants, the Jags' was against the Colts. If the Colts are as good as you think they are, then the Jags' win over the Colts is better than the Colts' win over the Giants, right? Here's another way to look at it: What does it matter? I didn't even wanna do these stupid power rankings. You people made me do it. You wanna do a poll? If it says stop doing them, I'll gladly stop doing them.

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