The Jacksonville Jaguars finally won their first preseason game on Thursday night, beating the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 20-16.
Jaguars vs. Falcons: Jacksonville, Atlanta fans more concerned with roster battles than final score
The Jaguars won the battle of the winless preseason teams, but preseason fans aren’t concerned with wins and losses.
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The Jaguars needed a late touchdown drive and a couple defensive stands to seal the victory late, ultimately hanging on to avoid a winless preseason. A handful of players were fighting for roster spots and Adam Stites of SB Nation’s Jaguars blog (Big Cat Country) noticed a few players rising to the top.
Standing out for the Jaguars was again Jordan Todman, who rushed 60 yards and a touchdown on nine carries, as well as LaRoy Reynolds, who started at middle linebacker for Paul Posluszny and stayed in for the majority of the defensive snaps.
Atlanta’s loss pushed its preseason record to 0-4. Preseason records are hardly indicative of regular season success, however, so it’s not much of a surprise that the folks over at the Falcoholic (SB Nation’s Falcons blog) were more concerned with the roster battles than the final score on Thursday night.
The most important takeaway tonight has nothing to do with the final score or even how the offensive line works, considering it was mostly backups all game. It has everything to do with the individual performances that help settle rotations and roster spots, and there were plenty of those last night.
Those who are tempted to suggest that the 0-4 record means the Falcons aren’t ready for the regular season and/or means something: Stop it. What the Falcons do on the field with their actual gameplan come the regular season will bear no resemble to these four games, and if they fail it won’t be because of them.
The Falcons will open the regular season on Sunday, Sept. 8 against the New Orleans Saints while the Jaguars take on the Kansas City Chiefs the same day.
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