The Jacksonville Jaguars return almost an entire roster from last year's team that finished with a disappointing 5-11 record. Just two years removed from an AFC Championship Game appearance, the team knows it was better than it showed in 2018.
“First things first, last year sucked,” Jags defensive lineman Calais Campbell told NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport on the RapSheet & Friends podcast. “Our youth really showed. Once we started losing guys, having some injuries, having some real adversity, we really didn't handle it well.”
The biggest change from last year comes under center, where Blake Bortles is replaced by Nick Foles, the Super Bowl LII MVP who the Jags signed to a four-year contract in free agency.
In seven regular-season and postseason games in 2018, Foles completed 69.2 percent of his passes, averaged 268.6 yards per game and threw 10 touchdowns to 8 interceptions. Jaguars QBs completed 61.4 percent of their passes, averaged 214.4 YPG and tossed 15 TDs to 13 INTs.
So, it comes as no surprise, then, when Foles' new teammates say his play will be key to returning this team to its former self. The team that nearly went to a Super Bowl, or even the team that defeated the eventual Super Bowl champion Patriots in week 3 of last year.
That win over New England gave Jacksonville a 3-1 record at the time, though Campbell said, because of it, the team got a bit too full of itself.
With a new leader and a still talented defense, this year could be different.
“Our defense is incredible, and I feel like we're going to play so much better trying to get him the ball because we know what he'll do with it,” Campbell said.
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