If you claim you had the Jacksonville Jaguars making it to the 2017 AFC Championship Game, you're either one crazy diehard individual or one giant liar. Though they were eventually spanked in the second half by Tom Brady's New England Patriots, the young Jags exceeded all expectations.
Head coach Doug Marrone says bring it on as it pertains to a higher level of expectation, via Michael DiRocco of ESPN.
“I embrace that,” he said. “I’d much rather be on team that has expectations than on a team with like, ‘Look, these guys, they’re awful. Here they go.’”
With a record of 10-6 a season ago, the Jags turned out to be one of the most pleasant surprises of the NFL campaign. Stunning the Pittsburgh Steelers during the Divisional Round capped off a terrific season for the Marrone-Tom Coughlin-led squad looking to build off youth, talent and enthusiasm.
Even owner Shad Khan is well-aware of his organization's situation.
“I’ve had high expectations for six years,” owner Khan said. “So expectations are the easy part. Delivering, that’s the hard part. I think what’s fun going forward is [there are high] expectations, but then a high degree of confidence that we’re going to deliver.”
Khan's message closely resembles that of the head coach, who's aware of the stunning success yet remains vocal about turning the page.
“Don’t get me wrong: 2017 is in a box and it’s packed, but there are lessons to be learned from 2017, and the most valuable lesson is put the work in,” Marrone said. “We see those things, and a lot of times when you do that you’re looking at the end or the end result, and sometimes as a player and a coach you forget what you did in the beginning and the hard work and the faith or the trust or the accountability you had in one another.
With Deshaun Watson back healthy and Andrew Luck throwing again, the Jags will suddenly be forced to deal with two in-division quarterbacks who missed all of or the majority of last season. At the same time, those youngsters will not love taking on Jalen Ramsey and that young, ferocious Jacksonville Jaguars defense in 2018 and beyond.
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