For the second straight week, the Jacksonville Jaguars have received the label of underdogs. After beating the high-powered Pittsburgh Steelers, the odds are stacked against them as they face the defending champion New England Patriots. Regardless of the betting lines, Jaguars defensive tackle Malik Jackson recently voiced that he's tired of his team not receiving the respect he feels they deserve, according to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk.
“We earned the respect we had when we went out there and handled them the first time, to to be disrespected the second time, people said it was a fluke and this and that, it was disrespectful,” Jackson said. “Just tired of being disrespected, tired of being questioned. In the final four, nobody can question you.”
The lack of confidence from pundits in the Jaguars is mostly directed at the play of quarterback Blake Bortles, who has shielded plenty of bashing from opposing players over the last few months. There is a huge sector of players and analysts who still hold the belief that Bortles isn't the caliber of quarterback to lead Jacksonville to the Super Bowl.
Although that may be the perception, the Jaguars certainly have the necessary pieces at other positions to accomplish that feat. They possess arguably the best defense in the league behind the top-ranked secondary anchored by a pair of Pro Bowlers in cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye. Meanwhile, rookie running back Leonard Fournette spearheaded a running game that led the league in rushing.
These two factors alone continue to shift much of the dependency on Bortles' production off his shoulders, but Bill Belichick will likely force Bortles to make some plays with his gameplan.
At the end of the day, despite all of the noise, the Jaguars are just one win away from making their first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history.
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