In USA TODAY’s power rankings done back in July, the Jacksonville Jaguars came in at the No. 17 spot after previously being ranked No. 19, marking a little bit of progress.
Now, with the regular season set to kick off Thursday, they’ve once again made a jump, this time cracking a spot in the top half of the league. Here’s what USA TODAY football analyst Nate Davis had to say about his No. 13 ranking of the Jags with them set to battle the Kansas City Chiefs Week 1:
13. Jaguars (17): They haven’t suffered any relatively disastrous suspensions, injuries, trades or retirements — more than you can say for rest of AFC South.
He’s right, the Jags may be the most functional team in a very chaotic division in terms of the roster situations that have occurred over the last two months. The Indianapolis Colts lost Andrew Luck to retirement, the Houston Texans had to sell their future to get a new left tackle and the Tennessee Titans had questions as to who would be their starting quarterback this preseason in the eyes of some fans.
When looking at Davis’ rankings as a whole, the Jags were the top ranked team in the AFC South as the Colts came in at the No. 20 spot, the Titans came in at the No. 22 spot and the Texans came in at No. 24. However, the Jags’ Week 1 opponent in the Kansas City Chiefs came in at the No. 2 spot. That in mind, it will be interesting to see where a Week 1 Jags victory could put them within the top-10.
