How the Jacksonville Jaguars came moments from the Super Bowl, then blew up in record time

the 2017 jacksonville jaguars sat 10 minutes away from the franchise's first super bowl after years spent picking at the top of draft after draft and shelling out for free agents the pieces clicked perfectly the jaguars found success by getting a bunch of stars to play as a team there were the pass rushers yanique and gaque dante fowler jr caleus campbell at 2017 first team all-pro defensive end and second team defensive tackle malik jackson and marcel darius mann the trenches while linebackers telvin smith and paul puzlesny cleaned everything up behind them puzzlezny in particular kept this defense going a veteran leader making sure everyone stayed on assignment the first and second team all-pro corners jalen ramsey and aj boyle further solidified this group ramsay was arguably the star of this show both for his physical shutdown play as well as his let's call it well-earned confidence this defense was special few squads were on their level in any one category let alone as a total package offensively no one outrushed this team in 2017 thanks to leonard fournette who gave blake bortles someone to lean on as he guided the offense they became the highest scoring team in jaguars franchise history and won their first division title in 18 years the coach who got them there in 1999 was back too tom coughlin returned to the team to oversee the roster and their first year together worked out all right they won their first playoff game in a decade then stunned pittsburgh in a shootout where the jaguars never trailed and found themselves in their first afc championship since 2000 armed with enough talent to threaten the league for years to come these jaguars sat moments away from the franchise's first super bowl appearance or and it pains me to say this maybe not blake bortles outplayed tom brady dante fowler jr harassed the living legend jacksonville's defense made new england's run game non-existent the first 50 minutes of that afc championship game couldn't have gone better for the jaguars they led 20 to 10 and neither team showed any sign that the outcome would change what looked like the final nail in new england's coffin came early in the fourth desperate the patriots went into their bag of tricks which beautifully set up dion lewis behind a bulldozer of blockers but miles jack almost casually came in from the right and forced a fumble recovered the fumble and had a clear path to the end zone one problem the referees blew their whistles yes they said he had the ball but also that jack was down what could have just as easily been ruled seven points for jacksonville instead led to a jags 3 and out a 10 point lead with this defense still felt solid though especially after marcel darius sacked brady which led to a third and 18. but right here danny amendola proved he's more than just a fun name to say his 21-yard reception turned the tide four plays later he finished the drive cutting the jag's lead to three with five minutes to play amendola's 20-yard punt return set new england up at jacksonville's 30 and once again brady found amendola whose amazing toe tapper put the pats up for and after sputtering the entire fourth quarter jacksonville's offense couldn't mount a comeback of their own they failed to convert on fourth down the defense failed to corral dion lewis as he iced the game and instead of an unexpected victory the jaguars improbable fourth quarter collapse became official jacksonville made some mental errors at times tried to protect their lead too much but the nearly 10 point underdogs would have needed perfection against the patriots that defeat while hard to swallow still showed the evolution of this team a result they could build upon especially considering jacksonville's young roster strengthening or at least maintaining that roster was exactly why they brought coughlin into the mix while david caldwell kept the general manager position he'd held since 2013 coughlin's title of executive vice president of football operations really just meant he got the final word with this roster but the 2018 offseason came with a couple head scratchers first up bortles his time with the jags had been troublingly inconsistent for a top three pick but back in 2017 the jags had picked up his fifth year option in a way that guaranteed he'd stick around for 2018. instead of leaving it at that this offseason jacksonville tacked on a three-year extension granted as bill barnwell pointed out that move itself wasn't necessarily a bad one it just raised questions about jacksonville's future plans for the position as for bortles pass catchers coughlin elected to re-sign marquis lee a serviceable receiver but it came at the expense of alan robinson robinson had already proven capable of playing as one of the league's best granted he tore his acl to start 2017 and would cost a little more than lee but it's not like this team had shied away from spending elsewhere now one move that coughlin didn't get a say in came when puzzlezne retired after the first winning season of his 11 year career telvin smith's speech at the retirement ceremony showed just how much the linebacker meant to the jaguars as the team prepared for the 2018 season the defense continued to focus on the guy they needed to replace specifically the leadership role although right here fowler and in gaque likely weren't asking what would paul do their post-practice altercation that august became even worse when ramsay got involved and targeted the media filming the incident he went so far as to imply that by releasing the video the jags would go to war with the reporters jacksonville suspended ramsay and fowler for one week each but this sparked an eventful week and year for the jags all pro cornerback who kind of became the headliner of jacksonville's woes in the midst of his suspension gq published an interview they'd done with ramsay where among many topics he rattled off his thoughts on some of the league's quarterbacks most of the focus fell on the jabs matt ryan overrated josh allen trash eli and roethlisberger only good because of their receivers fortunately when the season began ramsay didn't have to eat his words immediately jacksonville jumped out to a three-in-one start which included a win over the giants where the defense got a pick six out of manning they followed that with some convincing payback against new england the lone loss in that first month also was due to an offense without fournette who injured his hamstring in week one the start to his own eventful season which we'll get to but the wheels got wobbly in week five with 5 turnovers from bortles then they completely fell off a week later against dallas following the blowout defenders mentioned guys being unsure on their assignments but they also viewed it as a blip something that this team could correct well they didn't those two losses sparked a seven game losing streak and while the defense attempted to figure things out they'd have to do so without dante fowler jr the jaguars shipped the former third overall pick off to the rams getting ahead of an inevitable departure that would have come in free agency in the midst of jacksonville's losing streak ramsay once again comfortably spoke his mind hinting at his future also being elsewhere a week later adam schefter added to that topic using some extremely careful phrasing to report ramsay could be on the move in the off season and a week after that fournette swung the spotlight away from ramsay by swinging his fist at the bill's shaq lawson he left the bench to get involved in a brawl so an ejection turned into a suspension which capped off the losing streak so jacksonville had one star hinting at leaving and another whose actions convinced coughlin to void the remaining guaranteed money in his contract the jaguars plummeted to a five win season after being moments away from the super bowl following their week 17 loss coughlin put fournette on blast because he and fellow running back tj yeldon spent most of the game on the bench away from their teammates that same day jaguar's owner shad khan said he wouldn't break up the band but made it clear that 2018 necessitated improvement coughlin heard that and got to work first a meeting with fournette that actually allegedly went well after they patched things up coughlin got out the sledgehammer some minor moves cleared a little bit of cap space but with less than three million to work with at the start of free agency coughlin needed to break the party up first malik jackson jacksonville cut ties with the defensive tackle halfway through a six-year deal saving 11 million by saying farewell to one of their six defensive pro bowlers from 2017. now why did the jaguars need that cap space three words big nick foals jacksonville handed out the largest contract in franchise history to the recent super bowl mvp signing foles sealed bortles fate his release came after 2018 where bortles finished as one of the worst passers in the league but also before the qb could play a single snap of that three-year extension jacksonville gave him one year earlier the move came with a good amount of dead money further justifying the questions around the contract in the first place coughlin though said he'd do it all the same way then again i can't really picture coughlin feeling regret too often this is the same guy who called out two of the defensive stars for skipping voluntary practices admittedly coughlin didn't call out ramsay and smith by name but since they were the only two players not in attendance folks connected the dots the nfl on behalf of the players association quickly warned the jaguars about comments like this smith responded a few weeks later by announcing that wouldn't be the only football activities he'd miss the linebacker stepped away from the team without even telling jacksonville first ramsay though was great at communicating he said the team knew that without a new deal the coroner wouldn't be there and when talking about that new deal ramsay felt strongly about his self-worth so strongly that ramsay tied it into his training camp entrance it's worth noting that adidas sponsored this bit meaning ramsay got paid while asking to get paid genius the jaguars though weren't budging they told ramsay's agent that no extension would come it wasn't just the corner though in gawkway jacksonville's star defensive end also looked to get a new contract but when he declined the jaguar's initial offer coughlin abruptly broke off negotiations that led to the pass rusher holding out during training camp a move that he likely wished had been brought to you by adidas after an off-season full of headlines jacksonville likely appreciated the distraction that just plain football can offer in the first quarter of week one folz suffered a broken clavicle in week two ramsay got in a sideline altercation with head coach doug marone the very next day ramsay told the jaguars that he wanted to be traded that request got leaked against ramsay's wishes who had hoped to not be a distraction to the team but a few days after that a conversation came out that ruined any chance of that happening during a podcast interview ramsay shared that his time with the team was done that following week two some disrespectful things were said to him by the organization made it clear that he had no issues with his teammates the fans even the coaches it all had to do with the front office ramsay played in week 3 hugged some teammates and coaches and then was gone first reports said he had the flu then a back injury kept him out and on september 25th he left the team for the birth of his daughter a move that would allow him to be away as long as he wanted without consequence it ended up being three weeks jacksonville found a trade partner in the rams and five days after the trade the alt pro coroner was playing football again but back in jacksonville things went further south on and off the field while jacksonville benched their qb with a record contract for a mustachioed rookie the jags front office got thrown under a player driven bus the nflpa put out a statement that warned players about signing with jacksonville the players association had one agreements filed against jacksonville over the team's repeated violations of the collective bargaining agreement they had required players to use the team facilities for rehab and medical needs then find players who elected not to in one specific case the team fined fowler 25 times totaling over 700 000 the nflpa's statement added that 25 of all the grievances filed by players over the previous two years had been against jacksonville oh coughlin you punishment loving idiot it shouldn't be too surprising from the man who made his players practice in the same florida heat that was killing livestock or whom hall of famers openly admitted to hating two days after the report came out coughlin for the second time left the jaguars in disgrace by now jacksonville couldn't hide from the issues that had burrowed deep into this team far quicker than anyone could have expected they were back to rebuilding they said farewell to marcel darius the guy who almost single-handedly fixed jacksonville's run defense next class campbell went to baltimore for a fifth round pick in just three seasons campbell earned the fourth most sacks in team history including the single season franchise record the jags flipped aj boye for another fourth rounder leaving just a pair of stars who'd had their own issues with the franchise and gawkway had started the offseason by making his intentions pretty clear but jacksonville franchised him regardless with no intention of signing ngakui took his frustrations to twitter where he got in a back and forth the owner's son who he called a clown eventually the last remaining pro bowler from 2017 got his wish via trade to minnesota and the very next day the jaguars called it quits with fournette in a fairly surprising move they released the former fourth overall pick committing to some slightly less experienced runners in just two and a half years this team hit a new low following the nearly total roster overhaul but these depths also allow hope to grow a new coach coming in a new generational quarterback on the horizon an easy way to forget how far the jaguars collapsed they'd drafted traded used free agency to assemble an undeniably absurd defense plus a devastating ground game they earned a genuine although unexpected chance to win it all but when they went down they committed to going down while in the end they just had the one season of greatness holy was that one year fun hey thanks for watching for another tom coughlin related collapse enjoy the downfall of the new york football giants or take a coughlin break with this don't forget to subscribe hit the bell for notifications and tell me about your go-to burger toppings below

Channel: Secret Base

Views: 978,788

Keywords: nfl, collapse, secret base, sbnation, sb nation, will buikema, jalen ramsey, blake bortles, leonard fournette, jaguars patriots afc championship, jacksonville jaguars, football, 2017 jaguars, calais campbell, myles jack, myles jack wasn't down, tom coughlin, yannick ngakoue

Id: H-SM13PqKbE

Length: 17min 24sec (1044 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 06 2021