Not many Jacksonville people caught it, but on Sunday the Jaguars defeated the Chiefs. Jack Del Rio, head coach of the Jaguars, sees the victory as a sign that the team really is ready for making a move to contend for the playoffs during the season’s second half.

It is time to surge, Del Rio said after the game. We have lots of work we need to do. I think as we keep going through the year we will continue to improve. At 4-4 we are still alive with everything still ahead of us.

On local television the game got blacked out, as all of this season’s home games for the Jaguars have been, with an announced attendance of only 45,546. The few fans who did turn out were able to see some of the reasons why Del Rio may just be right about his team being on track. However, they also witnessed lots of reasons for thinking the Jaguar are a mere mediocre team that beat up on a weaker team.

The good news was the performance of David Garrard, Jaguars quarterback, who went 18 for 27 for a total of 264 yards, with one touchdown without any interceptions. The favorite receiver for Garrard on Sunday was Mike Sims-Walker who had six catches for a total of 147 yards, including a touchdown of 61 yards.

Sims-Walker said, the offense had a big day. Every man tried to just find holes in the zone. Whoever Garrard threw to made the play. And today it happened to be me.

More good news was some good rookie contributions. Early first quarter Rashad Jennings, running back, had a touchdown from 28 yards to give Jacksonville a 7-0 lead. Jarett Dillard, rookie receiver, had a catch of 33 yards on a third down and 14 play, and Mike Thomas, another rookie receiver, gained 18 yards on the end around play. Del Rio stated that the rookie players had contributed just as they had been expected to.

Del Rio said, this team’s had a lot of turnover and we have lots of young players who are playing right now. We go out expecting to win. We are not settling.

However, the Jaguars were not always able to get the offense going. Maurice Jones-Drew, running back, scored a touchdown during the fourth quarter from 10 yards. However, it was his longest run for the game. He never did break out on any highlight play long runs that he is becoming known for.

Jones-Drew had 97 rushing yards in 29 carries for the game, averaging only 3.3 yards per carry, a far cry from his 177 yards gained on only eight carries last week versus Tennessee. It also raises the question why Jacksonville gave Jones-Drew the football a lot more versus Kansas City in a game where he was struggling than the Tennessee game when he was on a roll.

Part of the explanation is that Jacksonville trailed during most of the Titans game and against the Chiefs were protecting a lead for the majority of the game. On Sunday, though, the Jaguars didn’t really do a good job protecting their lead.

With just four minutes left to play in the game the Jaguars led 24-6. It appeared they would coast into an easy win. However Matt Cassel, Chiefs quarterback, and Chris Chambers, receiver who had just been claimed off of waivers, started to come alive. Cassel connected with Chambers on a touchdown of 54 yards with 2:32 left to play in the game. Then Ryan Succup, Chiefs kicker, recovered his very own onside kick that bounced off Atiyyah Ellison, the 322 pound Jaguars defensive lineman.

Following the game, Ellison explained he was surprised at the football coming to him. What was even a bigger surprise was the Jaguars putting a defensive lineman weighing 322 pounds on the field during an obvious onside kick scenario.

Cassel then led Kansas City down field and connected with Chambers on a score from five yards, making the Jaguars start to sweat. It was only after Jacksonville recovered the following onside kick that the few Jaguars fans could start celebrating.

Cassel said, we had our backs against the wall. We need to start earlier.

For the Chiefs, it was too little and too late, like everything they do during the season’s second half will be. With a 1-7 record Todd Haley, Chiefs coach, will have to spend the remainder of the season attempting to shape the team into a team he wants for 2010. That is what the release of Larry Johnson was all about.

The Jaguars don’t have a chance of catching up to the Colts for the AFC South. The claims of Del Rio that they are still in contention with their 4-4 record would hold a lot more weight if their four wins had been against teams that are better than the Texans, Titans, Rams and Chiefs.

Realistically speaking, the Jaguars aren’t really a playoff team. It isn’t surprising the fans have them tuned out.

Popularity: 46% [?]