By Hays Carlyon
I knew it was going to be nasty.
With the 17-game model dictating that all AFC teams would play eight home games and nine road games this season, I knew the schedule was going to look bad for the Jaguars.
Playing a “home” game in London meant the Jaguars would be playing only seven games in Jacksonville – AND 10 ELSEWHERE.
That kind of disparity is going to be difficult to navigate. But having had time to fully break down the Jaguars slate, I actually think it sets up about as well as could be expected.
Here are some positives.
*No bad weather games
The Jaguars play at Buffalo in Week 3 (Sept. 23) on Monday Night Football. That’s a good time to go.
The final two road games of the season – at Las Vegas on Dec. 22 and at Indianapolis in the finale – will be played in a dome.
There’s a date at Philadelphia (on Sunday Night Football) that could be cold on Nov. 3, but not brutal. The Titans game in Nashville is on Dec. 8 but that’s not considered a terrible weather city (even though the coldest game in my 11 years covering this team was in Nashville).
Still, it’s good that we can rule out Trevor Lawrence having to complete passes to Christian Kirk in the snow.
*No Thursday games
This shocked me. The Jaguars have no really short weeks the entire year. They will have one less day following the Buffalo game and the Week 4 game is a trip to Houston. However, not having to deal with the physical toll of a Sunday-Thursday turnaround for the first time in at least a decade could be enormous for the team’s health.
*No three-game road trips
The league tries to avoid this but with a team playing just seven games in its home city, I thought it could really be a possibility. The Jaguars luck out. They play the Bills and then the Texans on the road, but that’s the lone consecutive road-game gauntlet on the schedule. That was also avoided because the Jaguars open the season on the road (at Miami on Sept. 8) and close in Indianapolis.
There can be some extra energy in the opener and finale, so maybe that will hurt. But not as much as a three-game road trip.
*The bye is late
Jaguars coach Doug Pederson has said he wants to avoid an early bye. The league came through. The Jaguars open with 11 straight games before the bye comes in Week 12, which is Thanksgiving weekend. The good news is if the Jaguars make the playoffs — and aren’t the No. 1 seed — they only play six consecutive games before the wild-card round. Some teams will be well beyond that mark.
Once again, the Jaguars are not taking the bye after the two London games. They will host Green Bay on Oct. 27.
The bye also comes before a home game against Houston on Dec. 1 that could go a long way in defining the AFC South champion.
*Conclusion
We knew the opponents. We knew how few games in Jacksonville there would be.
Now, we know the order.
I think, all things considered, the schedule sets up pretty well for the Jaguars.
(You can email Hays at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter/X @HaysCarlyon)
