The Jaguars have signed 6’5″, 315 pound DT Greg Peterson.  Peterson played in 10 games for the Buccaneers last season and he made 14 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks.  He has now played in 15 games in his NFL career and he has made 15 tackles and has 1 1/2 sacks.  The Jaguars needed depth on the D-Line so this was a good signing for them,

The Jacksonville Jaguars (1-2) beat the Houston Texans (1-2) today at Houston’s Reliant Stadium.  The Jaguars were down at the half, but after giving up 21 first half points they held the Texans to only three points in the second half.  Running back Maurice Jones-Drew was exactly the spark the Jaguars needed on offense, as he carried them to victory with 119 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries (5.2 avg).  Jones had a 61-yard touchdown run with under four minutes to play in the first half.

Quarterback David Garrard did a good job managing the game today, but didn’t do anything very impressive through the air.  He went for 214 yards on 18/30 attempts with no touchdowns and no interceptions, but he did have a one-yard touchdown run.  He ended up with 29 yards on 5 carries (5.8 avg), including a 30 yard run in the first quarter, so Garrard found ways to be effective on the ground.

The Texans did have their fair share of opportunities to win this game.  The biggest opportunity for the Texans came late in the 4th quarter after the Jaguars’ Mike Sims-Walker fumbled and the Texans’ Zac Diles recovered it on the Jaguars’ 49-yard line.  Texans’ quarterback Matt Schaub drove the Texans all the way to the one-yard line and it looked like he tied the game when he threw a touchdown pass to Joel Dreessen.  The play was called back though, as Kevin Walter was called for offensive pass interference.  Two plays later the Texan’s running back Chris Brown fumbled the ball on the goal line and Daryl Smith recovered the ball in the end-zone for a touch-back.  The call was challenged by the Texans but it was upheld and Jones-Drew and the Jaguars were able to run the clock out and hold on for the victory.

The Jacksonville Jaguars (0-2) are taking on the Houston Texans (1-1) this week in Houston and are hoping they can avoid going 0-3 on the season.  The Jaguars defense has to play better then it has so far this season.  They need to get at least some pressure on the Texans’ quarterback Matt Schaub or he is going to light them up like Kurt Warner did last week.  Schaub threw for 357 yards and four touchdowns last week against the Tennessee Titans, so he is a talented quarterback.

This will probably be a pretty high scoring game, as the Texans defense is just as bad as the Jaguars.  David Garrard and Maurice Jones-Drew could have a break out game this week, as the Texans’ defense is last in the league in total yards so far, allowing 455.5 yards per game.  Garrard needs to protect the ball much better than he has been and needs to stop fumbling.  He has more fumbles than touchdowns, three vs two.  The Jaguars better hope that their defense can slow the electric Houston offense down some, or this will be a shootout the Jaguars wont be able to keep up with.

With both defenses not showing much so far this season, it will be an offensive battle.  The Jaguars offense has been pretty stagnant thus far, and Houston’s offense looked great last week, so I think the Texans are going to be able to put more points up on the board and pull out a high scoring victory.  I think the Jaguars will have a better game offensively, but they just wont be able to keep up with the Texans.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Texans 38, Jaguars 31

The Jaguars have signed 23-year old CB Will Middleton (away from the Falcons’ practice squad) and 22-year old safety Courtney Greene.  Neither of these guys have and NFL experience so don’t expect miracles ou of them.  Special teams is where they might be able to help out the Jags.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have released TE Greg Estandia.  Estandia played in 2 games (1 start) for the Jaguars this season but he didn’t catch any passes.  In four years with the Jags, Estandia played in 28 games (2 starts) in which he caught 19 passes for 249 yards (13.1 avg).  He was quickly claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Browns where he will be their #3 TE.  This move will not likely come back to haunt the Jaguars.

The Jaguars have demoted WR Nate Hughes to the practice squad after he cleared waivers.  He dropped two easy TD passes last week against the Cardinals which explains why the Jags wanted him off the roster.  Hughes will have to earn his way back to the active roster by improving his hands in practice.  Hughes has caught 3 passes for 15 yards (5.0 avg) and he has returned 1 punt for 11 yards this season for the Jags.  With the situation at WR for the Jaguars Hughes should get another chance with them at some point this season.

The Jaguars have lost WR Troy Williamson for the season due to a torn labrum in his shoulder.  Williamson caught 3 passes for 34 yards (11.3 avg) this season for the Jaguars.  The Jags had high hopes for Williamson after he had a stellar pre-season.

The Jacksonville Jaguars (0-2) looked awful in the first half of their game Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals (1-1) and ended up losing the game 31-17.  The Jaguars put themselves in a huge hole, as they were down 24-3 at the break.  The offense looked much better in the second half as they rallied for two touchdowns.  There wasn’t much the Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner couldn’t do today, as he set an NFL record for completion percentage in a game.  Warner went 24/26 (92%) and threw 243 yards with two touchdowns.

The Jaguars defense did not give up any huge plays, but by playing back and giving soft coverage up front, Warner was able to easily dump it down to his receivers.  The Jaguars looked like they might have a shot to get back into the game when quarterback David Garrard threw it to Nate Hughes in the end zone, but the ball hit off Hughes’ shoulder pads and the Jaguars lost their chance.  Garrard ended the game with 282 yards with two touchdowns and one interception on 23/43 (53%) pass attempts.

Most Jaguar fans were not able to see the game, as it was blacked out since they did not sell out the game.  This has got to be one of the dumbest rules with regards to sports on television but luckily for Jaguars fans they didn’t have to watch Kurt Warner light their team up.

FINAL SCORE:  Cardinals 31, Jaguars 17

The Jacksonville Jaguars are hosting the Arizona Cardinals Sunday and are looking to rebound after a close 14-12 loss last week against the Indianapolis Colts.  The Jaguars should look to blitz Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner heavy and often, as Warner struggled with the 49ers pressure in their 20-16 loss.  Warner threw two interceptions and was sacked three times, as the 49ers showed a great way to defend against the defending NFC Champions.

The Jaguars offense did not look very good last week, as quarterback David Garrard only racked up 122 yards.  They had only two passes for more than 15 yards.  Running back Maurice Jones-Drew was one of the few bright spots for the Jaguars offense, as he rushed for 97 yards on 21 carries and scored a touchdown.  He also caught a lot of passes out of backfield and was pretty much the Jaguars only threat on offense last week.

The Jaguars defense did hold the Colts to 14 points, but they also gave up 365 yards.  I think the Cardinals know they need a big win this week and I am expecting a much sharper Cardinals offense.  I don’t think the Jaguars have enough weapons on offense to keep up with the Cardinals and I see the Cardinals coming out of Jacksonville with a victory.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Cardinals 28, Jaguars 17

Until this season Maurice Jones-Drew always had to share the ball with Fred Taylor.  Taylor has since signed with the Patriots leaving Maurice Jones-Drew to carry the offense without a net.  By that I mean that there is not much behind Drew in the way of depth so the running game is in his hands.  He carried the ball 21 times for 97 yards (4.6 ypc) with 1 TD grab.  He also caught 5 passes for 26 yards (5.2 avg) out of the backfield.  Drew is the most important player on the team so the Jaguars have to watch his workload so he doesn’t wear out.