The Jaguars will have a rare sellout crowd to play in front of tonight at home against the 13-0 Colts.  The Jags only lost 14-12 against the Colts in Indianapolis earlier this season.  With DEs Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis both banged up the Colts might decide to rest them.  If that is indeed the case, David Garrard should have a lot of time to throw the football.  The Colts are giving up 227.0 yards passing per game this season so the Jaguars will be likely throwing the ball more than usual tonight.  Still, Maurice Jones-Drew will get his touches against a Colts’ D that is allowing 110.4 yards rushing and 4.1 yards per carry this year.  Look for the Jags to score more points than usual tonight against the Colts.

The Jaguars don’t have much of a pass rush so they will likely have problems with Peyton Manning as the Colts are averaging 296.4 yards passing per game this season.  If the Colts decide to rest some starters in the 2nd half of this game the Jags’ D might dominate the rest of the game.  Back-up QB Curtis Painter of the Colts should make his NFL debut tonight and that should be great news for the Jaguars.

PREDICTION:  JAGUARS 23, COLTS 20

If the Jaguars are going to make the playoffs this season they are going to need QB David Garrard to step up.  Garrard has played in 13 games this season for the Jaguars and he has completed 250 of 412 passes (60.7%) for 2,987 yards with 10 TD passes and 6 INTs (84.9 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 66 times for 267 yards (4.0 ypc) with 2 TD runs this year.  Garrard often gets too much criticism for his play but I think he has had a decent run as QB of the Jags because he has never had a elite receiver to work with.  All of this talk about drafting Tim Tebow in the first round is madness.

24-year old RB Maurice Jones-Drew has been outstanding this season for the Jaguars in his first season as the main man in the running game.  He has played in 13 games this season and he has carried the ball 251 times for 1,136 yards (4.5 ypc) with 14 TD runs.  He has also caught 44 passes for 303 yards (6.9 avg) so far this season.  Teams have been ganging up on Jones-Drew by putting more players in the box than usual but it hasn’t stopped him too much this year.  It’s a shame the Jags don’t have a better passing game to make teams pay for keying on Jones-Drew.

25-year old WR Mike Sims-Walker didn’t do too much in his first two years in the NFL mostly because of gimpy knees.  But, he is healthy now as he has been the Jags’ top receiver this season.  Sims-Walker has played in 12 games this year for the Jaguars and he has caught 53 passes for 758 yards (14.3 avg) with 6 TD grabs.  It seems to me that Sims-Walker would be better off as a #2 WR in the NFL but the Jaguars can’t afford him to be that right now as Torry Holt is looking his age this season.  Look for the Jaguars to address this need at WR to complement Sims-Walker in either the draft or free agency.

The Jaguars played poorly on offense today which cost them any chance of winning this football game.  David Garrard had a piss-poor game as he completed only 11 of 26 passes for 139 yards with 0 TDs and 0 INTs.  He also carried the ball 6 times for 26 yards (4.3 ypc) today.  Maurice Jones-Drew was a hunted man today as he carried the ball 18 times for 59 yards (3.3 ypc) with a TD run.  He also caught 2 passes for 24 yards (12.0 avg) in this game.  Torry Holt led the way in the passing game for the Jags today with 2 catches for 71 yards (35.5 avg).  The Jaguars finished up with 217 total yards on offense in this game (95 rushing, 122 passing) as they only had possession of the ball for 24:54 today.

CB Tyron Brackenridge (9 tackles) and LB James Durant (7 tackles) led the way for the Jags on D in this game.  The Dolphins finished up with 354 total yards on offense (146 rushing, 208 passing) in this game.  The Jaguars are now 7-6 on the year.