With David Garrard out for the season it puts a lot of pressure on 27-year old QB Trent Edwards who will start this Sunday.  He will likely have a short leash though with 38-year old Todd Bouman backing him up and the Jaguars needing this game to have a chance of making the playoffs.  Edwards has played in 2 games for the Jaguars this year and he has completed 14 of 24 passes (58.3%) for 140 yards with 0 TD passes and 2 INTs (40.3 QB Rating).  Edwards has also carried the ball 5 times for 16 yards (3.2 ypc) for the Jags.  Edwards has played in 4 games overall this year for the Bills & Jags in which he has completed 43 of 76 passes (56.6%) for 381 yards with 1 TD pass and 4 INTs (52.6 QB Rating).  Edwards has also carried the ball 10 times for 40 yards (4.0 ypc) so far this year.  Edwards will be taking aim at a Texans’ secondary that is allowing 277.1 yards passing per game and they don’t have much of a pass rush, so he should have some success.  38-year old Todd Bouman will probably be warming up a lot in this game just in case the Jags need to pull Edwards.  Bouman has played in 1 game (a start) for the Jags this year and he completed 18 of 34 passes (52.9%) for 222 yards with 2 TD passes and 2 INTs (68.5 QB Rating).  Bouman also carried the ball 2 times for 8 yards (4.0 ypc) in his start.  The Jags won’t hesitate to yank Edwards if he’s not getting the job done as the Jaguars need to push all of the chips to the middle of the table with the playoffs possibly at stake.

32-year old David Garrard has stepped up the last five weeks as the Jaguars are 4-1 over that span and they have scored 127 points.  Garrard has completed 95 of 140 passes (67.9%) for 1,144 yards with 8 TD passes and 4 INTs in his last five games.  He has also carried the ball 28 times for 106 yards (3.8 ypc) with 3 TD runs in his last five games.  Garrard has now played in 11 games for the Jaguars so far this year and he has completed 179 of 268 passes (66.8%) for 1,982 yards with 17 TD passes and 11 INTs (92.6 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 51 times for 200 yards (3.9 ypc) with 4 TD runs this year.  The Jaguars hope that Garrard finishes the year strongly because they are in the driver’s seat right now.

The Jaguars will be without 24-year old strong safety Courtney Greene this weekend against the Raiders due to a shoulder injury.  Greene has played in 12 games for the Jaguars so far this year and he has 64 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 3 passes defensed, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery and 1 forced fumble.  27-year old Sean Considine will replace Greene in the starting lineup while he is out of action.  Considine has played in 10 games for the Jags so far this year and he has 38 tackles, 1 sack, 3 passes defensed, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery.  The Jaguars need Considine to play well this weekend as the game with the Raiders is a HUGE one.

30-year old starting DE Aaron Kampman tore his right ACL last Thursday at practice ending his 2010 season.  Kampman played in 8 games for the Jaguars this year and he had 25 tackles, 4 sacks, 2 tackles for a loss and 2 passes defensed.  This is a huge blow to the Jaguars’ defense.  The Jaguars will turn back to Derrick Harvey, a former first round pick (2008), to replace Kampman in the starting lineup.  Harvey has played in 8 games this year for the Jags and he has 6 tackles, 1/2 a sack and 1 pass defensed.  He has now played in 40 games in his first three years with the Jaguars and he has 82 tackles, 5 passes defensed, 6 sacks and 1 interception.

30-year old cornerback Rashean Mathis has not played too well for the Jaguars this season.  Mathis has played in 8 games for the Jaguars so far this year and he has 32 tackles, 4 passes defensed, 1 forced fumble and 1 interception.  The Jaguars need Mathis to turn back into the playmaker he was earlier in his career, especially against WR Andre Johnson starting this Sunday.  Mathis has now played in 108 games in his 8 years with the Jaguars and he has 439 tackles, 92 passes defensed, 1 sack, 6 forced fumbles and 29 interceptions (511 return yards with 3 TDs). 

Opposing teams have been ganging up on 25-year old RB Maurice Jones-Drew making every yard he gets a hard one.  He has carried the ball 135 times for 510 yards (3.8 ypc) with 1 TD run and he has also caught 17 passes for 140 yards (8.2 avg) with 2 TD grabs so far this year.  So in all this year, Jones-Drew has touched the ball 152 times for 650 yards (4.3 avg. per touch) which averages out to 92.9 yards of offense per game.  Last season Jones-Drew touched the football 365 times for 1,765 yards (4.8 avg. per touch) which averaged out to 110.3 yards of total offense per game last year.  He also scored 16 TDs for the Jaguars last season.  The Jaguars need some other guys to step up on offense so that Jones-Drew can start finding the same kind of running room that he had last year.

25-year old WR Mike Sims-Walker struggled with injuries his first couple of years with the Jaguars.  But last season he stepped up playing in 15 games in which he caught 63 passes for 869 yards (13.8 avg) with 7 TD grabs.  The Jaguars expected him to improve on those numbers in 2010 but it just hasn’t been the case so far this year.  He has caught 12 passes for 129 yards (11.6 avg) with 1 TD grab so far this year.  Those numbers don’t even tell the whole story though as he caught 10 passes for 105 yards (10.5 avg) against the Chargers in the second game of the year.  He has been completely shut out (no catches) against both the Broncos & Colts this year.  The Jaguars don’t have a ton of talent in the passing game so they need Sims-Walker to step up and be consistently more productive going forward.

I have a gut feeling that the Jaguars are going to draft QB Tim Tebow out of Florida in the first round of the NFL Draft next April.  Even if the Jaguars do draft Tebow I think they should keep David Garrard around for at least one more year as the starter.  Garrard played in all 16 games for the Jaguars last season and he completed 292 of 477 passes (61.2%) for 3,395 yards with 13 TD passes and 9 INTs (84.0 QB Rating).  He also carried the football 72 times for 283 yards (3.9 ypc) with 3 TD runs in 2009.  Garrard has now played in 72 games in his NFL career and he has completed 1,170 of 1,915 passes (61.1%) for 13,269 yards with 66 TD passes and 39 INTs (84.9 QB Rating).  Garrard has also carried the ball 314 times for 1,467 yards (4.7 ypc) with 12 TD runs in his career.  I don’t see Garrard being a back-up so he would have to go if the Jaguars decide to rebuild.

28-year old Luke McCown is a solid back-up.  He played in only 3 games for the Jaguars last season and he completed 1 of 3 passes (33.3%) for 2 yards without a TD pass or a pickoff (42.4 QB Rating).  McCown has now played in 15 games in his NFL career and he has completed 143 of 241 passes (59.3%) for 1,619 yards with 9 TD passes and 10 INTs (74.7 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 21 times for 157 yards (7.5 ypc) in his career.  If forced into duty I think McCown would do a decent job for the Jaguars.

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.

The Jaguars need kicker Josh Scobee to get his act back together.  He has made 8 of 12 field goals this season and he is 13 for 14 on extra points.  With the offense the Jaguars have they can not afford to leave points on the football field.  Scobee better get his act together soon if he wants to be on the Jaguars next season.