The three-game winning streak is over and, ironically, it came in the best game the Jacksonville Jaguars have played this year.
After three straight last-minute wins where luck played a big factor, the team couldn’t stop the Colts in a fourth-quarter, game-winning drive, then couldn’t pull off another late drive of their own.
• Coach Jack Del Rio pointed out what may not be obvious: the team is 3-1 after four games and tied for the division lead. “Breaking the (16-game) season down into quarters, you have to say we’re doing OK,” he said. The next quarter starts Sunday at San Diego and continues at home against Kansas City, on the road against the Colts and at Houston. A 2-2 (second quarter) would be acceptable to most.
• It was easily quarterback Byron Leftwich’s best game (29-of-41 passing for 318 yards) and he wasn’t impressed: “Winning is more important than lighting up the scoreboard.”
• Being on television meant many stayed home and the crowd looked smaller than in the first home game. The Jaguars now announce only paid attendance, which was 73,114, but it’s likely that fewer than 65,000 were in Alltel Stadium.
• The worst injury was a big one when offensive lineman Mike Pearson went down with a badly injured leg. The official diagnosis won’t be made public until today but Del Rio said he thinks it’s so severe that it will end the player’s season. Leftwich summed it up succinctly: “I knew it was bad when I heard him screaming.”
• The refs’ biggest goof came at the 2-minute warning near the end of the first half when referee Walt Anderson didn’t turn off his microphone. The officials huddled to discuss the final minutes and were heard to be worrying about their evaluations by league officials.
• The Jaguars brass does the tough work, too. Vice President and General Counsel Paul Vance was at Gate 1 prior to the game waiting for the escort a group of handicapped fans to their seats.
• Super Bowl Host Committee president Michael Kelly worked the visiting media in the press box prior to the game, filling in for his publicist, Heather Surface, who was on a retreat with a church group.
• The Jaguars, anticipating a big crowd and a last-minute rush at the ticket windows, advised fans to arrive early but neither happened. Only a few were at the stadium when the seating areas were opened at 11:30 and the ticket windows did little business. The only traffic tangle affected the early tailgaters coming from the Southside who found the Main Street Bridge stuck in the up position for a short time.
• Most embarrassed person in the stadium? Had to be the middle-aged man who tried the placekicking game in the fan zone prior to the game and twisted his knee so badly that he had to be carried away.
• The security keeps getting tighter. When fans leave their sections, they have to show their ticket to get back to their seat, no matter that the usher already had seen the ducat.
• The pregame entertainment choices to fans are limited to the area outside the South end zone this year. Last year, there were bands and games stretching around the perimeter.
• The halftime show was only half what originally was scheduled. It was supposed to be a “Battle of Bands” between Edward Waters College and Morehouse University from Atlanta, but Morehouse backed out and didn’t make the trip. “Glad they didn’t come,” said EWC Athletic Director Johnny Rembert. “Our guys got to show more of their stuff.”
— by Fred Seely