Do Jaguars Deserve Their Latest Power Ranking Position?

The Jacksonville Jaguars fell short to the New York Jets in Week 15, but did the team earn their power ranking position?

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson, from left, offensive coordinator Press Taylor and quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) talk mid-field before an NFL football matchup Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Jacksonville Jaguars season has been full of close games that have all ended in losses, and they added another game to that list in their recent defeat to the New York Jets, on the backs of Davante Adams and Aaron Rodgers.

Though the Jaguars earned themselves a win against the Tennessee Titans in Week 14 to gain their third victory of the season, falling to the Jets brought the franchise back down to earth on what their season has been full of. But does Jacksonville deserve their latest power ranking?

According to NFL.com's latest power ranking, the Jaguars did not move from their previous position and will enter Week 16 against the Las Vegas Raiders, sitting at rank 30. A positioning that the Jaguars have been familiar with this season has been around the bottom of the power rankings.

While the Jaguars showed some fight on the backs of Brian Thomas Jr's ten receptions, going for 105 yards, and Mac Jones' 294 passing yards, the Jaguars were able to drop a cool 25 points in the defeat.

The game showcased some unlikely key players to their season in tight end Brenton Strange filling in for an injured Evan Engram and Tank Bigsby dominating on the rushing game. Strange dropped 73 yards in 11 receptions in his star performance and Bigsby was able to drop 42 rushing yards in 11 carries.

All in all, individual performances are nice and all, but as a team, the Jaguars still came up short. Given their struggles all season, regardless of how close their loss was, the Jaguars have kept that same narrative all season.

If the power rankings were determined by a player's contributions to the game, then the Jaguars may have found themselves ranked higher. Since that is not the case, the Jaguar's positioning can not improve unless they find a way to win against the Raiders on Sunday and do so in a dominant fashion.

According to the current ESPN matchup predictor, the Jaguars are not favored to win, as the analysts believe the Raiders hold a 57.6% chance of winning the game. When looking at how both these teams rank on the power rankings (Raiders sit in spot 31), the game could go either way, depending on quarterback performances.

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