Jaguars return to EverBank Field to host the Oakland Raiders
in battle of teams loaded with young talent
A FAMILIAR FACE RETURNS TO EVERBANK FIELD THIS WEEK.
While Jack Del Rio’s return to Jacksonville is
sure to steal the headlines throughout the
week, the Jaguars’ head coach from 20032011 comes into today’s game with a team
stockpiled with young, elite talent. The
Raiders are 4-2, and sit atop the AFC West
standings.
While the Jaguars’ record is not what they
hoped at 2-3, Gus Bradley’s team is also
loaded with young, elite talent, still in the
early stages of finding their identity. The
Jaguars are within a game and a half of the
first-place Houston Texans (4-2) in the AFC
South standings.
With the connections between the teams,
the growing talent on both rosters and
the need for a win for both teams, today’s
matchup could be one to remember in the
coming seasons. Here are some of the young,
talented players to keep an eye on in today’s
game:
QUARTERBACKS
Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles survived
two turnovers last week (one interception,
one fumble), and his fourth-quarter 51-yard
touchdown pass to Arrelious Benn helped
rally the Jaguars to a 17-16 win over the
Chicago Bears. The No. 3 overall pick in
the 2014 NFL Draft, Bortles is still trying
to capture the rhythm of a franchise-record
breaking 2015 season. With 1,321 yards
passing in five games, along with eight
touchdowns and seven interceptions, Bortles
has yet to play his best football in 2016, but
in the last two games he has played well
enough in clutch situations to help will the
Jaguars to victories.
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr has put
together a solid first six games, leading
his offense to an NFL ranking of eighth in
total offense. His 67-percent completion
percentage, 1,608 yards passing, 12
touchdowns and three interceptions combines
to a 99.1 passer rating, good for 10th in
the NFL. Carr was a second-round pick (36th
overall) for the Oakland Raiders in 2014 out
of Fresno State, and played under Jaguars
offensive coordinator Greg Olson when he held
the same position with the Raiders in 2014,
Carr’s rookie season.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Jaguars receivers Allen Robinson and Allen
Hurns each has not had a true break-out
performance in 2016, following a pair of
1,000-plus seasons in 2015. Robinson had a
72-yard game on six catches in the season
opener against the Packers, and a twotouchdown effort in the Week 3 game against
the Ravens. For Hurns, his lone touchdown was
a key fourth-quarter score against the Colts in
London, while last week he caught five passes
for 74 yards in the win over the Bears. Hurns
now has at least one reception in every game
he has played, a streak of 36 consecutive
games. Also, keep an eye on Marqise Lee, who
has been consistently healthy for the first
time in his career, and is coming off a seasonhigh six-catch performance in Week 6.
Raiders second-year wide receiver Amari
Cooper is on pace for a monster season,
already posting three 100-yard-plus outings in
the first six games for a total of 585 yards on
36 receptions. The fourth-overall pick in the
2015 NFL Draft has found the end zone only
once this year, with a score two weeks ago