treating them like a college football team. It was a tough situation for Lawrence, or really any rookie quarterback, to thrive in, but on the field he still looked like he could wind up being That Guy. The statistical performance wasn't quite matching the eye test and there was good reason to believe that he could explode with new head coach Doug Pederson as the orchestrator of his young career.
There have been some hiccups along the way, but the Jaguars have a chance to be one of the premier teams in the NFL over the next decade if they can just continue to surround Lawrence with quality talent that will let him ascend to the next plane of greatness. Pederson appears to be right guy to lead Lawrence on this journey, and his own special talent is already starting to sustain itself in big ways.
The NFL should keep the division setup for scheduling purposes. Intra-divisional rivalries are still a compelling part of the NFL season, even if the teams that populate those games are no good. What needs to change is the fact that there are games with stakes featuring teams that can’t capitalize on their positions. So, let’s just take the top seven teams from each conference and roll them into the playoffs. It’s that easy.