Larry Brown Sports

The Jacksonville Jaguars released all new uniforms for the 2013 season on Wednesday. Naturally, there was plenty of mixed reaction to the new threads. People are afraid of change, so criticism is always a given when a team releases a new look. Having said that, I personally think the new helmets look awesome.

As one Reddit user pointed out, they look even better in the sun. For the most part, it has been college football teams that roll out sick new helmets like these on a year-to-year basis. If the Jags’ new helmets are a glimpse into the future of NFL uniforms, I think we’re heading in the right direction.

Aaron Ross spent the first five years of his career with the New York Giants before signing with the Jacksonville Jaguars last year. As you might expect, there is quite a difference in football culture between Jacksonville and New York. The Giants tend to win, and the Jaguars tend not to win. It sounds like Ross now realizes that.

Signing with the Jaguars was all about the money for Ross last year. Returning to the Giants this year is about winning.

“It was a nice paid vacation to Florida,” Ross told “NFL AM” on Friday morning when asked about last season, via Pro Football Talk.  ”I had to think about the family, setting us up long term, so of course the money comes to mind,” Ross said. “But winning is everything, man. It takes the joy away when you’re losing, and the only thing to get you through it is the paycheck when you’re losing. So yeah, I’m very happy to be back with the Giants.”

The Giants finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs last year, which was incredibly disappointing for their fans. The Jags finished 2-14, which is probably exactly what their fans expected from them.

Ross had a convenient situation in Jacksonville with the team allowing him to leave training camp to witness his wife, track star Sonya Richards-Ross, win two gold medals in the London Olympics. He won two Super Bowls with the Giants during his first stint in New York, so I suppose the 30-year-old could afford a vacation. Let’s just hope he can snap back to reality by the time July comes around.

There has been speculation that Tim Tebow would have to switch positions in order to continue his NFL career, but that might not be the case. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports it’s highly likely that Tebow signs with the Jacksonville Jaguars to compete for their starting quarterback job.

Mortensen reported prior to Saturday’s Falcons-Lions game that it’s a “virtual certainty” that Tebow will play for Jacksonville next season. Mortensen says Jags owner Shad Khan still likes Tebow and wants to bring him in to compete for the starting quarterback job. Mort cited a team source saying it’s a “high likelihood” Tebow will be part of the open competition for the starting QB job.

The report is not surprising. Not only were the Jaguars in the mix to acquire Tebow in a trade with the Denver Broncos in March, but they also were said to be interested in acquiring him from the Jets prior to this season’s trade deadline after failing to land him before the season.

Tebow reportedly chose the Jets over the Jaguars in March believing he would have a better shot at earning the starting quarterback job there, though that turned out to be the opposite of what took place.

The Jaguars currently have quarterbacks Chad Henne and Blaine Gabbert under contract for next season. Henne is scheduled to earn $2.625 million in base pay next season, while Gabbert is set to earn $1.466 million.

Introducing “The Jag Rag.” There can only be one Terrible Towel in the National Football League, but every now and then we see a spinoff of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ famous little cloth. An ambitious Jacksonville native named Bert Sparks recently introduced Jaguars fans to The Jag Rag, which his website describes as “The Spark of a New Beginning” for the Jaguars organization. Currently toting a record of 2-9, the Jags will take a new beginning any way they can get one.

Fans can purchase a Jag Rag with team colors for $10 at TheJagRag.com or a pink one for $12 to help support breast cancer awareness. According to Sparks’ site, 10% of all proceeds from Jag Rag sales goes to local charities.

While we applaud Sparks for attempting to start a new tradition — albeit an unoriginal one — while raising money for charity, Deadspin did point out that the phrase “jag rag” is a term that is listed on the famous Urban Dictionary website. We won’t get into the details of what exactly Urban Dictionary says a jag rag is, but you can either take an educated guess or click here for the definition. In a way you could almost argue that makes the new Jag Rag an even better creation — almost.

The Jacksonville Jaguars reportedly are making a push to acquire quarterback Tim Tebow from the New York Jets ahead of Thursday’s NFL trade deadline.

Action News in Jacksonville, which is the website for TV stations WTEV and WAWS, says the Jags are “making a play to trade for Tebow.”

This report contradicts what most of the more informed and reputable reporters have been saying. ESPN New York reported last week that the Jets were not going to trade Tebow before the deadline. The New York Daily News followed with a similar report a few days later.

FOX’s Jay Glazer also reported on Sunday that while Jaguars owner Shad Khan still maintains interest in Tebow, the team’s coach and GM are not interested in the quarterback.

The Jags were the other team in the running for Tebow when the Broncos traded the quarterback to New York in March. It looked like the Jags were going to get him, but Tebow chose to go to New York because he believed he’d have a better chance of playing there, and because he wanted to go somewhere he was wanted. He hasn’t had much of an impact with the Jets through eight games, but that doesn’t mean the team is eager to get rid of him. They acquired him because he’s a major media and box office draw. That hasn’t changed.

After the report emerged, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reported that the two teams haven’t had any trade discussions. We tend to believe him more than Action News Jacksonville.

Photo: Ed Mulholland-US PRESSWIRE

With Week 1 of the NFL season already upon us, two of the league’s top runners are facing an uphill battle to get back into shape. Maurice Jones-Drew missed all of Jaguars training camp while holding out for a new deal, but he returned over the weekend without one. Adrian Peterson has been trying to make a rapid recovery from major knee surgery. While the Jaguars stood strong and refused to give Jones-Drew a new deal, it’s clear that Peterson feels the team was playing with fire in doing so.

“Look at Jones-Drew,” Peterson said according to 1500ESPN.com. “He was their whole offense last year. So, without him, the Jaguars would have been terrible just to be honest.”

Jones-Drew was the NFL’s leading rusher last season, and Peterson credited him with keeping Jacksonville from being worse than 5-11 — which isn’t exactly an amazing accomplishment. The Jaguars were terrible without him last year and most expect them to be terrible again this season regardless.

Last year’s lack of success is what gave the Jaguars so much leverage with MJD this offseason. The team had to have known he wouldn’t hold out forever, and they figured Rashad Jennings would be an ample replacement if he missed any regular season time. Jones-Drew is one of the most talented backs in the league, but unfortunately for him he’s on a horrible team. Teams who win five games with their star players don’t tend to fret when they hold out as much as playoff teams do. How much worse can it get?

Helmet knock to Pro Football Talk
Photo credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

Apparently Jaguars fans don’t have to worry about the Maurice Jones-Drew holdout situation that is still ongoing. Many people say an offense is only as good as its offensive line, and Jacksonville guard Eben Britton is confident the Jags’ O-line is ready to do work this season. In fact, he promises they are going to put on a show.

“We are going to be the nastiest, most violent offensive line in the NFL,” Britton said according to the Jacksonville Business Journal. “I can promise you, the offensive line is going to be a hell of a lot of fun to watch this year.”

If that’s the case Rashad Jennings should do just fine filling in for MoJo. And Blaine Gabbert should have plenty of time to throw and be able to find rookie receiver Justin Blackmon for a number of big plays.

By nasty and violent, we’ll assume Britton simply means the unit is going to play hard. The last thing they want is someone like Justin Tuck going around giving them nicknames because of their dirty style of play. On second thought, the Falcons didn’t seem to mind.

Helmet knock to Pro Football Talk