The league office apparently doesn’t think much of the Jaguars.
The AFC finalists, a team that came within a whisker of making it to the Super Bowl, has secured only one guaranteed prime-time game in 2018. It comes in Week 14 on a Thursday night against the Titans in Nashville.
The Jaguars also are scheduled to host the Steelers on Sunday night in Week 11, but that’s the first full-blown flexible-scheduling weekend. If the Jaguars underperform during the first half of the season, the Jaguars could find themselves flexed right out of a prime-time home game.
Even if they aren’t, the Jaguars have gotten the short end of the scheduling straw. The other conference finalists -- the Patriots, Vikings, and Eagles -- have five, four, and five prime-time games, respectively. The 49ers, who haven’t made the playoffs since 2013, also have five.
Last year, the Dolphins had four prime-time games after ending an eight-year playoff drought and making a one-game postseason exit.
Whether the league believes the market is too small, the team isn’t sexy enough, and/or the following hasn’t grown to the kind of size that will bring major eyeballs to the TV, the schedule doesn’t reflect what the Jaguars did last year, or what they could do this year.
Of course, the schedule as constructed actually helps them. Coaches prefer fewer prime-time games, in order to have a consistent routine. The Jaguars have no Monday night games, which means they won’t be faced with a short week (other than the one that comes with their Thursday game).
The Jags also benefit from the boost that comes from the perception of disrespect. They can play that card to get a chip on the team’s shoulder, while also enjoying the reduced distraction of playing a bunch of prime-time games. All in all, it’s a win-win for a team that needed only one more win last year to get to its first ever Super Bowl.