Way back in Week 1, the Jacksonville Jaguars played the division rival Houston Texans. The Jaguars defense was so dominant that they knocked Houston starter Tom Savage out of the game at halftime, and then continued right on pounding Houston even after Deshaun Watson entered the game.
By the time the game was done, the Jaguars had racked up an incredible 10 sacks, including a team record 3.5 by big-money free-agent signing Calais Campbell. At the end of the game, the Jags had no choice but to rebrand themselves as Sacksonville.
New Twitter name.#WinToday #Sacksonville pic.twitter.com/xvQGfj2W0e
— #Sacksonville (@Jaguars) September 10, 2017
Fast forward six weeks. The Jags entered Week 7 with an NFL best 23 sacks. They were set to square off with the division rival Indianapolis Colts on Sunday -- another team with a dreadful offensive line. And, well, the Jaguars went and did it again.
The Jags sacked Jacoby Brissett 10 times on Sunday afternoon. They got 2.5 from Yannick Ngakoue, two from Campbell, 1.5 each from Dante Fowler Jr. and Malik Jackson, one each from Sheldon Day and Myles Jack, and a half-sack from Eli Ankou. Add 'em up and, yes, that's 10 sacks.
So the Jaguars once again had no choice but to rebrand themselves as Sacksonville for the rest of the day.
Name changed 👀#Sacksonville pic.twitter.com/je0SzLTTvW
— #Sacksonville (@Jaguars) October 22, 2017
Two 10-sack games in one season? Surely, I thought, nobody has ever done this before. But, alas, I was wrong. It's actually been done twice before (at least, according to Pro-Football-Reference), first by the 1967 Raiders and then by the 1984 Bears.
Finally, all the money and draft picks the Jaguars have spent on their defense over the years is paying off. Not only is their corner tandem arguably the best in the league, but their pass-rush looks like it might be the best in football as well.