The Florida derby between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers isn’t one of the most anticipated games in week 5, but it’ll be interesting to see which drought ends first: Lovie Smith unable to win a home game since becoming the Bucs head coach, or Blake Bortles winless streak in road games.
Bortles, into his second season in the NFL as the Jaguars starter, is 0-8 so far on the road. The Jaguars have won a game (against the other Florida team, Miami Dolphins) but that was at home. Away from home, over the last couple of weeks, it’s been more losing: Getting crushed by the New England Patriots 51-17 followed by a painful, 16-13 loss against the Indianapolis Colts.
Lovie Smith is also into his second year with his team, coaching the Buccaneers to a 3-17 record through his first 20 games. He still hasn’t experienced a home win, and this season, two of their three losses have come at home. On the opening weekend against the Tennessee Titans (42-14) and in week 4, beaten by division rivals Carolina Panthers 37-23, although it wasn’t actually that close.
