The Jacksonville Jaguars are in deep trouble heading into their annual London game this week as they take on the Indianapolis Colts. Jacksonville badly needs a win if it has any hope of salvaging its season.
The game is airing on CBS, which has no live streaming app of its own. The game can be seen online at NFL Sunday Ticket, and Verizon customers can stream it on mobile devices with the NFL's official app.
The Jaguars were trendy dark horse contenders after a successful offseason, making big additions in free agency and the draft. However, they're at 0-3 with their playoff hopes dangling by a thread, and head coach Gus Bradley could be on the hot seat if they don't make a quick turnaround.
An odd trend has popped up in recent years of a struggling team firing its head coach after a London loss. In 2014, the Oakland Raiders were 0-3 heading into Wembley and got crushed by the Miami Dolphins, 38-14, leading to Dennis Allen's dismissal. The Dolphins suffered the same fate last season, starting the year 1-2 and coming out flat in London, taking a 27-14 loss to the New York Jets. Joe Philbin got his walking papers the following week.
There's no certainty that Bradley will meet the same fate, but if the Jaguars fail to show up they may have no choice with the bye week coming up. Despite having a lot of talent on paper, this team continues to make the same mistakes and let games slip away. Bradley is now 12-39 in his Jaguars tenure, which is the worst winning percentage of any head coach in the modern era.
Blake Bortles has made little signs of progress in his third season, throwing six interceptions in the first three games and continuing to make poor decisions in the pocket. The running game has been a disaster, with T.J. Yeldon rushing for a pitiful 2.5 yards per carry. Despite the free agent additions, the defense is giving up 28 points per game, tied for 25th in the league. Almost nothing has gone right and although it's still in the early part of the season, this team is in a full-blown crisis.
The Colts have problems of their own, but at least they finally got in the win column last week with Andrew Luck leading a comeback victory over the San Diego Chargers. Luck hit T.Y. Hilton for a 63-yard touchdown in the final minutes, giving the Colts the 26-22 win and improving them to 1-2 on the year.
Luck was shaky for most of the game, throwing an interception and losing an ugly fumble on a strip-sack that got returned for a Chargers touchdown. But when the game was on the line, he came through and helped the Colts avoid a calamitous 0-3 start. They are still in the AFC South mix with the Houston Texans faceplanting last Thursday night.
The defense remains a big question mark and just lost another important player, with linebacker Trent Cole going on injured reserve with a back injury. The good news is that Vontae Davis returned last week after missing the first two games, but the secondary could still be missing Darius Butler and Patrick Robinson.
London games haven't been the most exciting contests over the years, but there are pretty big stakes here. Everything is on the line for the Jaguars, while the Colts are looking to recover from a slow start and get back to .500. This should be a fun, intense matchup for fans willing to wake up early enough to watch it.
How to watch
Time: 9:30 a.m. ET
Place: Wembley Stadium, London
TV: CBS
Announcers: Greg Gumbel, Trent Green, Jamie Erdahl
Online: Sunday Ticket