On The Beat: 5 questions with Jacksonville writer Michael DiRocco

With the return of a new season, we’re bringing back our weekly “5 questions…” feature where we check in with a writer who covers the Patriots' next upcoming opponent. For the Jaguars, we talked to Michael DiRocco, who covers the team for ESPN. Check him out on Twitter here.

1. We hear a lot of people in Jacksonville are treating this as one of the most important games in franchise history. Is that hyperbole, or is there genuinely a lot of weight to this one for the Jaguars?



It’s definitely one of the most anticipated regular-season games in franchise history. Fans are still seething about the loss in January, and especially about the “Myles Jack wasn’t down” play. If you really want to get them angry, show the clip of referee Clete Blakeman congratulating Tom Brady after the game. Inside the building, however, things are much different. They’re treating this game no differently than they would any other game. It’s the most important one because it’s the next one. (Don’t you just love hearing that cliché?) But the bottom line is this is only Week 2 and a lot of things can happen over the course of the next 15 weeks. We’ve seen that with the Patriots for years. There’s no talk of revenge or a changing-of-the-guard-in-the-AFC opportunity – at least publicly, anyway.

2. Is there an under-the-radar guy on either side of the ball who we’re not focused on now who could have a sizable impact come Sunday?

Second-year wide receiver Dede Westbrook is someone to watch. Patriots fans should remember him as the intended target on Blake Bortles’ fourth-down pass late in the title game. That was just the 10th game of his career (he missed the first nine games of the season with a sports hernia) and he’s grown significantly as a receiver since then. Donte Moncrief and Keelan Cole are the Jaguars’ top two wideouts, but Westbrook will be counted on to do some of the things the Jaguars lost when Marqise Lee went down for the season with a knee injury. Look for Westbrook on some crossing routes and to get the ball on some receiver screens. He’s got the quickness, speed and elusiveness to make a defense pay for a missed tackle. He could make a play or two that may factor into the outcome.