Over the past few days, between the news of the Jaguars playing one home game each season in London from 2013 to 2016, and the drama surrounding holdout running back Maurice Jones-Drew, it’s been somewhat pushed to the side that the team does actually play a game this week. Tonight, the Jacksonville Jaguars will take the field against the Baltimore Ravens in the third game of the 2012 preseason. The last time these two teams met was last season, when the Jaguars upset the Ravens in Jacksonville on Monday Night Football by a score of 12-7, in a game where Josh Scobee tied an NFL game record by kicking three field goals of more than fifty yards.

If Maurice Jones-Drew really wants a trade, that's his business. He probably won't get one, but this is a free country, and he's allowed to ask for one.

Jones-Drew needs to understand that the best way to secure a new contract is to get into the Jaguars' facility, work his *** off and show the Jaguars that he wants to continue to be part of the Jaguars' organization.

That's not what he's doing.

Maybe Jones-Drew and his agent believe that the Jaguars will cave in once they begin to lose regular season games. Maybe he thinks he's an integral part of a potential winning formula.

Guess what; he's not.

Over the past 24 hours, I've written a pair of articles at ThisGivenSunday.com that are relevant to the Jacksonville Jaguars. I won't rehash both of them here, but below are the links with excerpts.

Fred Taylor forgives his former agent and highlights a bigger problem in pro sports.

"Fortunately for Taylor, the scam that cost him millions occurred near the beginning of his career, and if the incident helped shape Taylor for years to come, it may have helped him realize the value of wise financial decisions. Taylor has since recovered from Tank Black's scam, now owning four houses."

Roger Goodell and Shahid Khan to announce Jaguars international games from 2013 through 2016.

"It appears that the NFL has found a team to replace the Rams in international play. As was previously suspected, the Jacksonville Jaguars will be traveling to London, and possibly elsewhere, as the NFL's flag bearer for spreading the game abroad."

How's that for a little shameless self-promotion?

Upon further review, Blaine Gabbert still looked great against the New Orleans Saints.

For the most part over the past several years under the Jack Del Rio regime, Jaguars fans have become accustomed to terrible, inconsistent offensive play. During this time, Maurice Jones-Drew, has been arguably the only bright side on the offensive side of the ball in Jacksonville. He's been the face of the franchise. He's been to the Pro Bowl three years in a row. He was the league's leading rusher last season. However, the Jaguars will now begin preparation for their third preseason game of the year, and Jones-Drew still hasn't shown up in Jacksonville. Despite all of that, they seem to be just fine without him.

The Jaguars are a growing football team, and they showed it once again, especially on offense, against the New Orleans Saints in the first half.

There were two very big questions going into tonight's game. Would Blaine Gabbert continue his progression? Would Justin Blackmon show us anything in his first action since joining the team? The answer to both of those questions, as it turns out, was yes.

Blaine Gabbert turned in probably his best performance as an NFL player. He completed 13 of 16 passes for 112 yards and 2 touchdowns. Justin Blackmon was on the receiving end of one of those touchdowns, catching 4 passes in the first half for 48 yards including his touchdown catch.

The key with tonight's game was Blaine Gabbert's ability to turn in a consistently positive performance. He stood in the pocket and delivered passes even while the pocket collapsed around him. There was one play that I though he could have stepped up in the pocket, but instead, Gabbert dropped deeper before throwing the ball away. Considering his performance, I think I'll let it slide.

Pete Prisco probably said it best via Twitter.

Where are all the Gabbert rippers?

— Pete Prisco (@PriscoCBS) August 18, 2012

If Gabbert keeps this up into the regular season, his critics will be quickly forgotten.

In the above video, former Jaguars star Marcus Stroud plays the role of a personal assistant, but he's in for a surprise with some of the "errands" he is forced to perform.

The NOC is notorious for producing great comedic sketches such as the one above. Hopefully Marcus Stroud is out of his personal assistant venture. I don't think he fits the part of rubbing feet and breaking into other peoples' houses very well. But hey, that's just me.