Familiar 0-2 looms for either Jaguars, Redskins

WASHINGTON – Either the Jacksonville Jaguars or the Washington Redskins will be 0-2.

Well, that's familiar territory.

The dreaded 0-2 is an early season scarlet letter in the NFL, a quick behind-the-8-ball that allows doubts to creep in from all over.

Sure, teams can recover from it. At least good teams can. And the jury is out as to whether Jacksonville and Washington have good teams in 2014.

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The Jaguars started 0-8 last season. They've had four 0-2 starts since 2008. Although, maybe if you fudge a little, you can say they're already 1-1 this season: They beat the Philadelphia Eagles 17-0 in the first half last week, then lost 34-0 in the second half.

"I felt like in the game against the Eagles, the first half, our guys felt how being your best feels like," coach Gus Bradley said. "I think in the second half, it felt like obviously what it doesn't feel like. I think they've really bought into, 'You know what? Let's really, truly be our best and let's see if we can do that for 60 minutes and then let's see what happens.'"

The Redskins started 0-3 in 2013 on the way to their fifth last-place finish in six years.

"You can't put your team in that type of a hole, and especially when you're coming off a year like we had last year," Redskins safety Ryan Clark said.

"You don't want people who are in this locker room to start to get that feeling like it's the same old thing, like, 'Here we go again,' when you come into the year with such high hopes and having new people and having a new head coach."

New coach Jay Gruden is basically trying to rebuild franchise quarterback Robert Griffin III from scratch; together they mustered all of six points in a Week 1 loss to the Houston Texans.

Here are some things to notice when the Jaguars and Redskins meet Sunday:

RG3 VS. GUS: These two have crossed paths before, and it didn't end pretty. Bradley was the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks in the Redskins playoff loss that wrecked Griffin's knee two years ago.

It's a different Griffin now, one who is trying to be more of a passer than a runner. He rushed for only 2 yards vs. the Texans, but Bradley knows better than to think that Griffin's game-breaking runs are a thing of the past.

"We know he's extremely busy with his arm and his legs," Bradley said.

HEAVING HENNE: Chad Henne threw touchdown passes of 34 and 21 yards in the Jaguars' loss to the Eagles, and he also had a 46-yard completion. That should bode well as he faces a Redskins secondary playing a second game without suspended free safety Brandon Meriweather.

"As much as they call it, I'm going to huck it and chuck it down the field," Henne said. "I've done it in my career before; it's not like I've never done it. If the plays present themselves and we call those plays, we'll take full advantage of it."

WHO'S THAT WIDEOUT? Henne's three biggest pass plays went to undrafted rookie Allen Hurns, who became the first player in NFL history to catch two touchdown passes in the first quarter of his league debut.

It helps that Hurns is surrounded by familiar faces. He played under Jaguars offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch at Miami and was teammates with Jacksonville backup quarterback Stephen Morris.

"There's still work out there for him to be done," Henne said. "But at the same time, Stephen just says 'He's a go-getter.'"

WHERE'S 'RAK? This is supposed to be the year Redskins linebacker Brian Orakpo really piles up the sacks. He's playing for a contract, and there's been plenty of talk about how the defense has been tailored to let him blitz more.

Turns out he had a quiet first week and ended up dropping into coverage quite a bit. Orakpo credited the Texans with a good game plan that spread out the defense, making it hard for him to get into a pass-rushing rhythm.

"If you're not getting that many opportunities, it's kind of hard," Orakpo said. "You've got to get a feel on the fly."

WHAT'S SPECIAL ABOUT THAT? The Jaguars had a missed field goal and a blocked field goal on consecutive drives against the Eagles, while the Redskins had a blocked punt returned for a touchdown and a blocked extra point against the Texans.

That leads us to the quote of the week from Ben Kotwica, reflecting on the decidedly mixed results in his first game as Washington's special teams coordinator.

"The food was great, the music sounded wonderful," Kotwica said. "And then we hit the iceberg."