The Jaguars put out a sad graphic asking fans not to give up on the team, then trolled the Falcons for doing the same thing
- The Jacksonville Jaguars put out a sad graphic on Twitter after their 0-2 start to the season.
- When the Atlanta Falcons did the same, the Jaguars' accused them of stealing their idea.
- Life is not easy for the social media professionals running the accounts of a bad team.
The Jacksonville Jaguars' 2021 season is off to a rough start.
The Jaguars are 0-2, with losses against the Texans and Broncos. Neither game was particularly close. Rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence has already thrown five interceptions - as many as he threw in the entirety of his 2020 season with the Clemson Tigers.
When things are going bad for a sports franchise, it's hard on everybody. However, it can be especially challenging for the professionals running the team's social media accounts.
There's not much to say after a loss. "We'll try again next week" is about as good as you can do. So after Sunday's loss to the Denver Broncos, the Jaguars' Twitter account did just that, posting a graphic with a quote from head coach Urban Meyer.
"Hang in there with us," the quote began. "We're going to get better."
For casual fans following along with NFL action on Twitter, it's an easy post to dunk on, but it's also an understandable sentiment from the coach and team. It's been a rough start, but we're putting in the work, and hard work pays off. There's not much more to say.
But on Monday, the Atlanta Falcons put out a similar statement, owning up to their own poor start to the year.
In response, the Jaguars employed a Twitter joke format to imply that the Falcons had taken their idea and run with it.
This post is a bit harder to understand the reasoning behind, as the Jaguars could have simply let this one go. Instead, they chose to mention that they, like the Falcons, are not playing good football right now. At least they did it first, I guess?
Fans in the replies asked for mercy from their team.
Posting is hard. And the Jaguars social media team has been dealt a tough hand to play through the first two weeks of the season. They took a swing here, and I commend them for swinging. In that sense, you have to hand it to them.
But claiming credit as the first team to admit "We're bad, and we're working to get better" isn't exactly something to hold over other teams.
Also, if we're being honest, that credit belongs to Domino's Pizza, who once committed an entire commercial campaign to the idea of "You were right, our pizza used to be terrible, but we swear it's better now."
The Domino's campaign is, in retrospect, seen as a triumph. Maybe in 10 years, when the Jaguars dynasty is in full bloom, we'll look back on the "We'll get better" tweet in the same light.
Between now and then, there's a lot of work to be done.