The Jaguars' present will meet the past to open the 2012 preseason. The present will meet last year's Super Bowl champions, too.
Mike Mularkey, the Jaguars' new head coach, will make his preseason debut in that position early in August in a home game at EverBank Field – and he will do so against former Jaguars Head Coach Tom Coughlin and the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants.
The Jaguars-Giants preseason opener was part of the 2012 preseason lineup released by the NFL Wednesday afternoon.
And while Coughlin's second trip to Jacksonville as the Giants' head coach was among the highlights of the team's preseason schedule, it is far from the only marquee matchup in a preseason schedule that will feature the Jaguars playing four 2012 playoff teams.
The Jaguars will visit the New Orleans Saints – last year's NFC South champions – in the second week of the preseason, and they will follow that with a trip to Baltimore to play the 2011 AFC North Champion Ravens.
The Jaguars will close the preseason with a home game at EverBank Field against Atlanta.
The preseason schedule features familiarity for the Jaguars throughout. Not only did Coughlin serve as the team's first coach, from 1995-2002, the Jaguars also played the three other teams on the preseason schedule last season, losing to the Saints at EverBank Field and the Falcons in Atlanta and beating Baltimore at EverBank Field in a Monday night game.
The preseason finale will be a familiar one for Mularkey. He spent the last four seasons as the Falcons' offensive coordinator, and Jaguars offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski worked as the Falcons' quarterbacks coach last season.
The dates and kickoff times of all four preseason games have yet to be determined. The preseason opener against the Giants is expected to be played sometime between August 9-11.
The preseason finale against the Falcons is expected to be played on or around August 30.
