The Jacksonville Jaguars

[copperfiend]

Sorry Duvaldude, it did not even look close to 62,000 on tv this past Sunday.

I was at the game and the crowd was solid. I was in the lower level or the northeast corner of the stadium and there was not an empty seat around me.

[Tacachale]

^We're doing what it takes to get our stadium sold out, as many teams are doing this year (or not doing in some cases).

Dapperdan, drafting His Holiness Sri Timmy would have certainly put more bandwagon butts in the seats and generated some ambivalent media buzz in the short term, at the expense of building up our defense in the long term. Then we'd hear those bandwagoners calling for him to start when things looked bad. Then we'd have a lot of disappointed bandwagoners when he failed to live up to expectations. Then we'd be right back where we are now. The balance would be a lot of teal jerseys with "Jesus" written on the back turning up at Goodwill.

On the upside, Gabbert is still an unknown, and hopefully his potential will show once he gets some dedicated time to develop, a real offense to work with besides just MJD, and some actual coaching, none of which he's had.

[BridgeTroll]

Official attendance was 62,004... 

http://espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=311127030

[Dapperdan]

Here is the problem though. With all the rumors swirling around, Jacksonville does not have time to jerk around at  the QB position. This whole season is a laughable disaster. Do you think Weaver wanted this for a team struggling to sell tickets? Remember, it was "Go Time." We really could have used the attention and tickets sold in the short term. I hear it everywhere I go. People say they would have bought tickets if Tebow had been drafted. Who knows if everyone was serious or not, but we needed a shot of adrenaline badly, but we missed out yet again. Lets keep drafting winners like Cecil Shorts from the Tulsa Welding School and giving other winners like Mike Thomas contract extensions. That should rejuvenate the fan base! Seven of the last Nine years, we have not even qualified for the playoffs. We need a complete gutting of the front office and coaching staff, and it should start today.

[Dapperdan]

Official attendance was 62,004... 

http://espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=311127030

Either a ton of people didn't show up, or the Jags bought a bunch of tickets. The arial shots showed huge teal holes all along the upper decks for all of the game.

[Wacca Pilatka]

The crowd looked smaller to me than for earlier games, but I don't think the Jaguars bought up any tickets.  It's my understanding that the Jaguars receive thousands of donated tickets for Military Appreciation Day each year and that those tickets are not usually purchased until the week of the game.

Also, empty seats do not necessarily constitute a team buy-up...that could just be disgruntled fans not coming to the game.  As with Cleveland's crowd last weekend.

[duvaldude08]

Here is the problem though. With all the rumors swirling around, Jacksonville does not have time to jerk around at  the QB position. This whole season is a laughable disaster. Do you think Weaver wanted this for a team struggling to sell tickets? Remember, it was "Go Time." We really could have used the attention and tickets sold in the short term. I hear it everywhere I go. People say they would have bought tickets if Tebow had been drafted. Who knows if everyone was serious or not, but we needed a shot of adrenaline badly, but we missed out yet again. Lets keep drafting winners like Cecil Shorts from the Tulsa Welding School and giving other winners like Mike Thomas contract extensions. That should rejuvenate the fan base! Seven of the last Nine years, we have not even qualified for the playoffs. We need a complete gutting of the front office and coaching staff, and it should start today.

The problem is DD that you are trying to make something out of nothing. WHO CARES ABOUT TEBOW. If you want to discuss him go to a Bronco's fan forum. Tickets sales have not been an issue the past two years. Heck we are selling more than our counter parts Tampa and Miami. ( and they have huge markets might I add.) So know need to downplay the fact we are filling our stadium. And we know the front office needs to be gutted and started from the ground up. But the whole Tebow thing is ur fantasy, not ours.

[fsujax]

better than St Louis, Cincy or Oakland.

[duvaldude08]

Official attendance was 62,004... 

http://espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=311127030

Either a ton of people didn't show up, or the Jags bought a bunch of tickets. The arial shots showed huge teal holes all along the upper decks for all of the game.

why cant you just except the fact that 62,000 people showed up? The crowd looked great. Not as large as some of the the other games this year, but definately a solid crowd. I think you are someone who trys long and hard to find flaws, even when none exsist. That is all! 

[comncense]

As hardcore of a supporter as I would consider myself to be, I found myself feeling a little aggravated that the Jaguars had already starting deducting money from my account for the 2012-13 season under the 30/30 plan. I know I'm going to have season tickets one way or another but I'd really like to see Mr. Weaver at least address this disaster of a season. Give us fans a sense that change is coming. I don't particularly think Jack is a horrible coach but it's obviously isn't working this year and JDR has run his course with this team. I don't want the Jaguars to be the NY Knicks of the NFL. Continually a bad team and management continually making bad roster and drafting decisions. Though a new coaching staff and new GM doesn't guarantee that things will be drastically different, at least it's a change from what we've seen over these past years.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Lets keep drafting winners like Cecil Shorts from the Tulsa Welding School and giving other winners like Mike Thomas contract extensions.

In fairness to Shorts, he was generally projected in draft guides to go in the 4th or 5th round of the draft.  He obviously hasn't done well but I wouldn't lump him into the category of reaches just because he was from a small school.  Scouts and GMs beyond Gene were aware of him.

I'd also note that many very productive NFL receivers have come from small schools.  Shorts' Mount Union background shouldn't be some automatic disqualifier.

John Stallworth: Alabama A&M
Jerry Rice and John Taylor: Mississippi Valley State and Delaware State
Terrell Owens: Tennessee-Chattanooga
Steve Largent: Tulsa
Gary Clark: James Madison
Miles Austin: Monmouth

[duvaldude08]

As hardcore of a supporter as I would consider myself to be, I found myself feeling a little aggravated that the Jaguars had already starting deducting money from my account for the 2012-13 season under the 30/30 plan. I know I'm going to have season tickets one way or another but I'd really like to see Mr. Weaver at least address this disaster of a season. Give us fans a sense that change is coming. I don't particularly think Jack is a horrible coach but it's obviously isn't working this year and JDR has run his course with this team. I don't want the Jaguars to be the NY Knicks of the NFL. Continually a bad team and management continually making bad roster and drafting decisions. Though a new coaching staff and new GM doesn't guarantee that things will be drastically different, at least it's a change from what we've seen over these past years.

I honestly think WW is just as fustrated as we are. He has really laid low this season. I think it is tough when you put your trust in people to make the right decisions and they fail you. I think right now its not the right to address the season because its mid-stream. That probably would cause things to be a little worse. Del Rio obviously does not care what happens and he is not coaching. The offensive line is pitiful and Del Rio has done nothing about but give a crap load of excuses. Im ready to see him gone. Him and his staff have no idea what they are doing

[duvaldude08]

Lets keep drafting winners like Cecil Shorts from the Tulsa Welding School and giving other winners like Mike Thomas contract extensions.

In fairness to Shorts, he was generally projected in draft guides to go in the 4th or 5th round of the draft.  He obviously hasn't done well but I wouldn't lump him into the category of reaches just because he was from a small school.  Scouts and GMs beyond Gene were aware of him.

I'd also note that many very productive NFL receivers have come from small schools.  Shorts' Mount Union background shouldn't be some automatic disqualifier.

John Stallworth: Alabama A&M
Jerry Rice and John Taylor: Mississippi Valley State and Delaware State
Terrell Owens: Tennessee-Chattanooga
Steve Largent: Tulsa
Gary Clark: James Madison
Miles Austin: Monmouth

Hey Shorts caught a ball sunday!! Whoot Whoot!!   

[Wacca Pilatka]

Here is the problem though. With all the rumors swirling around, Jacksonville does not have time to jerk around at  the QB position. This whole season is a laughable disaster. Do you think Weaver wanted this for a team struggling to sell tickets? Remember, it was "Go Time." We really could have used the attention and tickets sold in the short term. I hear it everywhere I go. People say they would have bought tickets if Tebow had been drafted.

I understand your point of view, but...

1) If Tebow doesn't work out as an NFL QB, we would then potentially experience a mass exodus of season ticket holders that might be irrevocable - losing both Tebow fans and Jaguar fans disgusted that the team wasted its time on him

2) The Jaguars did an extensive market study that concluded that drafting Tebow would only result in a net gain of about 2,000-2,500 season ticket holders, who would be lost if Tebow left.  A lot of people say they would have bought tickets if Tebow were drafted - we all hear it, often - but talk is not the same as action, and a lot of people in Jacksonville also said, among other things, that they would buy tickets if we fired Coughlin, had escalators at the stadium, dumped Leftwich for Garrard.  Some are saying they will when we dump Del Rio but I wouldn't bet on their doing so.

3) While Denver unquestionably has received positive attention for its wins since Tebow took over, I doubt national media attention to Jacksonville would be particularly positive even if the exact same winning scenario had played out here.  All the talk would be of how Jacksonville is just a college football town, the team capitulated to fans rather than making a football decision for itself, and so forth.  In 2009 and pre-2010 draft national stories, Tebow was being used as a vehicle to depict Jacksonville as a minor league place.  I really think the dynamic of coverage for Tebow/the team that drafted him would be quite different for Jacksonville than it would be for any other team that would have drafted him.

[Tacachale]

It's a pretty silly "shot in the arm" that requires you to draft a limited football player just to bring some of his apostles to the bandwagon, directly at the expense of building your team for the long run.

Our fanbase is pretty dadgum strong for a franchise stuck in a 9-year rut of perpetual mediocrity now precipitously turning into outright suckery. What will turn things around will be an end to the Del Rio era of middle-of-the-league mediocrity or worse, not band-aids like Tebow.