The Jacksonville Jaguars

[copperfiend]

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.

Let me guess. It's the same people that said they would have bought tickets in 2002 if they had hired Spurrier?

[Dapperdan]

Wacca,
I guess this season is so frustrating to me, that I am looking for any little bit of spark. I see nothing right now. I know it is too early to throw out Gabbert, but he is looking really really bad. Our defense is pretty solid, although it is hard to tell how banged up they are when they were playing against a  third string QB. MJD is our lone bright spot that is always working hard. The only reason I brought up the Broncos game was because I saw how excited everyone on that Broncos team was. I saw all the comments from the players on how proud they were to be behind someone like him. They did some Tebowing on center field after the game. It just looks like the whole team is playing better and is behind their QB. I haven't seen that with us in a long long time. GM Gene really did not give us a competitive team at all this year.

[Keith-N-Jax]

Considering that was a 3-7 team headed to 3-8. I was surprised at the showing. We should get a good draft this yr. WW what are you going to do? This team better make some noise next yr, don't know how long they can survive with performances like they had Sunday.

[duvaldude08]

Wacca,
I guess this season is so frustrating to me, that I am looking for any little bit of spark. I see nothing right now. I know it is too early to throw out Gabbert, but he is looking really really bad. Our defense is pretty solid, although it is hard to tell how banged up they are when they were playing against a  third string QB. MJD is our lone bright spot that is always working hard. The only reason I brought up the Broncos game was because I saw how excited everyone on that Broncos team was. I saw all the comments from the players on how proud they were to be behind someone like him. They did some Tebowing on center field after the game. It just looks like the whole team is playing better and is behind their QB. I haven't seen that with us in a long long time. GM Gene really did not give us a competitive team at all this year.

Well Dan you cant really say that, because Gene is the reason we have a defense that is in the top five and is the only reason the games have been exciting. For our defense to go from the bottom up to number 3 with no off season says alot about Gene Smith. We even have good depth on the defensive side also. Building a team takes time. Our defense is in place, so the offseason can be soley focused on the offenseive end of the ball.

[KenFSU]

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.

This is a truly great point that I think a lot of people totally overlook. Very well said.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Dan, I understand what you mean and I don't mean to be argumentative, especially after I was inexcusably rude last Monday.

I don't think lack of effort from non-MJD sources is the Jaguars' problem, though it's easy to suspect the receiving corps or certain members of the staff.  I saw hard work and passion from the entire defense on Sunday, especially when they made the stop in the final minutes to give the offense a chance to tie it at the end.  McCown's effort and enthusiasm was also commendable. 

Teams sometimes get to the point where the season is clearly lost and simply give up.  The '08 Jags probably fall in this category.  I don't think this team will collapse that way.  Despite all the losses, at least there haven't been any blowouts this year, other than the McCown Throws Directly To Jets Linebackers Festival.  Even in that one the Jags didn't look overmatched beyond the passing offense horror show.  In the last two seasons, despite the better records, a few debacles occurred where the Jaguars were simply overwhelmed in every phase (Seattle and New England in '09, Philadelphia and San Diego last year).  I don't think we are that far removed from being a winning team IF Gabbert makes significant strides and the receivers are either upgraded or emerge from whatever funk they are in (Thomas, Lewis).

Other bright spots?  Shorts and Dillard got some separation...Really, I'll take whatever I can get at this point.

[Dapperdan]

Gene Smith needs to go too. I think we need to let everyone go and just start over again. Gene makes too many cute drafts and likes to show arrogance at being so much smarter than everyone else at drafting by picking up people at division 3 schools all the time. Enough of all that. We have a nice defence, I feel, mainly from free agency. We have some nice solid starters from the draft, but no one stand out like Puzlusny or Clint Sessions, or even Aaron Kampan.

[KenFSU]

Also, quite frankly, I was shocked by the crowd on Sunday. Don't particularly care to argue numbers, and it definitely didn't look like 63,000 on TV, but it did look much larger than I would expect for a Jacksonville crowd on the Sunday after Thanksgiving with a 3-7 team going against the Texans. Seeing that crowd almost made me regret giving away my tickets after a long Thanksgiving trip. Until the game started, of course

[Keith-N-Jax]

Dapperdan are you for real? You talking about the Broncos being excited, every fan base is excited when they win or winning. Anyone who attended the Jags/Colts, Jags/Raiders, Texans/Jags games last yr knows, were excited when our team wins. You need to take this talk to the Broncos forum where it belongs.

[Dapperdan]

I am trying to have an intelligent Jaguars discussion, Keith. If you would quit being such a  a** about everything, then maybe you could actually see that.

[Keith-N-Jax]

LOL , like I said evey fan base is happy when they are winning thats nothing new I think not. How intelligent is that?

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I am trying to have an intelligent Jaguars discussion, Keith. If you would quit being such a  a** about everything, then maybe you could actually see that.

We're mostly all adults here, you can let 'ass' fly.  It's OK.

[Keith-N-Jax]

Thats right we are talking about the Broncos of cousre.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Gene Smith needs to go too. I think we need to let everyone go and just start over again. Gene makes too many cute drafts and likes to show arrogance at being so much smarter than everyone else at drafting by picking up people at division 3 schools all the time. Enough of all that. We have a nice defence, I feel, mainly from free agency. We have some nice solid starters from the draft, but no one stand out like Puzlusny or Clint Sessions, or even Aaron Kampan.

I think Gene gets too hard of a time on this one.  The only Div. III player he has drafted was Shorts, and while Shorts has been a massive disappointment this year, it sometimes takes receivers a few years to excel (John Taylor from my earlier post is an example of a small-school 4th rounder who took a few years to take off), and a lot of scouts and analysts had Shorts graded as a 4th rounder.  Pierre Garcon's success brought a lot of attention to Mount Union's receiving corps, as Knighton's success probably led to better recognition for Muhammad Wilkerson prior to this year's draft.  I actually thought Shorts would contribute more than any of our other draft picks immediately because he seemed surehanded, fluid, and a good route runner.

The '09 draft was strong.  Monroe, while he's not been elite-level, is a solid starter; Britton was prior to his injuries.  Cox and Knighton were home runs in the third, and both were small-school guys who many assumed were overdrafts.  Thomas, while extremely disappointing this year, was quite productive in '09 and '10.  Dillard was a logical fifth round pick who I think is maturing into a useful player.  Miller has had injury problems but was a sensible gamble in the 6th and has shown flashes of his talent.  Jennings was an excellent pick in the 7th - on average only five or six 7th rounders even make NFL rosters, much less contribute as significantly as Jennings has.  And he's a small school guy who was rated as high as the 3rd in some projections.  The only one who didn't pan out to any degree was Underwood.

For 2010 I think the Alualu pick was a sound one, and D'Anthony Smith's selection made sense (he had a late first/early second grade) - we haven't seen the fruits of that due to his injuries.  Lane has done fine and outproduced most fifth rounders.  Karim showed a lot of flashes last year but has been disappointing and probably miscast/misused this year.  Hart and McGee were whiffs.  Lane and Karim both went in the draft about where they were projected; some had Lane going as early as the 3rd.

Too early to grade 2011 and much depends on Gabbert.  I see improvement from Rackley - I think he can be a Manuwai-type guard (and yes, he's small school but went where scouts had him graded - NFL network and ESPN were both very high on this pick).  I haven't given up on Shorts or Prosinski.

I think people tend to expect major contributions from every pick in the draft and that rarely happens.  The '86 49ers (many small school guys in that draft, incidentally - Charles Haley, Taylor, Tim McKyer), '87 Steelers, and '04 Chargers drafts are rare exceptions.  I also think that few of Gene's small school picks were overdrafts, and that a lot more NFL stars are small-school guys than most people realize.   

Also, I'd rather see a team take chances on some small school guys with great ability and potential than perpetually burn mid-round picks on known players from big schools who don't have NFL ability.  I grew up a Broncos fan and saw the Broncos spend about 25 years wasting 2nd-5th round picks on big-school guys who were productive in college but clearly lacked NFL speed or talent.  Often their 2nd and 3rd rounders, and even a couple of 1st rounders, didn't even make the roster for more than one season; one year THEIR FIRST ROUNDER DIDN'T MAKE THE ROSTER, PERIOD.

Even on the Jaguar draft most consider the best in team history - Taylor and Darius in the first round in '98 - we got nothing after the first round.

[Tacachale]

^Yeah, the progression of the D gives me hope about Gene. I'd like to see some star players to join MJD in the pantheon, but we need a winning team more than some T-shirt salesmen.