Jaguars vs Texans

[ben says]

Its funny how some of these people NEVER comment on anything that has to do with the Jags, until something goes wrong. Then they have everything to say. Every time the season starts, certains trolls always come from under their bridges.

True words.

Listen, I'm not a fair-weather fan, and I'll support the Jags whether they're 16-0, 8-8, or 0-16. I like football, and I'm happy to have a team to support. That being said, I can also be brutally honest with myself, and others, without wanting to jump off the Dames Point following a bad game/season.

Here's the bottom line...we "should"...SHOULD...be done rebuilding. But we're not. Reasons are multifaceted. I "blame" Gene Smith...that's not to say he's the sole reason, but I think he's just as responsible for this mess as Del Rio.

When I watch the Jags, whether I like the play-calling or not, whether we're winning or not, there's one thing that always stands out to me: we just haven't done an A+ job at acquiring talent. Organizations like the Pats, Giants, Ravens, Indianapolis, etc, are good and STAY good because they acquire talent like nobody's business. That's their #1 priority, and it works because it stays their #1 priority.

Yeah, we have a few good men...MJD, Lewis (sometimes)...Monroe (getting there)...but LOOK at the "good teams" rosters. Now, look at the good teams rosters 5 years ago. What you'll see: TALENT. End. of. story...teams with talent FIND A WAY to win, no matter what. They won't win everytime, but they win a lot.

[duvaldude08]

Its funny how some of these people NEVER comment on anything that has to do with the Jags, until something goes wrong. Then they have everything to say. Every time the season starts, certains trolls always come from under their bridges.

True words.

Listen, I'm not a fair-weather fan, and I'll support the Jags whether they're 16-0, 8-8, or 0-16. I like football, and I'm happy to have a team to support. That being said, I can also be brutally honest with myself, and others, without wanting to jump off the Dames Point following a bad game/season.

Here's the bottom line...we "should"...SHOULD...be done rebuilding. But we're not. Reasons are multifaceted. I "blame" Gene Smith...that's not to say he's the sole reason, but I think he's just as responsible for this mess as Del Rio.

When I watch the Jags, whether I like the play-calling or not, whether we're winning or not, there's one thing that always stands out to me: we just haven't done an A+ job at acquiring talent. Organizations like the Pats, Giants, Ravens, Indianapolis, etc, are good and STAY good because they acquire talent like nobody's business. That's their #1 priority, and it works because it stays their #1 priority.

Yeah, we have a few good men...MJD, Lewis (sometimes)...Monroe (getting there)...but LOOK at the "good teams" rosters. Now, look at the good teams rosters 5 years ago. What you'll see: TALENT. End. of. story...

Now come on we have quite a few more people on offense that good. Montell Owens, Greag Jones, Rashad Jennings, hell even britton (when hes healthy), mike thomas, and Blackmon of course (star in training.) But I think the problem is we dont have quality depth. Our starters are good (the veterans), but once they go down, the wheels come off and thats not good. I honestly think Khan needs to get his own person in there. Not a jab at gene, but its the truth. Bad drafting starting back under Shack Harris. So this stuff was years in the making.

[mtraininjax]

With this team being left in such a mess from being ran in the ground, you cant really expect more than that. 7-9, or 8-8 is all we getting this year.

6-10 would be an improvement over last year. As long as we are showing improvement, I am good. But against the Texans, I could see little improvement, other than giving Anger more opportunities to punt.

Interesting fact about Matt Schaub and Blaine Gabbert. This was Gabbert's 16th game in the NFL. Schaub was playing in his 104th NFL game. What we saw from Schaub was a clinic on balance and he was still not perfect. Gabbert will get better, but it has taken Schaub over 100 games to go just 26 of 35, but he did not make the mistakes.

It will be interesting to see how the team responds on Sunday at Indy. Still have 14 games to go. Not over yet!

[I-10east]

He just thought it made the city look bad. Thats not in anyway trying to play down Jacksonville, he said that because he actually cared about the city's image.

So if Lowery played in Seattle and the same incident happened, everything would be a-okay right? It wouldn't make the city of Seattle look bad right? You can't have it both ways. I'm sick of this 'Jacksonville special case' mentality that people always bring up on EVERY issue. If Shad Khan was to trip on a crack outside of the stadium, he would relocate the Jags to LA....

[Wacca Pilatka]

Its funny how some of these people NEVER comment on anything that has to do with the Jags, until something goes wrong. Then they have everything to say. Every time the season starts, certains trolls always come from under their bridges.

No kidding.  I'm just staying off the Jaguar threads this week.  Do not need Gene Debate Rehash #47,164 or the ritual of "you must self-immolate and bash the team and wear sackcloth and ashes or you just blindly accept poor performances!"  That, and I'm sure the "Tebow wouldn't have let this happen!" fellow will show up if he hasn't already.  I'm sure the team is going to look much more competent when it's not a scenario of J.J. Watt vs. Guy Whimper and Texans interior defense versus Man On The Street Playing Left Guard.  And whether they win or lose, I'm going to enjoy watching them and rooting for my favorite city.  See you on the downtown and history threads until next Sunday, y'all.

[WmNussbaum]

I'm glad Khan didn't give him anymore money.

And you know he didn't because what? The T-U said so?

Kahn: Okay I'll give you a few more million, but we gotta let everyone think I didn't. Okay?

MJD: Okay give me one more mil and I'll say you are paying me the same as last year, and I'll tell my agent to keep his big mouth shut.

Kahn: Deal!

[duvaldude08]

He just thought it made the city look bad. Thats not in anyway trying to play down Jacksonville, he said that because he actually cared about the city's image.

So if Lowery played in Seattle and the same incident happened, everything would be a-okay right? It wouldn't make the city of Seattle look bad right? You can't have it both ways. I'm sick of this 'Jacksonville special case' mentality that people always bring up on EVERY issue. If Shad Khan was to trip on a crack outside of the stadium, he would relocate the Jags to LA....

um... What?

[duvaldude08]

With this team being left in such a mess from being ran in the ground, you cant really expect more than that. 7-9, or 8-8 is all we getting this year.

6-10 would be an improvement over last year. As long as we are showing improvement, I am good. But against the Texans, I could see little improvement, other than giving Anger more opportunities to punt.

Interesting fact about Matt Schaub and Blaine Gabbert. This was Gabbert's 16th game in the NFL. Schaub was playing in his 104th NFL game. What we saw from Schaub was a clinic on balance and he was still not perfect. Gabbert will get better, but it has taken Schaub over 100 games to go just 26 of 35, but he did not make the mistakes.

It will be interesting to see how the team responds on Sunday at Indy. Still have 14 games to go. Not over yet!

I agree. Mtrain. We actually played our asses off in Minnesota, but sunday proved were not ready for stomp with the big dogs, and that's okay. We should not be expecting that. If I remember correctly, we were 6-10 Del Rio first season with us. Then in 2004 and everything got cranking. I always look at the 49er's. They were sucking bad for a long time. But you know what, alot of those guys stuck it out and they are on top. And I have much respect for Alex Smith. Gabbert needs go give him call. Alex smith had a worse rookie year than him and was determined to prove everyone wrong about him being a bust. That game actually made me emotional. Those guys had been in the trenches, which is where we have been, and they stuck together and worked hard to get where they are. Building a championship team does not happen over night It is actually a very slow progression. We did not technically start rebuilding until 2009. I don't know ONE team who had a 3 three year rebuild then made the playoffs. Especially one that was in such horrid shape as the Jaguars. It takes time and we are actually not far away. The Texans just exposed our weaknesses and I think that is good. I would have hated to have a bunch of easy games thinking "oh yeah we got this" and then BOOM! The wheels come off. Its good to see this early what we need to work on.

[I-10east]

um... What?

The 'Jacksonville special case' is a situation no matter how minor, or commonplace the circumstances are, like the guy who ran on the field with security looking foolish, the 'embarrassment factor' only effects Jax, no other NFL city, that's what I mean. Something that probably happened in every NFL city before, but only in Jax it's an embarrassment to this city, because us here in this city have an enormous inferiority complex. What negative and unfair info can be said from the national media to Jax that haven't been said before? Believe me, the only thing that was an embarrassment to the city was the way the Jags played in week 2, not an idiot who ran on the field.

[If_I_Loved_you]

I'm glad Khan didn't give him anymore money.

And you know he didn't because what? The T-U said so?

Kahn: Okay I'll give you a few more million, but we gotta let everyone think I didn't. Okay?

MJD: Okay give me one more mil and I'll say you are paying me the same as last year, and I'll tell my agent to keep his big mouth shut.

Kahn: Deal!

Do you know for a fact that he did give mojo any more money? The T-U isn't the only way to find out what happens in this town William, Jesus of all people you should know this.

[Dapperdan]

With this team being left in such a mess from being ran in the ground, you cant really expect more than that. 7-9, or 8-8 is all we getting this year. Unless we get lucky.. And we havent gotten lucky since 2007

How long have we been saying this? Its the same every year. My God, how long does it take to rebuild a team?

Well actually as long as Im an adult, and can excercise free speech, I can say what I want. An again for Dan, you should have no opinon either for something you dont support.

So, only the 62, 000 who go to games are allowed to have an opinion? That is very narrow minded.  I may not be a season ticket holder, but I have gone to games. I have bought merchandise, and I was  living and working in Duval when the stadium was renovated, so my tax dollars helped build it.
That being said,MY OPINION is that we severely lack behind everyone else in talent. I did not say we don't have talented players, but it seems other teams have more talented players that we have. That falls on GM Gene. Everything else has changed but him. He has picked a top 10 draft for the last three years, and so far it is getting us squat. He is wasting picks on a stupid kicker who was about outperformed by a Texans punter who no one knows his name and was drafted not at number three. We need someone who can better evaluate talent and spend money on them, not leaving 30 million unspent on a  team that is clearly lacking in depth and talent.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

That being said,MY OPINION is that we severely lack behind everyone else in talent. I did not say we don't have talented players, but it seems other teams have more talented players that we have. That falls on GM Gene. Everything else has changed but him. He has picked a top 10 draft for the last three years, and so far it is getting us squat. He is wasting picks on a stupid kicker who was about outperformed by a Texans punter who no one knows his name and was drafted not at number three.

Facts paint another picture, DownerDan.  Did you read the article on Pioli that was posted earlier?  That's a form template that's used in every NFL market when a team isn't living up to the hype.

Did you forget that we do have a new coaching staff?  We're not the only ones, so let's check the FACTS:

Colts - Pagano - 1:1
Jags - Mularkey - 0:2
Chiefs - Crennel - 0:2
Dolphins - Philbin - 1:1
Raiders - Allen - 0:2
Rams - Fisher - 1:1
Bucs - Schiano - 1:1

So the new coaching staffs for 2012 are a collective 4:10 - not exactly lighting it up, are they?  We'll follow this and see how it continues, but based on your previous comments, these other teams are loaded with more talent than us, so all of their GMs should probably be fired as well, at least based on your theory.

Shall we continue?

This kicker that you mention (punter actually, but you know, FACTS are tough to remember) has been forced to punt the ball more times than anyone else in the league (13), is third in AVG distance (52.6), leads the TOT yards catagory by a wide margin (684, 157 yards ahead of the next guy) and is rated as the 2nd most proficient punter in the NFL, only behind Pat McAfee - Colts - who BTW was a 7th round pick in '09 who is hitting the ball an average of 10 yards over his career numbers which says it won't last.

And 'about outperformed' isn't the same as 'outperformed'... actually it's quite the opposite.  While we're on the subject of punters, I don't remember a huge uproar when Podlesh was selected in the 4th round, he's pretty good.  KC's punter, Colquit, was a 3rd round selection and Anger is outperforming him by a wide margin.

What was your point again, DownerDan?  Oh Yeah, something about opinion, sorry, tough to remember when there's so much FACTUAL INFORMATION out there - available to the world.

[Tacachale]

That being said,MY OPINION is that we severely lack behind everyone else in talent. I did not say we don't have talented players, but it seems other teams have more talented players that we have. That falls on GM Gene. Everything else has changed but him. He has picked a top 10 draft for the last three years, and so far it is getting us squat. He is wasting picks on a stupid kicker who was about outperformed by a Texans punter who no one knows his name and was drafted not at number three.

Facts paint another picture, DownerDan.  Did you read the article on Pioli that was posted earlier?  That's a form template that's used in every NFL market when a team isn't living up to the hype.

Did you forget that we do have a new coaching staff?  We're not the only ones, so let's check the FACTS:

Colts - Pagano - 1:1
Jags - Mularkey - 0:2
Chiefs - Crennel - 0:2
Dolphins - Philbin - 1:1
Raiders - Allen - 0:2
Rams - Fisher - 1:1
Bucs - Schiano - 1:1

So the new coaching staffs for 2012 are a collective 4:10 - not exactly lighting it up, are they?  We'll follow this and see how it continues, but based on your previous comments, these other teams are loaded with more talent than us, so all of their GMs should probably be fired as well, at least based on your theory.

Shall we continue?

This kicker that you mention (punter actually, but you know, FACTS are tough to remember) has been forced to punt the ball more times than anyone else in the league (13), is third in AVG distance (52.6), leads the TOT yards catagory by a wide margin (684, 157 yards ahead of the next guy) and is rated as the 2nd most proficient punter in the NFL, only behind Pat McAfee - Colts - who BTW was a 7th round pick in '09 who is hitting the ball an average of 10 yards over his career numbers which says it won't last.

And 'about outperformed' isn't the same as 'outperformed'... actually it's quite the opposite.  While we're on the subject of punters, I don't remember a huge uproar when Podlesh was selected in the 4th round, he's pretty good.  KC's punter, Colquit, was a 3rd round selection and Anger is outperforming him by a wide margin.

What was your point again, DownerDan?  Oh Yeah, something about opinion, sorry, tough to remember when there's so much FACTUAL INFORMATION out there - available to the world.

Well, Dan was right about Tebow, so he's bound to be right about this. Oh wait.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

We need someone who can better evaluate talent and spend money on them, not leaving 30 million unspent on a  team that is clearly lacking in depth and talent.

He's been evaluating talent since the beginning of the franchise and has worked his way up from scout to GM, that type of ascension through the company doesn't lead me to think he's doing a poor job.  And hasn't he had someone else making the call up until the last 4 years?  Because based on his draft selections since being in charge, I find it hard to believe that he was responsible for the bulk of the 1st round busts that we all know and love:  RJ Soward, Reggie Williams, Matt Jones, Reggie Nelson (though he's showing some life in Cincy) & Derrick Harvey - that is 4 years of first round picks that don't even play in the league anymore.

Should we move on to FAs?  No.

And while you're all up in arms about our cap room, you seem to forget the fact that we have quite a few players we might be re-signing after this year (this list doesn't include players with a year left on contract that could be due extensions a la MJD):

Rashard Jennings
Greg Jones
Eben Britton
Brad Meester
Aaron Morgan
Terrence Knighton
Daryl Smith
Kyle Bosworth
Derrick Cox
Rashean Mathis

I may have missed a few, but that's the list of contract year players.  We haven't had to carry too much cap room before because our top picks couldn't make the entire length of their contracts.  This doesn't consider any of the available FAs that we'll invariably pick up next offseason, nor does it consider our draft (though with the rookie scale in place, it doesn't hurt as much as it used to).  So while all these guys listed won't necessarily break the bank, we're going to need the money. 

Gene Smith knew this coming into the season, so there was no need to spend money just to spend money.  Next year we have to spend 88% (didn't check) at a minimum of the entire cap which should be around $125M.  The litmus test will be what we do next year. 

Your opinionated rant doesn't hold a candle to some well reasoned facts, sorry, DownerDan.

[wsansewjs]

FYI TO ALL JAGUAR BANDWAGONEERS:

SIMPLY SHUT UP.

Thanks,
Your chilled and relaxed local Jaguars fans who doesn't act like it is end of the world.