The Jacksonville Jaguars

[RattlerGator]

Exactly right, ProjectMaximus. People are overly frustrated (understandable, and I get it) with a loss that should have been a win. The kicker (and we need to leave him the hell alone; stick with the kid because he may turn out to be a great one) lost this game for us. It happens. This season is entirely about the pieces to me, and I like what I see -- though we are still painfully pedestrian when it comes to putting points on the board. But take a look at Blake: he moves well, he threw some good passes yesterday, he still shows every sign of having the tools and the mindset to become an elite NFL quarterback.

If Marqise Lee can become our Jarvis Landry (I think he can and will), we're in damn good shape . If not, WRs in the next draft will be available. Dante Fowler was a great first choice because Andrew Luck is in our division. That will prove out over time.

People are trying to freak out now, out of sheer exasperation with the continued losing and inability to score. But this season is just about the pieces. It's being viewed as Year 3 of the Bradley / Caldwell regime but what really matters (and argues for patience) is that this is Year 2 of Blake Bortles. He's learning, and he looks to have a good grasp of things.

Be cool; good days are coming. I mean, it's not like we're Buccaneers or Dolphins fans (looking straight at you, Ennis) right now.

A humongous mistake by Blake gave away the Panthers game and a strong kick that just wouldn't stay straight gave away the Colts game. That's football. Things happen. But Blake and Yeldon both looked good. Stay the course, Shad Khan, stay the course.

[copperfiend]

It's not the kicker, although that hurt a lot. It's our offense. Our GM(and Head Coach) made a mistake, one that will probably cost him his job, by choosing a defensive player with the first round pick. That player has not seen the field, from which I draw the conclusion our defense is good enough to win in the NFL right now with the personnel we have. Meanwhile Amari Cooper, who we actually needed as a deep threat, and a draft choice with a perfect resume and well known terrific work ethic, is scoring lots of touchdowns for Oakland. This is just another in the long line of first round picks that were either a bust or the wrong player. It's nearly impossible to make up for these types of mistakes. Our teams philosophy was supposed to be to build around the draft. It only works when you actually fill the teams needs. At the end of last season, our D was playing well enough to win. Not the O. While I agree the team appears to have improved, if we continue to score 10-16 points per game, we will have a very rough season.

The team has almost zero pass rush. That is why they took Fowler. He wasn't some luxury item. It was an elite prospect at a position of need.

[copperfiend]

^^^I think that the wind had alot to do with the PIT misses (not making any excuses). I have this feeling that Scobee would not miss twice in practically a controlled environment (I could be wrong).

He was not good last year either for this team.

[MusicMan]

We were 32 out of 32 in scoring offense. That tells me we need points before sacks.

But overall I'm upbeat about where we are.

IF we can have a chance, in every remaining game this year, to win it on the last play, I will say that is a huge improvement.

IF we can win 70% of those, I'll be pretty damn happy.

[copperfiend]

We were 32 out of 32 in scoring offense. That tells me we need points before sacks.

But overall I'm upbeat about where we are.

IF we can have a chance, in every remaining game this year, to win it on the last play, I will say that is a huge improvement.

IF we can win 70% of those, I'll be pretty damn happy.

They were one of the worst defenses as well.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

If he (Fowler) was the best guy on their board,  so be it.  You can't predict injury.  And this team had plenty of needs on both sides of the ball, so you can't say that they weren't drafting for need;  we need everything.

The kicker didn't lose the game for us, he just didn't win it.

There's no excuse for us coming out so flat (AGAIN) in the 2nd half.  I'm not sure if it's coaching, if it's the QB or if it's adjustments made by the other teams (coaching), but we're 2 different teams depending on which half we're playing.

[Wacca Pilatka]

There's no excuse for us coming out so flat (AGAIN) in the 2nd half.  I'm not sure if it's coaching, if it's the QB or if it's adjustments made by the other teams (coaching), but we're 2 different teams depending on which half we're playing.

The maddening thing is, the first drive of the second half was really looking good until that questionable holding penalty on Parnell negated a 15-yard Yeldon run.  Instead of 1st down at the 23 it was second and long close to midfield.  I really thought that drive was going to be the kill shot and end the pattern of flat second halves.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

There's no excuse for us coming out so flat (AGAIN) in the 2nd half.  I'm not sure if it's coaching, if it's the QB or if it's adjustments made by the other teams (coaching), but we're 2 different teams depending on which half we're playing.

The maddening thing is, the first drive of the second half was really looking good until that questionable holding penalty on Parnell negated a 15-yard Yeldon run.  Instead of 1st down at the 23 it was second and long close to midfield.  I really thought that drive was going to be the kill shot and end the pattern of flat second halves.

I didn't see or notice that particular play, but I was only watching the game in spurts anyhow.  From what I saw on the offensive side:

It seems we only gameplan for 1 WR.  I don't know if that's by design or if that's what the defense dictates, but damn... spread the ball around. 
We need to run the ball more often and we need to vary the runs.  I feel we run the ball inside the tackles way too much on 1st and 2nd down to the point that the D sends both a LB and a safety in the same gaps on the blitz in case of play action.
Use Gerhart more often, preferably as a FB to keep options open for later in the game.

[mtraininjax]

A humongous mistake by Blake gave away the Panthers game and a strong kick that just wouldn't stay straight gave away the Colts game. That's football. Things happen. But Blake and Yeldon both looked good. Stay the course, Shad Khan, stay the course.

This sounds like a Gus Bradley interview, time to move on, stop with the excuses and the learning, at 8-23, if he has not learned anything about his team, he is the issue, not the players.

[RattlerGator]

A humongous mistake by Blake gave away the Panthers game and a strong kick that just wouldn't stay straight gave away the Colts game. That's football. Things happen. But Blake and Yeldon both looked good. Stay the course, Shad Khan, stay the course.

This sounds like a Gus Bradley interview, time to move on, stop with the excuses and the learning, at 8-23, if he has not learned anything about his team, he is the issue, not the players.

Wrong. And very shortsighted. It sounds like a Gus Bradley interview because Gus is right. I've heard the most ridiculous panties-in-a-knot bitching on Jax sports radio this week. Really embarrassingly ignorant shiznit. Talking as if the Colts are some awful football team. It may help the overly pessimistic among Jaguar faithful to take note that we've lost to the dominant Patriots, the undefeated Carolina Panthers, and we are the only Division team that has played Indy on the road yet we held them to their lowest in-Division point total and should have beaten them.

Beat Tampa Bay and we're in damn good shape to make our record .500 (3-3) the next week at home versus Houston. But even if we lose to Tampa Bay, none of the essential facts change. Longterm vision helps. Seriously. This year isn't so much about won-loss record, although wins this year surely help. However, this year is about Blake getting comfortable commanding our offense. It's about him learning how to get over the hump in the redzone and bring us touchdowns, not field goals. It's about our very young wide receivers learning how to be efficient professionals. It's about our O-line becoming increasingly better at opening run lanes for our backs and our backs hitting those lanes (Yeldon, again, is impressing me).

Next year is about our defense and (finally!) our run to the playoffs. It will be about Dante Fowler terrorizing our Divisional foes. It will be about an upgrade over Posluszny at middle linebacker and a sprinkling of other players to add athleticism and depth all over the defense. We're close. We're very close. If Blake and the receivers make advances in the next few games, we could challenge Indianapolis for the divisional title THIS year (they have a tougher schedule than we do -- up next for them before we see them again in Jax? Home for New England, home for New Orleans, at Carolina, home for Denver, bye week, at Atlanta, home for Tampa Bay, then at Pittsburgh on December 6th -- will Big Ben be back? Will that Steeler defense soften up the Colts in the cold of Heinz Field?).

When they come to visit Big Duval on December 13th (after we will have just completed a road game at Tennessee), that could be the most interesting and consequential football game in Jacksonville in a very long time.

Keep the faith. Good times soon come!

[E_Dubya]

A humongous mistake by Blake gave away the Panthers game and a strong kick that just wouldn't stay straight gave away the Colts game. That's football. Things happen. But Blake and Yeldon both looked good. Stay the course, Shad Khan, stay the course.

This sounds like a Gus Bradley interview, time to move on, stop with the excuses and the learning, at 8-23, if he has not learned anything about his team, he is the issue, not the players.

After the game, I went through my typical emotional meltdown of "Fire them all, blow the whole thing up." But after the hangover from the loss was over and I could think straight again, I stepped back and looked at the big picture.

When talking about Gus's record, I don't really look at the first two year and hold those against him. How many of Gene Smith's guys (I'll be kind and give him FA on top of his draft picks) are starting in the league? I can honestly count just a few. Daryl Smith, Poz, Terrance Knighton and Eugene Monroe (before getting hurt), and let's not forget Legatron (Brian Anger, which hardly counts). When you have to blow the whole thing up and do a complete overhaul, it becomes like a expansion team without the benefit of extra picks.

I know that whole thing sounds like a broken record, but it's repeated so often because it's the truth. When I look at the hiring moves we made this offseason, I think I see what we're doing. Jedd Fisch was absolutely horrible at working with Blake. Olsen came from Oakland, where he developed Carr into a pretty darn good young QB. However, they were 31st in scoring offense. Now, after Olsen moved on, they're putting some points on the board. Olsen seems to be a phenomenal developmental OC, but not the end goal. I think he was likely brought in for a year of development with Blake and our young offense. In regard to this, I heard a great quote from Peyton Manning per Johnny O the other day. He said that when you are building a young offense, Red Zone scoring comes last.

This year, we will definitely still be relevant in December because our Conference is atrocious beyond measure. However, I honestly believe that next year (with a different, scoring minded OC) is when we make our push to compete in the AFC as a whole.

[copperfiend]

Anybody else going to the game Sunday. We have a group of 5 going down. From what I have heard, the Bold City Brigade has sold over 2k tickets. And in total, over 8k have been sold to people in the Jacksonville area.

[spuwho]

A humongous mistake by Blake gave away the Panthers game and a strong kick that just wouldn't stay straight gave away the Colts game. That's football. Things happen. But Blake and Yeldon both looked good. Stay the course, Shad Khan, stay the course.

This sounds like a Gus Bradley interview, time to move on, stop with the excuses and the learning, at 8-23, if he has not learned anything about his team, he is the issue, not the players.

After the game, I went through my typical emotional meltdown of "Fire them all, blow the whole thing up." But after the hangover from the loss was over and I could think straight again, I stepped back and looked at the big picture.

When talking about Gus's record, I don't really look at the first two year and hold those against him. How many of Gene Smith's guys (I'll be kind and give him FA on top of his draft picks) are starting in the league? I can honestly count just a few. Daryl Smith, Poz, Terrance Knighton and Eugene Monroe (before getting hurt), and let's not forget Legatron (Brian Anger, which hardly counts). When you have to blow the whole thing up and do a complete overhaul, it becomes like a expansion team without the benefit of extra picks.

I know that whole thing sounds like a broken record, but it's repeated so often because it's the truth. When I look at the hiring moves we made this offseason, I think I see what we're doing. Jedd Fisch was absolutely horrible at working with Blake. Olsen came from Oakland, where he developed Carr into a pretty darn good young QB. However, they were 31st in scoring offense. Now, after Olsen moved on, they're putting some points on the board. Olsen seems to be a phenomenal developmental OC, but not the end goal. I think he was likely brought in for a year of development with Blake and our young offense. In regard to this, I heard a great quote from Peyton Manning per Johnny O the other day. He said that when you are building a young offense, Red Zone scoring comes last.

This year, we will definitely still be relevant in December because our Conference is atrocious beyond measure. However, I honestly believe that next year (with a different, scoring minded OC) is when we make our push to compete in the AFC as a whole.

Having hailed from Chicago, I cant tell you how many times I have heard the "wait till next year" when it came to the Cubs.

Theo came in. Blew up the lineup. Brought in Maddon. Now they are in the playoffs. Took a few years to assemble and mature the talent.

I see the same with the Jags.

Lamping and Shad are no slouches. If Caldwell isnt cutting it, decisions will be made quickly.

I just dont want to be the Bengals.

[02roadking]

Going down on the buses with http://www.boldcitybrigade.com/away-trip/
Should be a great time...and a win would make for a great ride back.

[johnnyliar]

I'm going down with my whole season ticket group! Ten of us in total!