The Jacksonville Jaguars

[KenFSU]

Amazing season, far surpassing what any of us could have imagined when Marrone was named new head coach and Bortles nearly lost the starting job to Chad Henne in the preseason.

10-6 record. Blowing out Pittsburgh on the road and sacking Big Ben 10 times. Lambo's game-winning field goal at Everbank against the Chargers. The Seahawks game. Our first home playoff game in 18 years. Beating the Steelers again to make it to the AFC Championship. The party at the stadium afterwards. Being one quarter away from knocking out Tom Brady and the Patriots and earning a spot in the Super Bowl. And, after a decade of driving off fans, literally winning the city back (Doug Marrone should get a lot of credit for this).

It's hard to complain, especially when we've got such a young nucleus of talent.

I hope we keep Bortles. Dude has earned the right to be our 2018 starter. The team loves him. The nation has started to love him. He outplayed Tom Brady for three quarters. He's improved year-over-year in nearly every stat, particularly in terms of protecting the football, without his number one receiver. And he's pure Jacksonville.

To answer Ennis' question above, I absolutely think that Shad Khan and the Jaguars make a hard, hard push in the coming months to leverage the excitement around this team and the flurry of new season ticket sales to push additional development around Everbank Field*, particularly the Cordish development. If you're gonna do it, now's the time. Like Ennis said, the window is small, and the Jags are going to want to squeeze every dollar out of this very special group of players that they can. 10-1 we have renderings and a public ask by State of the Franchise.

*TIAA Stadium.

[thelakelander]

No way they get rid of Blake or bring in competition now. The playoffs were his test and he passed. After the Bills, it's tough to find fault with his performance in the last two games. We will need a new backup if we can get one.

Offensive play calling appeared to be pretty handcuffed. It was pretty conservative and predictable in the second half as well, when it was clear the Pats adjustments focused on stopping the run. Heck, did the Jags even attempt to throw downfield? Was this a fear of playing not to lose or working with the personnel you have?

[pierre]

The most frustrating thing to me is that yesterday they went too conservative late, and appeared to not trust Bortles.

Which is the opposite of the week before, when he delivered in the fourth quarter.

[Tacachale]

No way they get rid of Blake or bring in competition now. The playoffs were his test and he passed. After the Bills, it's tough to find fault with his performance in the last two games. We will need a new backup if we can get one.

Offensive play calling appeared to be pretty handcuffed. It was pretty conservative and predictable in the second half as well, when it was clear the Pats adjustments focused on stopping the run. Heck, did the Jags even attempt to throw downfield? Was this a fear of playing not to lose or working with the personnel you have?

And yet he played a better game than Brady. He showed what they/we were really looking for - improvement - in a huge way. No way we're cutting bait now. Barring issues with the contract negotiation of course.

[pierre]

No way they get rid of Blake or bring in competition now. The playoffs were his test and he passed. After the Bills, it's tough to find fault with his performance in the last two games. We will need a new backup if we can get one.

Offensive play calling appeared to be pretty handcuffed. It was pretty conservative and predictable in the second half as well, when it was clear the Pats adjustments focused on stopping the run. Heck, did the Jags even attempt to throw downfield? Was this a fear of playing not to lose or working with the personnel you have?

And yet he played a better game than Brady. He showed what they/we were really looking for - improvement - in a huge way. No way we're cutting bait now. Barring issues with the contract negotiation of course.

He'll be the QB here next year.

It was frustrating watching them go way too conservative in the second half.

Against Pittsburgh, they put the game in Bortles' hands and he delivered.

[thelakelander]

No way they get rid of Blake or bring in competition now. The playoffs were his test and he passed. After the Bills, it's tough to find fault with his performance in the last two games. We will need a new backup if we can get one.

Offensive play calling appeared to be pretty handcuffed. It was pretty conservative and predictable in the second half as well, when it was clear the Pats adjustments focused on stopping the run. Heck, did the Jags even attempt to throw downfield? Was this a fear of playing not to lose or working with the personnel you have?

And yet he played a better game than Brady. He showed what they/we were really looking for - improvement - in a huge way. No way we're cutting bait now. Barring issues with the contract negotiation of course.

Don't the Jags have a much better defense? At the end of the day, the Pats didn't handcuff Brady and he made plays against a great defense when they needed it most....and without Gronk. At some point, you have to trust your players to make plays with the game on the line. The Pats defense isn't anything special but it seemed the Jags were too hesitant to pass downfield...especially in the second half when it was clear the Pats were daring them too.

[ProjectMaximus]

I totally felt we should have continued to throw the ball in the second half, or mix in some designed QB runs. The only excuse I can see is that after Cam Robinson's injury we started to see more pressure on Blake.

Any feelings on the Myles Jack fumble recovery blown dead? I don't know the exact rule but some analyst named Nick Wright thought it was obviously not down by contact and should have been a TD return. Which would have effectively won us the game.

Yeah I think we may have been hosed. PI on Bouye was questionable. Several missed holds on Pats Oline.

Oh well, great season and looking forward to the future! Go Eagles!

[Tacachale]

No way they get rid of Blake or bring in competition now. The playoffs were his test and he passed. After the Bills, it's tough to find fault with his performance in the last two games. We will need a new backup if we can get one.

Offensive play calling appeared to be pretty handcuffed. It was pretty conservative and predictable in the second half as well, when it was clear the Pats adjustments focused on stopping the run. Heck, did the Jags even attempt to throw downfield? Was this a fear of playing not to lose or working with the personnel you have?

And yet he played a better game than Brady. He showed what they/we were really looking for - improvement - in a huge way. No way we're cutting bait now. Barring issues with the contract negotiation of course.

Don't the Jags have a much better defense? At the end of the day, the Pats didn't handcuff Brady and he made plays against a great defense when they needed it most....and without Gronk. At some point, you have to trust your players to make plays with the game on the line. The Pats defense isn't anything special but it seemed the Jags were too hesitant to pass downfield...especially in the second half when it was clear the Pats were daring them too.

Lol, meaning what, that the team will jettison Bortles because of some conservative playcalling by the coaches?

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

So after sleeping it off last night, I woke up today and this one still hurts. It's like a gut-shot. My stomach in knots wondering what could have been. A play here... A call there.... And we're going to the Superbowl instead of sitting here debating whether to even watch in February or not.

Through all of this, there's one positive that I'm taking away. (well, there's a couple, but to me this is the biggest)

It hurts because it mattered.

Speaking for myself, it's been quite some time since I've felt like shit after a loss. Yeah, losing's never a good thing, but seldom has it affected me. The fact that myself and many of Jag Nation are waking up this morning and still feeling yesterday's game is a reminder that we're once again relevant. Not in the sense as the team matters to us individually, but in the sense that our team was one of the best 2 in the conference. One of the best 4 teams in the entire NFL. A team that came into the season with minimal expectation and ended the season with a fanbase and many in the national scene disappointed that we lost the AFC Championship.

Let that sink in for a moment....

We're disappointed that we didn't go to the Superbowl!!!!!

Hold your heads high, my Jag family. We've got nothing to be sad about. And know that knot in the bottom of your stomach this morning is something much more than just a loss from yesterday - It's a reminder of how close we came and it is a reminder for how far we can go next year.

Go Jags!
DTWD!
AFC South Champions
2018 - Year of the Jaguar!

https://www.facebook.com/DTWDfanpage/

And yet he played a better game than Brady. He showed what they/we were really looking for - improvement - in a huge way. No way we're cutting bait now. Barring issues with the contract negotiation of course.

Anyone with a shred of common sense will tell you that we didn't pick up his option last year to have him take us to the AFC Championship game, improve his metrics across the board, and do it with mostly a rookie WR group and only having a true #1 WR for a single play this seaon, only to drop him by next season.

The only question to wonder with Bortles is does he play next year for $19M, do we sign him to a short-term 'prove it' deal or do we sign him long-term. Personally I'd prefer 'B', but am fine with any of the 3

[Tacachale]

Anyone with a shred of common sense will tell you that we didn't pick up his option last year to have him take us to the AFC Championship game, improve his metrics across the board, and do it with mostly a rookie WR group and only having a true #1 WR for a single play this seaon, only to drop him by next season.

Right? And I say this as someone who was ready to cut bait on him as recently as the Titans game.

The only question to wonder with Bortles is does he play next year for $19M, do we sign him to a short-term 'prove it' deal or do we sign him long-term. Personally I'd prefer 'B', but am fine with any of the 3

I've heard that the team, though they'll want to keep him after this run, doesn't want to pay the full amount of his option. It could all come down to negotiations on that (Blake holding out for the full amount, some other team offering more than the Jags are willing to do, etc.). But I fully expect they'll work it out and he'll be here next year. No way they're suffering under the delusion that we can pick up a QB better than Bortles on the cheap. It is not our fate to luck out on a Jimmy Garoppolo.

[Steve]

I totally felt we should have continued to throw the ball in the second half, or mix in some designed QB runs. The only excuse I can see is that after Cam Robinson's injury we started to see more pressure on Blake.

Any feelings on the Myles Jack fumble recovery blown dead? I don't know the exact rule but some analyst named Nick Wright thought it was obviously not down by contact and should have been a TD return. Which would have effectively won us the game.

Yeah I think we may have been hosed. PI on Bouye was questionable. Several missed holds on Pats Oline.

Oh well, great season and looking forward to the future! Go Eagles!

The Myles Jack whistle is the main one that I think was a really bad call. The PI on the side I thought was crap to, but PI is a tough judgement call. They get those wrong all the time so I'm not going to make a stink on that.

Now, I'm not going to get conspiracy theory on the quick whistle on the Jack recovery. That's been an NFL problem in a LOT of games (Jags included). This is something the NFL has to emphasize - let it play out. All turnovers are reviewable so unless it's obvious, they should let it play out.

[Steve]

Aside from that, things for next year:

- Get a #1 Receiver. The Jaguars DO NOT HAVE ONE. Allen Robinson is an awesome receiver, but he's a #2/Y receiver. Think Keenan McCardell. A #1/X receiver is a Jimmy Smith-type. Maybe Dede Westbrook is that guy. On the receiving corps in general, I think Lee is gone, and I think Hurns will be 50/50 (though I'd keep him at a pay cut)
- O-Line help. I think Cam Robinson and Brandon Linder are good at LT and C. I think they need help at Guard though, and likely Right Tackle.

Outside, it's about upgrades. Any person is replaceable on a field. They have a good base but something's missing. My belief is it's the 2 above that will make the biggest difference.

I know some will want to replace Bortles. I don't think I'm in that camp. You can hold this defense together for probably 3 more seasons (hopefully, though Calais Cambell will be 35 then). Because of that, a rookie isn't the way to go - it might take 3 for a rookie to get good. If you think that there's a good free agent out there (personally, I think MAYBE Kirk Cousins and I'm not sold on him) them maybe. Otherwise, I'd hitch my horse tight to the Bortles wagon and let it ride.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I've heard that the team, though they'll want to keep him after this run, doesn't want to pay the full amount of his option. It could all come down to negotiations on that (Blake holding out for the full amount, some other team offering more than the Jags are willing to do, etc.). But I fully expect they'll work it out and he'll be here next year. No way they're suffering under the delusion that we can pick up a QB better than Bortles on the cheap. It is not our fate to luck out on a Jimmy Garoppolo.

Which is why I think we'll go with a short-term deal with a lot of money upfront.  Basically, Blake, we wanna believe you, but we gotta see it again.   Here's a 5 year-slightly-Better-than-average deal for an average QB with most of the money guaranteed at signing and a large chunk as a signing bonus upfront.   if you keep at it, we'll get you a bigger one.  If you fuck it up, we can cut bait after year 2 without a loss.

Something along those lines will free up money this year in case we have to franchise ARob and will allow us an out after 2 and options for years 3-5.   And from all general impressions, Blake will take the deal. 

I also think we'll draft a QB between rounds 2-4 and bring in a veteran backup who will have a somewhat legit opportunity to WOW the coaches in camp.

[thelakelander]

No way they get rid of Blake or bring in competition now. The playoffs were his test and he passed. After the Bills, it's tough to find fault with his performance in the last two games. We will need a new backup if we can get one.

Offensive play calling appeared to be pretty handcuffed. It was pretty conservative and predictable in the second half as well, when it was clear the Pats adjustments focused on stopping the run. Heck, did the Jags even attempt to throw downfield? Was this a fear of playing not to lose or working with the personnel you have?

And yet he played a better game than Brady. He showed what they/we were really looking for - improvement - in a huge way. No way we're cutting bait now. Barring issues with the contract negotiation of course.

Don't the Jags have a much better defense? At the end of the day, the Pats didn't handcuff Brady and he made plays against a great defense when they needed it most....and without Gronk. At some point, you have to trust your players to make plays with the game on the line. The Pats defense isn't anything special but it seemed the Jags were too hesitant to pass downfield...especially in the second half when it was clear the Pats were daring them too.

Lol, meaning what, that the team will jettison Bortles because of some conservative playcalling by the coaches?

No. I'm angling from a perspective that asks is the playcalling tailored to not putting your personnel in a position that you're not comfortable with or believe they can't perform well in...like throwing when the other team decides to shut down the run. If so, that's a problem that should probably be addressed in some manner or it will rear it's ugly head again when it matters most.

[copperfiend]

I also think we'll draft a QB between rounds 2-4 and bring in a veteran backup who will have a somewhat legit opportunity to WOW the coaches in camp.

If the Jaguars give Bortles a new contract, there is almost no chance that they would bring in a backup that would have a chance to unseat him.