Quote:Nine rookies are starting and/or rotating in on the offense for eleven positions.
As Phil Simms(?) said, you know what happens when you play so many young players? You lose.
Why did he say that? Because young players make mistakes, and a league of star veterans will make you pay for every single one.
Experience can be a hard learned lesson. We can only hope that learning happens. Lord knows we've lost plenty of games, at least squandered opportunities, due to mistakes.
It's not just the 9 rookies on offense. It's Joeckel coming back from an injury instead of doing the kind of off season conditioning that should have been done to bulk him up and prepare him for the starting LT role. He'll get the opportunity to do just that barring injury over the next 2 games, and we'll get a much better sense for what we have in him next year. He's got to get better, and I am hopeful that happens.
The progress for guys like Gratz and Cyprien is tough. I think Gratz will benefit greatly from having Colvin and McCray out there in the starting CB roles. He's better suited to be the nickel guy. Cyprien needs to get smarter on the field. For every good play he makes, there's a mistake waiting to happen right now. The game is still not slowing down for him. That has to happen this off season.
Youth and inexperience makes for a painful process for sure, and we're trotting out the youngest roster in the league, and asking a lot of some very young talent. Things should get better. Next year will be a critical time for this team.
Quote:Lol, whose the neutral arbitrator, Dragonfury? Has a hearing been set?
TMD can apply for reinstatement in a few months. It's not up to the mods to decide whether he comes back or not. That's on the root admins.
Quote:So Dave Caldwell is bad at his job coming up with this crap right?
Or, he'll be the genius that created a new pathway to success in the NFL. We'll see soon enough. The expectation was that the team would struggle following the path they've taken. They have made it clear that when the team does turn the corner, it's going to happen quickly. They've always had their eyes on 2015 to make that turn, so we'll see soon enough whether they are right or not.
Quote:Or, he'll be the genius that created a new pathway to success in the NFL. We'll see soon enough. The expectation was that the team would struggle following the path they've taken. They have made it clear that when the team does turn the corner, it's going to happen quickly. They've always had their eyes on 2015 to make that turn, so we'll see soon enough whether they are right or not.
We're basically doing what the Philadelphia 76ers are doing in the NBA. I don't see how intentionally sucking and hoping it pays off in a year or two is a good model to implement. Too expensive to tell the customers "are you ready for more" and support something like this.
Bortles started out hot, then slowed down fast, and he's been slowly improving ever since.
We've seen him at his best, and he's pretty good when he's on point. He just needs to become more consistent, which I'm sure he will. He's very competitive, and that'll work wonders for him in improving over the off-season.
Quote:Bortles started out hot, then slowed down fast, and he's been slowly improving ever since.
We've seen him at his best, and he's pretty good when he's on point. He just needs to become more consistent, which I'm sure he will. He's very competitive, and that'll work wonders for him in improving over the off-season.
Seems like a rookie
His red zone efficiency needs to improve.
Quote:We're basically doing what the Philadelphia 76ers are doing in the NBA. I don't see how intentionally sucking and hoping it pays off in a year or two is a good model to implement. Too expensive to tell the customers "are you ready for more" and support something like this.
Basically this. I don't see how you tell veteran players on your team to go out and intentionally suck for some rookie. These guys have a limited window of opportunity to do something great. I think you want to win every time you step on the field. Playing to win the draft isn't going to get any team very far. I'll admit that it's tough to watch right now, but it will get better. Eventually.
This season has been tough to watch but I think it was best for Blake to get this experience. He will be much better next year having played than he would have holding a clipboard all year. He showed significant improvement between his freshman/sophomore and sophomore/junior seasons in college. He's a gym and study rat. This season will will pay dividends next year.
that pass you're talking about Bortles was flushed outta the pocket and missed him by about two steps. I couldn't help but to think 1. If that was Rodgers it would have been a TD, and 2. If he would have taken a half second to sure up his footwork he probably would have hit him for the long TD. An offseason to work on this stuff, as well as just more chances will help him learned. He demonstrated he can do it in college, he just needs to have it correlate over to the NFL and time and experience will help with this. Brady, Rodgers and Luck all miss those throws more often than they would like but I personally think it's promising that he can actually MAKE that throw. That's something we will never see Henne do.
Further more during the game he did have a few nice deeper balls but we need a bigger outside receiver like Dez or Julio that can't get bullied out of bounds to throw the ball to.
Where is Blackmon when you need him
When can he apply for reinstatement again?
Quote:Can we at least get TMD back on loaner for the offseason, this board dies down pretty quick pre draft.
I never felt like the board dies down after the Super Bowl because we still discuss draft picks and prospects the next four months.
He's gotten better with not forcing the ball. Playcalling hasnt helped him but with this horrible Oline any route that takes longer then 3 secs to develop will not be completed
Come on now... Two of those teams were the Giants and the Texans, which are pretty bad... Do you really believe other teams suddenly think their QB has improved after they play the Jaguars....No.... Play a bad team and your stats get better.. Play a good team and your stats get worse... The only thing that matters is wins.
I agree David4499 the play from the Jaguars secondary is the worst I've ever seen from Jacksonville. I understand that they are young, and all the other excuses but when the team has been in the top 3 all year at pass rushing, you really have a hard time believing the hype in regards to CB & Safteys when none of the acting depth chart CBs or Safetys have any INTs!
Quote:Come on now... Two of those teams were the Giants and the Texans, which are pretty bad... Do you really believe other teams suddenly think their QB has improved after they play the Jaguars....No.... Play a bad team and your stats get better.. Play a good team and your stats get worse... The only thing that matters is wins.
The Jaguars are the league's worst in INTs, PDs, and stopping the pass overall in my opinion.
The team needs a real FS, and a great CB!
Quote:His decision making seems to be getting better, there were no throws that made me facepalm and even his INT was just throwing it up for grabs on the last play so it doesn't matter at all. He also seemed to be more aggressive downfield and is giving his WRs the chance to make plays.
His pocket presence has gotten noticeably worse. Yes the OL is bad and is allowing way too much pressure but Bortles is handling it poorly as well.
The worrying thing to me is his accuracy, multiple times in the last couple of weeks he's missed open receivers downfield from a clean pocket. He's also been off on some easy short throws including the bubble screens we know and love. One would hope that another offseason working on footwork and mechanics would help in cleaning up some of those issues.
Coming out of preseason he looked like a true stud, but in the last half of the season you can tell that he is actually getting worse at things he once was improving like throwing on the run, footwork, etc.
I have to think that the QB coach or Fisch is to blame in addition to the weak oline and several hits during the season
Quote:Coming out of preseason he looked like a true stud, but in the last half of the season you can tell that he is actually getting worse at things he once was improving like throwing on the run, footwork, etc.
I have to think that the QB coach or Fisch is to blame in addition to the weak oline and several hits during the season
Right. Someone must be to blame because it couldn't possibly be the fact that he wasn't truly ready to step into the starting role as some here believed, and he still had issues needing to be addressed. Someone should be fired for this regression because it couldn't possibly be precisely what you'd expect from a rookie playing behind a young, inexperienced line starting multiple rookies.
Reality should be avoided at all costs around here. He looked like a "true stud" in the preseason against vanilla defenses that weren't game planning to face Bortles. That's just a simple fact. Once the teams started to get some game film on him and learned his tendencies, that "stud-like" figure came back to earth. Teams figured out what they could do to rattle him, and once they did, it was up to him to develop and improve to overcome their game planning.
The regression in his mechanics is a direct result of the very fact that he is the starting QB, and as such is the case, there's no time for him to continue to work on his mechanics because once he's in the starting role, it's all about the game plan and preparing for the next opponent. Installing the plan, practicing the plan, and getting ready for the game. There's no time built into the schedule at that point to continue to refine his mechanics. That got tossed out the window the moment he became the starter, which is one of the many concerns some here had by rushing him into the starting role. Of course, those people were chided by others on this board who said Bortles was the best option to win this year, and that it wasn't going to hurt his development to throw him out there to learn on the job. How's that working out?
Bridgewater has improved.
Bortles has not.
Quote:Bridgewater has improved.
Bortles has not.
Commonly known as Clown post.
Quote:I don't have the exact play memorized but I rewatched it last night. He had a clean pocket and thought pressure was coming and ran for his life. I think it was when he was flagged for passing beyond the LOS. He made a good play out of it but ran when there wasn't pressure.
I don't think that play was phantom pressure
I think he saw the Defenses back off and saw the chance to pick up a couple of yards and get close to the first
As he moved up he saw lee
I think that just not seeing a guy and seeing a chance to make something from nothing
The only signs of him buckling were him going fetal at the foot of a defender but considering the beating he took and how quick the defenses was on him I don't blame him for a little self preservation
Add to that overall yes he is improving and with 8 months to work on his footwork I think it will continue