Quote:Exactly. Firing Fisch would negate one of the major points in the OP - all the young players would have to learn a new system. Sometimes a little stability is needed.
I think the big focus is on whether the coaches have lost the locker room. All indications are just the opposite. I know the post-game victory celebrations in the locker room are over the top, but they at least show that the rapport and relationship is still there.
But you're saying stability for the sake of stability. Not because what he's doing is working. If this was the case, then we should have kept Del Rio or Mularkey because ya know... stability and all.
Quote:But you're saying stability for the sake of stability. Not because what he's doing is working. If this was the case, then we should have kept Del Rio or Mularkey because ya know... stability and all.
This is the tipping point now. We are in Chicken vs the Egg territory.
Quote:maybe don't have bums blocking for your QB and you might win more games
Agreed. It should also be noted that we lost our offensive line coach in the preseason, to a bout of cancer, and we are working with an assistant offensive line coach. Getting a top notch offensive line coach should be a priority in the offseason.
Quote:I agree about finding an elite head coach which is ultimately what you need to win a Super Bowl. Unequivocally, Bradley is not that that (at least not now) and in my opinion will never be that.
An elite head coach does not need to be an offensive or defensive genius but rather a leader of men, period. While I understand the players love Gus (since he does praise them for being the worst team in the NFL), I do not think he has the leadership necessary to lead his coaching staff and the players. A leader is to set a clear vision, equip their people to succeed and then hold people accountable (including himself). I have not seen that anywhere close to an elite level with Bradley.
I believe that Khan/Caldwell need to find a true leader who will find the right coaching staff to develop and lead this team. They also have to be willing to hold their staff accountable and make changes if warranted. I think Caldwell deserves another year as it appears he may be figuring this whole GM gig out.
If they can find an elite head coach that will come here I'd completely understand firing Gus today.
The problem is if they don't bring in an elite headcoach then they'd only be retarding the development of the most important player on the roster, which is Bortles.
You can win Superbowls without an elite head coach, but if you don't have the elite headcoach you have to have an elite QB.
The real problem is the concern of whether it's possible to have an elite QB without the right coaching.
In any case the main concern of the team needs to be in the development of Bortles.
If I were the headcoach right now I wouldn't even be bothering with gameplanning or practices designed to win games. I'd be spending all of my practice and film time specifically on trying to continue developing the basics of quality NFL play in the young players currently on the team. Bortles, Lee, Bowanko, and Joeckel especially. If Bowanko pans out that would be huge.
Quote:But you're saying stability for the sake of stability. Not because what he's doing is working. If this was the case, then we should have kept Del Rio or Mularkey because ya know... stability and all.
Or Coughlin as well, right? Works both ways. I'm not saying I'd sign Bradley and the staff to a 5 year extension, but at least give the coaches a year after the FO adds some talent and experience to the offence, just as they worked on the D last offseason.
If Bradley stays (and maybe he does), Khan will be forced to do something to keep fan interest in this team.
The crowd we saw yesterday was very telling of the current state of this fanbase.
Without thousands and thousands of opposing fans, the stadium is going to be half empty.
Trotting Gus out there again next year is not going to move the needle.
The offseason is going to be a tipping point for Khan's ownership of this team. He is going to almost be forced to open his wallet in free agency. And it has to be the top free agents. No more bargain hunting. It has to be names like Devin McCourty, Julius Thomas, KJ Wright.
Quote:This from today's MMQB on Washington:
Does any of this sound familiar?
Yes...2-11 this year and 6-23 the past two years sucks mightily.
But not only does the above show changing coaches may not work, it may actually make matters worse.
In Jacksonville's case, the entire passing offense -which represents the bulk of the team's issues-is being run on the field primarily by rookies, including at QB, 3 WR spots, C, and RG.
Many of the struggles the personnel have had has come from playing while learning the offense (e.g. Marqise Lee).
If you keep the same schemes, Bortles, Lee, and Robinson will have the benefit of doing everything next year with the benefit of experience. There should be a lot less wondering whether people are lined up properly, what receivers should run when coverages show this vs. that, what the protections should be. Players should be making more plays next year based on instinct. That alone should mean improvement. Bortles, now a year into the playbook, can devote more time in honing his fundamentals. Lee and Robinson can work on getting off the jam. Bowanko and Linder can focus on getting stronger. If the team adds a tackle or two to improve the OL, Bowanko and Linder could help get them up to speed with authority, knowing the league a year and knowing the offense.
If you fire the coaches now, if you change schemes now, what will that do to the rookies on the offensive side of the ball?
Instead of Bortles, Lee, and A Robinson becoming less tentative and more decisive and more confident, all three will have to unlearn the scheme here and learn new schemes, prolonging the transition to becoming successful players.
While Linder and Bowanko seem to have played well this year, new schemes would mean them-and the rest of the new OL-learning new protections and possibly becoming more tentative, which leads to miss blocks, miss blitzes, missed assignments, and hits on the QB and RB for lost yards. They may be only slightly more knowledgeable initially on the protections in the new scheme than any tackles they bring in.
Compounding things further, let's assume Blackmon manages to return. He played in the offense briefly in 2013. If you assume some rust from the suspension, keeping the scheme with which he is already familiar will aid in his return. Conversely, changing schemes now may only make things more difficult for him and Bortles to get on the same page.
On top of that, whatever strength the defense represents may be lost with a change in coaching and scheme.
In a nutshell, you risk throwing the baby out with the bathwater on both sides of the ball short term, with no assurances of long term success if you change coaches.
You're preaching for stability which has merit. However, every coaching staff, scheme, whatever has a ceiling. If Bradley, Babich and Fisch are running a team in a manner that with reasonable talent, experience and execution can win a Super Bowl then I say sure, keep them.
However, I have not seen anything at all over the last 2 years from these guys that would make me believe they can win a Super Bowl even if we keep them for 10 years.
In your comments, you used the words "may, if, will, should, can, could, would, and assume" a combined total of 21 times. That's a lot of hope and finger crossing that in my opinion is not worth betting on in a lifetime.
Quote:If Bradley stays (and maybe he does), Khan will be forced to do something to keep fan interest in this team.
The crowd we saw yesterday was very telling of the current state of this fanbase.
Without thousands and thousands of opposing fans, the stadium is going to be half empty.
Trotting Gus out there again next year is not going to move the needle.
The offseason is going to be a tipping point for Khan's ownership of this team. He is going to almost be forced to open his wallet in free agency. And it has to be the top free agents. No more bargain hunting. It has to be names like Devin McCourty, Julius Thomas, KJ Wright.
True. Eventually people stop showing up. The attendance was really bad.
There are only so many die-hards out there who actually like watching us "rebuild" over and over.
Quote:If they can find an elite head coach that will come here I'd completely understand firing Gus today.
The problem is if they don't bring in an elite headcoach then they'd only be retarding the development of the most important player on the roster, which is Bortles.
You can win Superbowls without an elite head coach, but if you don't have the elite headcoach you have to have an elite QB.
The real problem is the concern of whether it's possible to have an elite QB without the right coaching.
In any case the main concern of the team needs to be in the development of Bortles.
If I were the headcoach right now I wouldn't even be bothering with gameplanning or practices designed to win games. I'd be spending all of my practice and film time specifically on trying to continue developing the basics of quality NFL play in the young players currently on the team. Bortles, Lee, Bowanko, and Joeckel especially. If Bowanko pans out that would be huge.
I agree with you wholeheartedly about the QB or HC apsect. I also agree about working fundamentals this year. Quite frankly, I think you should almost run the same small group of plays every stinking week until your players can execute them to perfection. It worked for Vince Lombardi. However, you don't see that out of the coaching staff. And I sure don't see much develop with Bortles. So whether he turns out or not, whether he lacks the talent or the coaches are not doing their job, I'm definitely concerned he will not be elite.
Quote:If Bradley stays, Fisch is almost certainly going to get fired.
The rookies you spoke of will likely have to learn a new system either way.
What kind of OC would come work for a lame duck coach? It would just be another Fisch.
Quote:True. Eventually people stop showing up. The attendance was really bad.
There are only so many die-hards out there who actually like watching us "rebuild" over and over.
The attendance was pitiful, but about what I expected.
Last week in my section, we were outnumbered by Giants fans. The stadium has been flooded with opposing fans this year. The Tennessee game should be another poorly attended game but I get the feeling alot of the local companies are going to buy tickets and give them away so the crowd looks good on TV.
I feel like we are in a very precarious (and bad) situation as far as coaching goes.
I'm not convinced the current regime has what it takes to make us relevant. I like Gusa as a person. I believe he is trying and really does want what's best for this team. I am simply not convinced that he is HC material. So if we had a coaching change this offseason, I would not be surprised nor heartbroken. With that being said, can this fanbase sit through all the negatives a coaching change will most likely bring in the form of staggered development and the new scheme adjustment period?
I can't help but feel like we're in "damned if we do, damned if we don't" no-man's land and my natural instinct whenever I'm personally faced with that is just to stay the course and see things as they are through. I freely admit though, that I am not a fan of change.
Up until halftime yesterday, the team looked like we had gotten things figured out and that our players were finally coming together to become a real NFL team. Our defense had some problems containing Foster, but our offensive production was good and it looked like we had some interesting play calls. If you asked anyone, at that point, we were happy with what the offense was doing.
Then the second half came around. Our first drive stalled, then the defensive miscues and poor tackles allowed the Texans to put together a 16 play drive. Those two series, in my opinion, were the killers.
I'd be very interested for some analysis of those two drives. What killed our first drive after half? I believe it was miscues by the offensive players-- the calls looked fine. What killed our defense during the Texans 16 yard drive? Missed. Tackles.
For this game, I really don't think it was coaching performance causing problems. There have definitely been games where the gameplan and playcalling were atrocious (colts and cowboys come immediately to mind), but I don't think yesterday was one of them.
If anything can be blamed on coaching its the poor tackling on display for the majority of the season. I believe that can be attributed directly to a few players (Evans, Gratz), and it's not as if tackling is great across the league. It sucks everywhere, but it does seem to suck more here.
I also think that our run game is regressing and our run stopping has gotten worse since the season began. It's hard to win games like yesterdays with those two areas languishing.
Quote:The attendance was pitiful, but about what I expected.
Last week in my section, we were outnumbered by Giants fans. The stadium has been flooded with opposing fans this year. The Tennessee game should be another poorly attended game but I get the feeling alot of the local companies are going to buy tickets and give them away so the crowd looks good on TV.
No win situation for the team. The place could be packed but the TV crew is going to blister the organization to the lowest rated NFL game of the year.
EDIT: My comments are about the Jags v Titans Thursday game
Quote: Quite frankly, I think you should almost run the same small group of plays every stinking week until your players can execute them to perfection. It worked for Vince Lombardi.
If you did that, everyone would complain about how predictable the offense is.
Quote:No win situation for the team. The place could be packed but the TV crew is going to blister the organization to the lowest rated NFL game of the year.
EDIT: My comments are about the Jags v Titans Thursday game
My suggestion for everyone that night is stay off social media.
If the house is on fire, the best course of action is to stay seated and hope it ends.
Quote:If you did that, everyone would complain about how predictable the offense is.
Quote:I agree with you wholeheartedly about the QB or HC apsect. I also agree about working fundamentals this year. Quite frankly, I think you should almost run the same small group of plays every stinking week until your players can execute them to perfection. It worked for Vince Lombardi. However, you don't see that out of the coaching staff. And I sure don't see much develop with Bortles. So whether he turns out or not, whether he lacks the talent or the coaches are not doing their job, I'm definitely concerned he will not be elite.
I think the team is already running a pretty small group of plays.
The real problem is does that group of plays actually suit the roster?
Maybe the read option does, but I don't like seeing that play used regularly because it puts Bortles at too large a physical risk.
Really the team should be focusing on spreading the defense out.
When I watch teams like the Packers playing I'm amazed at how wide open their receivers get, but that's part of the design. You don't get guys wide open when you're starting with 8 or 9 players around the tackle box. It's clear that the offensive line has had trouble recognizing blocking assignments and so has Robinson.
Spread it out. Go four wide as the base offense with Marcedes only coming in for sub packages. This has the effect of spreading the defense out so that all assignments are more clear. You don't get as many zone blitzes when all the DBs are outside of the tackle box because they need to be in coverage.
Then the only blitzes you'd get are CB blitzes, which is fine. At least if Bortles gets hit by a CB he won't be getting a 300 pounder twisting his knee around and there's the opportunity for him to recognize it and hit a hot read.
Quote:What kind of OC would come work for a lame duck coach? It would just be another Fisch.
What is the lesser of 2 evils - keeping Fisch another year and potentially setting back or permanently harming the development of Bortles, or changing the offensive coordinator to an improvement, but having a break-in period of 4-6 weeks or so? The way I see it, if the new OC is good, any struggles with any new terminology would be temporary and unlike now, you'd actually see improvement over the course of the season. Just keeping Fisch here another year and praying things improve via familiarity is a risky, if suspect proposition. Fisch doesn't have this tremendous track record to make you believe that time will correct the current Jags struggles on offense.