10-03-2014, 11:22 AM
believing in something just for the sake of believing is sort of equivalent to a blind 'leap of faith'. For faith to be real, there has to be some content for it to exist....
Take for example, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Here is a team which last season went 4-12; all four wins coming late in the season against teams who had also already been eliminated from playoff contention. There were high hopes that, with the addition of some players from the Seattle Seahawk franchise brought in to help with Gus Bradley's defensive scheme, the proliferation of double digit loses would be brought under control. In addition, the hope that the introduction of Blake Bortles would help an otherwise hapless offense that had been victimized by poor quarterback and offensive line performance.
Sadly, none of these additions and 'upgrades' have stopped the outright 'feeding frenzy' of other teams scoring against the Jaguars. Currently, the Jaguars are the leagues worst performing defense in yards allowed.... by a large margin. If they don't turn things around, they are on track to set an all time record for the worst performing defense in the history of the NFL. Not something to brag to mom about....
In addition, the 'upgrades' that were added to the defense... didn't. The Jaguars have lost every game they've played so far this season by double digits, both at home and on the road. The upgrade of Blake Bortles does seem to have breathed a little life into what was the lifeless corpse of an offense being led by Chad Henne. The problem however is that Bortles is, nevertheless, a rookie and unable to overcome the mess on the field represented by the Jaguars defense.
It had been thought that perhaps part of the problem was that since the offense (under Henne) usually failed to convert third downs, the defense couldn't keep off the field and was getting worn out quickly, leading to the mistakes in the secondary allowing blow out scores. This has proven, however, not to be the case; with Bortles in and the offense now converting some of those third downs the blown coverage in the secondary continues leading to more double digit loses.
What can the Jaguars do at this point? Well, they've started firing the most glaringly impotent players who've been responsible for the current mess that is Jaguars football. Outside of that, there is little this season that can be done. One can only hope that somehow the players and coaches will find a way to stop the hemorrhaging on our defense.
Which brings us to the game against the Steelers. consider...
*they had a stinging loss last week to a winless Buc's team. They will be looking to fix that this week.
*they have antonio brown and ben rothlesburger... elite players... going against a laughing stock jags defense.
*they have historically played hard games against the Jags. With a rookie quarterback, they will be coming with their ears pinned back...
So what's my point? There is no reason for anyone to expect different results than those we've been experiencing so far this season against a good team like the Steelers. Yes, I've heard the platitood.. 'on any given Sunday'. Well, it's also true that on any given Sunday we might all be sucked into a sink hole and never seen again. The odds are mighty against it though, and so are the odds of the Jags pulling a win out this weekend. The only way I could see it happening is if the Steelers show up not prepared to play, and I just don't see that happening...
I had originally said we would maybe finish this season 6-10. In view of the flat out failure of our defense to be a defense, I don't see us finishing any better than we did last season... 4-12. Actually, even that may be optimistic at this point. My score prediction Sunday... 36-17, Steelers.
Take for example, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Here is a team which last season went 4-12; all four wins coming late in the season against teams who had also already been eliminated from playoff contention. There were high hopes that, with the addition of some players from the Seattle Seahawk franchise brought in to help with Gus Bradley's defensive scheme, the proliferation of double digit loses would be brought under control. In addition, the hope that the introduction of Blake Bortles would help an otherwise hapless offense that had been victimized by poor quarterback and offensive line performance.
Sadly, none of these additions and 'upgrades' have stopped the outright 'feeding frenzy' of other teams scoring against the Jaguars. Currently, the Jaguars are the leagues worst performing defense in yards allowed.... by a large margin. If they don't turn things around, they are on track to set an all time record for the worst performing defense in the history of the NFL. Not something to brag to mom about....
In addition, the 'upgrades' that were added to the defense... didn't. The Jaguars have lost every game they've played so far this season by double digits, both at home and on the road. The upgrade of Blake Bortles does seem to have breathed a little life into what was the lifeless corpse of an offense being led by Chad Henne. The problem however is that Bortles is, nevertheless, a rookie and unable to overcome the mess on the field represented by the Jaguars defense.
It had been thought that perhaps part of the problem was that since the offense (under Henne) usually failed to convert third downs, the defense couldn't keep off the field and was getting worn out quickly, leading to the mistakes in the secondary allowing blow out scores. This has proven, however, not to be the case; with Bortles in and the offense now converting some of those third downs the blown coverage in the secondary continues leading to more double digit loses.
What can the Jaguars do at this point? Well, they've started firing the most glaringly impotent players who've been responsible for the current mess that is Jaguars football. Outside of that, there is little this season that can be done. One can only hope that somehow the players and coaches will find a way to stop the hemorrhaging on our defense.
Which brings us to the game against the Steelers. consider...
*they had a stinging loss last week to a winless Buc's team. They will be looking to fix that this week.
*they have antonio brown and ben rothlesburger... elite players... going against a laughing stock jags defense.
*they have historically played hard games against the Jags. With a rookie quarterback, they will be coming with their ears pinned back...
So what's my point? There is no reason for anyone to expect different results than those we've been experiencing so far this season against a good team like the Steelers. Yes, I've heard the platitood.. 'on any given Sunday'. Well, it's also true that on any given Sunday we might all be sucked into a sink hole and never seen again. The odds are mighty against it though, and so are the odds of the Jags pulling a win out this weekend. The only way I could see it happening is if the Steelers show up not prepared to play, and I just don't see that happening...
I had originally said we would maybe finish this season 6-10. In view of the flat out failure of our defense to be a defense, I don't see us finishing any better than we did last season... 4-12. Actually, even that may be optimistic at this point. My score prediction Sunday... 36-17, Steelers.
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