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1)I didn't restrict it to last year. I specifically pointed out 2009. My point was that sure, there were some years where he had exceptional talent, but others where he didn't, yet the Pats defense was never in the 20s or 30s.
2)First off, McGinest battled injuries in 2001. He was no more a factor than Marks was last year for the Jags.
3)And everything you say would all be pertinent if I hadn't asked about improvement under Gus. I don't expect a mid round pick to be developed into the same player a first round pick, but I expect improvement no matter where a player is drafted. Gus' record is littered with young defensive players who haven't improved, Cyprien, Gratz, Branch, Evans, Colvin.
Telvin Smith is good but he was as good when he arrived. McCray ... well, only Gus knows why he wasn't playing ahead of at least Gratz. Clearly Ryan Davis was too valuable on ST to get a chance to play LEO (go figure).
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4)Gus' defense had zero offensive support in 2015? Really?
5)Did you pay any attention at all to the starting QBs the Jags defense faced last season? Gus' defense could never have asked for an easier path to a mid-level ranking.
31st!
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1) The Pats were not loaded every year defensively under Belicheck, but they still had more talent than the Jaguars, especially at key positions. Name a pass rusher anywhere near the caliber of Chandler Jones on the Jaguars roster.
2. McGinest of 2001 no more a factor than Marks last year? Interesting.
According to Profootballreference.com, McGinest played in 11 games, starting 6, and recorded 6 sacks, 25 tackles, 8 assists, 1 FF and 2 PDs.
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/te...e/2001.htm
Marks played 4 games, started 2, had 0 sacks, 4 tackles, 2 assists, 0 FF and 3 PDs.
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/te...x/2015.htm
TBH, I'm not sure how you say Marks of last year had the same impact as McGinest in 2001. I would call that a false equivalency.
3) So Marks showed no improvement from his Tennessee days to here? [url=http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MarkSe99.htm%C2][/url]
4) Oh the defense had support from the offense in 2015. But they had little talent overall in 2015, and no support from the offense prior to 2015. In 2013, the Jaguars offense scored 247 points-last in the NFL. In 2014, the Jaguars scored 249 points-Last in the NFL. When were Belicheck's defenses ever burdened by such inept offensive play?
5) Yes, I saw the QBs the Jaguars faced last year.
Cam Newton, league MVP
Current or former Super Bowl or Pro Bowl QBs Tom Brady, Joe Flacco, Phillip Rivers, Matt Ryan and Drew Brees.
Ryan Fitzpatrick-granted a career journeyman who had a career year last year that saw him throw for 31 TDs and 15 INTs in a career best year. Not all of those TDs and yards were on Jacksonville, BTW.
Ryan Tannehill-who has had three straight years of 24+ TD passes.
That's half of the games right there against good QBs or QBs in good years. This leaves the rest of the games against rookies or backup type players.
There was a game against EJ Manuel, where the D did not do so well in the second half after picking him off twice (once for a TD, the other putting them inside the Buffalo 30 yard line) and recovering a fumble for a TD in the first half.
There was another game against Jameis Winston, who managed 22 TD passes and 4000 yards as a rookie. He was 13-19 209 yards and 1 TD. Not bad...not Fouts either.
That leaves six games remaining against the division QBs.
The Jaguars had two games against backup Matt Hasselbeck. You will note that despite having played in a Super Bowl and had pro bowl seasons, I did not include him in that category because at his age he was finished. The Jaguars gave up 16 points in an OT loss to the Colts in the first game, and 16 points in the blowout win against the Colts in the second game. Between the two games, Hasselbeck threw 1 TD I'd say the Jaguars defense did their jobs in both games.
They had two games against Mariota. One game they held Tennessee to 13 points, with Mariota only rushing for a TD. The other game, a 41-39 loss, Mariota torched the team for 3 TD passes and 1 87 yard TD run. The Jaguars defense did the job in one game and laid an egg the other game.
They had two games against 30 year old Brian Hoyer-another journeyman with plenty of NFL experience. Hoyer threw 3 TDs against us in the first game-2 in the 4th quarter when House melted down against Hopkins, after holding the Texans to 10 points in 3 quarters. Hoyer threw 1 TD and 1 INT in the season ending 30-6 loss. The defense did the job for 3 quarters one game, and the whole team was out of the game in the 2nd game.
Despite the lack of defensive talent, against scrub type QBs, Bradley's defenses actually played decently. 3 games where they definitively did the job (both Colts games and one Tenn game), another game where they held up for 3 quarters (first Houston game), another half game (Buffalo) where they were great in the 1st half but somehow melted down in the 2nd half, and one definitely lousy game against Mariota.