http://www.jaguars.com/live/

This is the beginning of the NFL's yearly march to 365 domination of the news cycle.  As we all set our DVR's to watch the only track meet most of us will ever watch voluntarily (the combine) I can't help but be reminded of the 2013 draft. 

 

At this time of the year we are usually told that a few prospects are the best in the history of the draft evolutionary process.  If you remember, Luke and chance were deemed to be the two best lineman people had ever seen.  Chance was thought of as the only guard worth consideration for the top spot and many had him rated as their #1 prospect overall regardless of position.  Fast forward to actually breaking down all the tape and neither of them were taken first at their own position and neither of which has made a firm claim on the hall of fame just yet. 

 

The list goes on.  We were told that Ziggy Ansah was the reincarnation of Javon Kearse.  We were told that Aaron curry was the sure fire can't miss prospect of the decade!  In reality, all these claims flew in the face of general common sense when you saw that ansah while gifted was a 4.7 guy not a 4.4 guy and that warmack and luke were closer to the athletic norm than someone like lane Johnson. 

 

That finally brings us to Leonard Williams.  He is a great 3/5 technique that has shown above average production for his position, but so did Tyson Alualu.  In fact, Tyson's last year was actually a hair better than Williams last year.  You're talking about someone who is being talked about as the savior of franchises defense who had both single digit sacks and single digit tackles for loss.  Does that sound like the most dominant defensive force since J.J. Watt.  There's  no doubt he will probably be taken high, heck we may take him.  At the same time, common sense tells you that more often than not the chances of a 3/5 technique ever producing on a level to justify the third pick overall are slim and even worse when their production in college doesn't foreshadow it.

i'm not a titans fan at all.  but if chip has such a hard on for mariota then he may trade 2 first rounders and foles to move up for him.  if i'm the titans I do that in a second. thoughts? 

Fast forward to the future when the jags have a top 5 offense or defense. Trouble is the other unit is bottom 3. While unbalanced they make the playoffs but are one and done in consecutive years.


Would you prefer an offense that needs to score 40+ to win OR an aggressive defense that holds opponents to under 20 every game?

Tomorrow we will probably all hear about how much progress has been made on the financial front, and about the brand new projects going forward. What will probably be discussed much, much less is where this team stands from a football standpoint.

 

Win Total: 7 in two years certainly isn't good.

Offense: A very young unit, probably too young (Dave Caldwell would admit as much). There has been a lot of talk about signing Cobb or Julius Thomas, when in reality the areas that need to see improvement most are the QB position and offensive line. We drafted a project at QB, a guy who wasn't a great "thrower" in college. Sure he looked good in preseason and in the months leading up to the draft, but when teams started blitzing in the regular season, he reverted back to some bad habits (watch his combine tape and then games from late in the year. He developed a loop in his motion.) He  reminded me of a right handed version of a certain left handed quarterback who also struggled to overcome mechanical flaws. Let's hope this story ends better. To fix the second worst offense in the league we replaced our offensive coordinator with the man who was in charge of the only offense that was worse. Time will tell if better personnel will make a difference in Olson's offense, but unless the Jags sign a couple of substantial free agents, it's hard to argue that our roster is much more talented than Oakland's at this point. Most of all Bortles has to overcome his mechanical flaws. Cobb and Thomas won't fix that.

 

Defense: Despite ranking, the defense made significant strides last season, particularly in terms of pass rush. The secondary remains a question mark, as the team desperately needs to pair a decent FS in the back end with Cyprien. Cyprien's supporters have suggested that his iffy play has been due to him feeling the need to compensate for the failures of those around him. In that sense, finding a good FS will go a long way toward determining if Cyprien is actually any good. The linebacker unit is probably the area of biggest concern, as it's both ineffective at times, and older than the secondary. They need to get speedier and younger at those spots (fortunately it looks like Telvin will be a building block).

 

All in all, if Caldwell can fine some young talent for the D-line and Linebacker groups, and a true FS, the defense should be at least competent. Therefore, the win total this year will largely depend on the offense, and consequently Greg Olson. He has a tall, tall task, and his track record doesn't inspire confidence. He has to fix Bortles and also prove to be a competent playcaller.

Many of you may recall that I posted a thread mid-season about Jedd Fisch and the simple fact that he was not contributing to the development of the offense.  In the interest of being balanced, I would like to take the time to rise in his defense. 

 

In reality, It's not JUST Jedd Fisch, I think this might be the most over coached league in the world!

 

Darrell bevel is 1 yard away from being at the top of the list when head coaching vacancies next season.  With under a minute to go from the one yard line with the season on the line, you decide to try and get into a personnel chess match with the best coach in football.  Forget run or pass.  In far too many situations offensive coordinators will completely destroy the rhythm of a game trying to run on and off with personnel packages.  In that same game when Kearse made the catch on the sideline they wound up having to use a time  out to get set up for the play from the five yard line and ran the risk of the play being reviewed.  I've seen ben Roethlisberger having to wave todd haley off when he's trying to send on recievers while ben is running down to get a snap off before a challenge flag comes out. 

 

I remember on the emory and henry type formation when Marquis lee scored the long touchdown from blake.  Yeh, the formation took the safety away from his side, but Lee BLEW PAST a corner in OFF MAN coverage.  That tells me that every time you saw single high safeties or man coverage then you're taking five steps and you're throwing the deep fade.  was that a staple of our offense?  no.  You had Toby gherhart a true power back running outside zone & stretch.  It made me sick. Allen hurns was blazing down field and beating guys on double moves, let's stop scoring touchdowns and come up with a thirty syllable code word for a 2 yard hitch route. 

 

It's not just jedd and not just offensive coordinators.  Brandon Browner had to save the superbowl by begging his position coach to let him cover the 6-5 receiver that was mossing the patriots smaller DB's.  For some reason Matt Patricia let Jamie Collins sit on an island against Marshawn Lynch in the final two minutes of a game and not have Devin McCourty cheat to his side.  I sat and watched on sound FX as PETE CARROLL called out that Brady was going DIRECTLY to Rob Gronkowski (best career trajectory of any TE...  like ever) against KJ Wright before halftime and again, not having Earl Thomas creep over he top. 

 

Brandon Williams is an up and coming DT from Southern Mississippi playing currently for the RAVENS, he had 9 sacks at 340 his senior year.  ULTRA... ULTRA athletic.  I remember watching the senior bowl and he laid down a SWEET spin move against a guard in one on one pass rush drills and blew right past him.  Do you know what his position coach from the senior bowl said?  "Are you a finesse player or a power player"  in other words, don't worry about getting by the guard because you're quicker and faster, just go straight down the middle and make sure he can get his hands on you because real men bull rush. 

 

Jedd Fisch is a symptom of a culture that thinks that coming up with some 8 inch think book is more important than playing to the strengths of your players!

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/02/rivals-t...ixth-grade

 

 

Its that time of year again. Feel free to post all things related to the combine here. Players are flying in today and will start orientation and medicals tomorrow. I'll start the thread off with some MMQB.


http://mmqb.si.com/2015/02/16/nfl-combin...prospects/


Here's the full schedule for each position group.


http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/2/16/79...w-schedule

IF we decide the pass rusher class is deep enough to take one in the second round, then maybe we should consider something a bit different in the first round (I'm bracing myself for the howls of protest, but bear with me...)


How about Shaq Thompson ? This guy makes plays happen and would be a big improvement for us at linebacker. Read this and tell me why you wouldn't want him in teal...

<a class="bbc_url" href='http://www.nfl.com/draft/2015/profiles/shaq-thompson?id=2552447'>http://www.nfl.com/draft/2015/profiles/shaq-thompson?id=2552447</a>


Could be our answer to Bobby Wagner ?


If Ray, Fowler and Gregory all come with question marks and we can get someone like Orchard in round two then why not go for the big playmaker ?


And I'm expecting to get replies along the lines of "only if we trade down" - but can you really justify that ? Why is he a good player, worth picking at, say 8, but not at 3 ? (Assuming there is no-one we want more at 3)

Do we get any this year?