(10-14-2018, 06:45 PM)jagforlife85 Wrote:

(10-14-2018, 06:01 PM)EricC85 Wrote: Going into this year the picture seemed clear. Our plan since we started the Caldwell build was to build defense through the draft/develop that talent and then sign key free agents to boost our strongest positions. We drafted heavy pass rushers, corners and linebackers. We signed key defensive players on the line and in the secondary. We built what was advertised as the next great generational defense. On offense the plan was to build a smash mouth ground game and have a QB that could manage the game. We didn't invest is keeping key offensive players when their contracts ran out, we could replace them with younger drafted role players. We signed established linemen and drafted heavy running backs high in the draft during the entire Caldwell build. 

Did we do it ALL wrong? Has history not proven that keeping a health cohesive defense is both expensive and near impossible.  Look at Seattle they lost some of their LEADERS and the entire defense unraveled. We lost Poz and Colvin and it's starting to look like this defense is unraveling. Was POZ that Leader that was irreplaceable? Would it matter if we had built this team around an offensive powerhouse? 

In todays NFL building around the defense and rushing game is building a team to compete in the wrong decade. It's not sustainable long term, it might not even be sustainable year to year. It's only week 6 and even if we can find our magic juice to finish the season I still wonder did we build this entire thing backwards? 

Having an offense that's just good enough isn't sustainable in todays NFL.

The answer to this question is unequivocally yes. Despite last years success, this organization has made a litany of bad decisions that will haunt them for a long time. Building a run based smash mouth offense, in an era where passing the ball is much easier, effective, and efficient, is just one of the mistakes they've made. The biggest mistake was hitching their wagons to Blake Bortles, a QB that needs everything to go right for him in order to play at an above average level, and is incapable of raising the level of play of the offensive players around him. That decision alone impacted the coaching hire, as I personally believe Doug Marrone was one of the only coaches they interviewed who threw support behind Blake Bortles. That decision is also the reason why this team feels it needs to play a run first, ball control offense, they know their QB has limitations and is incapable of carrying an offense. 

But more than anything, the decision to hitch their wagons to Blake Bortles had a definite impact on the 2017 draft, as they were never going to consider drafting a QB (Pat Mahomes/Deshaun Watson) with the 4th overall pick. Instead they opted to take a RB (to hide their QB) who has had injury issues dating all the way back to 2015. Whats ironic about the Fournette pick is the Jags had the good fortune in 2016 of the Cowboys passing on Jalen Ramsey for Zeke, only to make the same mistake themselves a year later. Hindsight is 20/20, but imagine if we had hired Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan and paired those young creative offensive minds with Patrick Mahomes. Imagine if had seriously made a run at Kirk Cousins, who continues to play productive despite playing behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league. This organization has made franchise changing decisions with a closed mind the past two seasons, and now its rearing its ugly head.

But we didn't build it, cause we drafted the wrong guy in Fournette. The guy has been okay when he was available, but his constant injured status is really messing with the team. Keeping Bortles was a mistake, should have got Cousins, but at this point last year is looking like a one-off overachievement. Our D is still good, but we aren't anywhere near the turnovers we had last year, and are getting killed now without them. It wasn't a sustainable model.

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