(01-08-2025, 11:29 AM)Cleatwood Wrote:

(01-08-2025, 11:18 AM)Jaguarmeister Wrote: No.  I don't want to be rude as I respect your history here, but you can't have fully read and digested my post and still condensed it to that.  I still like Doug even though there are warranted criticisms of how he handled things.  It was a perfect storm of [BLEEP] this past season and someone apparently had to go.  Prior to the news, I said I leaned toward both being retained and a mulligan given for this season though I wouldn't put a ton of confidence behind that statement and wouldn't be shocked either way.  I don't think there is a clear scapegoat for last year.  It was a lot of little [BLEEP] here and there that when added up manifested in the results we ended up getting.

Someone here recently reminded us of Khan's comment regarding "I know who I want to be calling plays" from a year or so ago and then we get the coyness out of Doug this year about who is calling plays knowing full well it was Press.  That kinda jives with how his exit in Philly went.  I don't jump on any speculation as the god's honest truth as many others do, but if you line that comment up with how reality went, it's probable that Pederson was so loyal and committed to his guy that he would defy an owner's desires and then we got the season we got for the multiple reasons I listed above and many more I didn't and he became the fall guy that he was apparently prepared to be given how that scenario played out. Is that any clearer?

Somewhat. It still seems like you believe the roster underperformed. Is that correct?

For me, I think it’s a culture problem and Baalke has been a snake everywhere he went. The same problems that he had in SF are happening here in Jacksonville. Pederson will be his Harbaugh here. Then it’ll be a mess this season most likely because Baalke is still here. Whispering in Shads ear that the coach (who he hired) is the problem once again. Baalke is the one who probably said “Shad. Doug should be calling plays”. Baalke is in his ear telling Shad every single issue and excluding his role in it.

They both should have been fired. End of story. There’s no “well Baalke did good on this one move” or “Pederson did his best with what he had”. 

They are all to blame and should have been shown the door.

Yes I think the roster underperformed versus what I believe to be a generally talented or at least young ascending in talent roster.  I don't necessarily put that all on Pederson though.  I think anyone saying one singular thing is the cause of what ailed us last year has got blinders on.

Shad gets portrayed by some as a bumbling idiot because we had a bad season.  I don't buy that.  Building a consistent winner in pro football is difficult.  The outcome of a game is often determined by a handful or less of plays and the emotions of fans swing wildly depending on that outcome.  Offenses, defenses and special teams don't play games in a vacuum.  They are all dependent on each other for victory most of the time.  Special teams was overall good enough last year, but offense and defense let us down at different times and probably the defense deserves the larger share of the blame of the two.  However, we decided to change schemes on defense last offseason knowing we didn't have all the pieces to run it effectively immediately and Armstead was largely out of position for the majority of it.  Whose decisions were these and were proper expectations set?  I don't know, but I bet Khan knows. 

Also, individual stats are often a product of more than one person.  I'm thinking sacks here specifically but you could apply it to almost anything stat wise in football.  If we get the secondary properly addressed this offseason presuming we don't again shift course on scheme, I expect those sack numbers for everyone to increase somewhat dramatically in 2025.  I think we may have the pieces everywhere else even at DT if Armstead moves in full time, but additional depth may still be needed.  Fixing the secondary alone will probably put us in contention again next year, but we need to be able to keep Trevor healthy as well as my interest wanes a bit with Mac or another back up in the game knowing the sky is no longer the limit and more likely completely out of reach.  So the O-line needs some additional addressing as well.

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