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muddylips · 05-19-2014, 12:33 PM

I just saw the ESPN article where, once again, Vegas have selected the Jaguars to finish dead last. Given our history, I can see why someone who hasn’t done too much research on the team’s recent veteran FA and draft acquisitions could think that. However, the odd’s makers in Vegas are professionals and, unlike the vast majority of the teams fan base, probably far more objective in their assessment.

Still, I find it hard to understand that given the quality of the coaching and the overall upgrades in talent that the Jag’s should be so looked down upon; especially by people whose livelihood depends on making accurate projections.

While it is true that most, if not all, the teams have acquired new talent via veteran FA and the draft, not all teams have done so equally well. The Jaguars draft was rated an ‘A’ by ESPN, while the Colts received only a ‘C’. Our FA acquisition has earned us the nickname of the ‘Southern Seahawks’ due to our head coach and a number of former Seahawk players now being here. How could we not be dramatically improved?

Here’s how:

Remember that while many of our veteran FA’s came from the Seahawks, some of them are getting a little ‘long in the tooth’. While it’s true that we’ve had two seasons now of excellent drafting (thanks to our new GM) our newest rookies are totally untested in the NFL. The college game and the NFL are two different worlds. We don’t know if Blake Bortles will work out to be a successful franchise quarterback for us. We hope so; he has a lot of positives going for him, but he is still untested. Eventually, we’ll see…

The same story goes for all our other new rookies too. They seem to have demonstrated the ‘right stuff’ in college ball, enough so to impress our GM and head coach. But the bottom line remains the bottom line. We’ll have to wait and see how they do.

In the meantime, the best we can hope for is that the Jag’s will, in the words of the coach of the Cleveland Indians from the movie ‘Major League’, try their best to serve the odd’s makers a @#$% burger and make them all take a bite!

I y'ams who I y'ams and thats all I y'ams...