I'm really looking forward to the up-coming season of Jaguars football. I'm hoping that with the acquisitions gained in FA and the draft that there will be some improvement reflected via the end of season record. I am not, however, drinking the teal kool-aid just yet; after so many seasons of disappointments, I'm learning to 'not count my chickens before they've hatched'. The optimism of an 8-8 or better season and even play-offs are... well, stretching the limits of credibility.

 

Let's get real for a moment...

1. our offensive line is made up of players who are either unproven, mediocre, or out-right bad. Add to this the fact that they have largely never played together in real games and you have the ingredients for trouble.

 

2. Chad Henne is the starting quarterback. He is an experienced player and will do the best he can. The problem is that his best isn't really all that good. In fact, on his best days Henne is, by NFL standards, only a mediocre quarterback. Repeat; on his best days... add to that the fact he will be behind a questionable offensive line (see #1 above) and again... trouble.

 

3. our new receivers; they might be really good! But then again... they might not. They are rookies, and rookies make rookie mistakes. They have to learn the NFL game too. And they are already experiencing injuries before there has even been any contact! Now, combine that with a, 'at best' mediocre quarterback and a suspect offensive line and... trouble. This offense looks like it might have to lean a lot on the running game for a while. That's ok; Henne can hand the ball off with the best of 'em. Now, can this 'new' line run block? 3-4 yards and a cloud of dust...

 

So it really seems like it makes sense to sit Blake Bortles for a while, even if he seems ready to play. We need our O-line to jell before putting him in there. All things being equal, I wouldn't expect too much from the offense this season. We just have had so many holes to fill that it's going to take another FA and draft to do it... at least. Yes, we could have perhaps traded down to get some more draft picks but we would've been picking from the bottom of the barrel instead of the top. The end result would've been to replace mediocre talent with more mediocre talent.

 

On the other hand, our defense took real strides toward improvement, primarily through FA acquisition. As long as these FA's don't have the 'paid vacation' attitude, we should be better on defense this season... much better. After all, we couldn't really get much worse, could we?

 

Here is what I hope to see from the jag's this season.

1. at least a 5-11 record. I mean, come on....

2. in defeat, don't get blown out. Too many games last season were decided by or before the end of the first half. At least stay in the game and keep it close and competitive. 

 

A lot of people make much of the four wins at the end of the season last year. I don't. I want to see us win when the other team is bringing it's A game.

 

I guess there's a reason why so many are expecting the jags to not do phenomenally better this year than last. Yeah, we should do a 'little' better, but 8-8 or better is just un-realistic. I would be very happy if I was very, very, wrong and we went to the SB. However, the probability is we will, at best, be middle of the pack. But that would be a dramatic improvement.

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