Quote:Be optimistic about the future because of what? Nothing good has happened to this franchise in a minute and this new regime isn't proving jack that looks like that is changing anytime soon. I guess you mean have blind optimism if you just want to be positive about this disaster.

Hey, it's your thing, do what'cha wanna' do. I can't tell ya... who to sock it too....

Seriously... if your post really expresses your thinking about the Jags, (and who am I to change your mind?) then it sort'a begs the question; why continue following them? That question aside, I am not (neither have I ever been) an advocate of 'blind optimism'. As I said earlier, I do see reason for some optimism.

 

1. We have an owner who wants to put his team in the same category as perennial contenders like the packers or patriots. He has the financial 'wherewithal' to help facilitate that.

2. We have a young and ambitious GM who wants very much to make a name for himself as a GM and has some positive credentials to go with it.

3. We have a head coach who was eagerly sought by other 'winning' teams to be their head coach. He is thought to have been the best choice that was available at the time we were looking. He is (by the way) wearing a super bowl ring as a coach...

4. Those teams who are year after year contenders built their winning teams via the draft! We're following the example of winning teams in what we're doing.

5. We DO have a bunch of very young rookies. All of them have demonstrated the core skills to play in the NFL (or they wouldn't be here now). Some of them have demonstrated real 'upside' potential to become franchise players. We're building the ground work for a team that can be really good for years!

 

So, there are reasons to base some optimism on. Of course, the downside of our situation is that after years of really bad drafting, veterans who were R O A D being allowed to stay here, and a less than competent staff who were facilitating all this... the team had to be gutted like a fish in order to 'fix it'. We are still suffering the side effects of being gutted and rebuilding from scratch. It's tough on the fan base to have to endure this after having already endured about seven years of bad football; it's frustrating because we've heard the rhetoric of 'next year' and 'we're rebuilding' used by the previous regime too often as excuses for lame performance... and we're hearing 'next year' and 'we're rebuilding' again; but unlike the last GM who brought in players like Blaine Gabbert and was drafting punters in the third round... this GM seems to have a handle on the situation and is moving us in the right direction. 'In the right direction' shouldn't be confused with 'we've arrived'; we haven't... yet. But we have all the markings of a team that is doing the hard stuff that will eventually lead them to NFL prominence.

 

It's up to you if you want to stick around for the ride.... As FBT already said, you can leave and no one will even notice you've gone. (by the way, FBT has made that same remark to me before too...)

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