Quote:Without reading the entire thread and with respect to your good and worthwhile intentions, I feel compelled to quickly point out a few things. 

 

First:  PFF is pretty cool. It's amazing that they have the staff and infrastructure digitally to compile all the data and rankings that they do. It can be very useful in evaluation. BUT….  The more you read through their methodology and "created stats" that form these rankings, it becomes very apparent that the way they grade players that aren't ball handlers is often nebulous and left to the eye of the beholder. Beyond that - it assumes that the person evaluating each snap played actually has a clear idea of what that players assignment truly is within the scheme.  Already - without elaborating further - it's obvious that there is much room for error.  While it's certainly possible that individuals on the Jaguars O-Line performed well enough to be graded higher than we expect -  the fact of the matter is that most of them made crucial mistakes often enough to cause consistent problems in both the run and passing game this season.  It only takes one guy whiffing, missing his assignment, or flat getting beat to ruin a down.  And if the other 4 guys did their job then the "ranking" gets inflated. But there were too many instances of one guy just blowing it. 

 

Secondly:  

All of this second guessing about releasing players (and coaches) that go on to be productive is being overblown. 

Coughlin was screwing the pooch royally in Jax when he was fired and it was 100% deserved.  I couldn't be happier for the guy, but if you can't see how his success has depended upon the people around him "reigning him in" at times, then you haven't paid attention. The roller coaster that is the NY Giants paints the picture, He's at his best when allowed just enough control - but limited to the many things he wants to take over and over-pursue. 

 

Forsett?  Really?  C'mon folks.  He went to his old coach's offense and got healthy while the two backs in front of him got hurt/suspended. He was hurt in Jax when we were knee deep in a roster purge.  He had to go to make room for new, young talent, as that's what Caldwell was openly all about right away.

 

Make a case for Mike Smith if you want - but that's a former regime and now a moot point.

 

Make a case for Daryl Smith. Caldwell definitely should have retained him.  

 

Nelson?  C'mon. Ancient history and his poor play sealed his fate.  

 

Bottom line. PFF is cool but one stat never tells the whole story, and their grading is always gonna' be weird at several positions. 

On the whole - "we let talent leave" angle -  it's important to categorize within the current regime and not worry about what happened prior. 

We've got new guys calling shots now - and they've made more good moves than bad. 

 

I challenge anyone to examine two years of Shack's or Gene's draft/FA and find a time when they assembled more talent than DC has in the past two years.  And, for the love of God, don't quote record to me. If you can't see the talent (and economy) in the signings and draft picks from '13 and '14  as being better than we've seen in years, then you are blind.  The wins haven't come yet, but Caldwell is definitely bringing talent to the Jaguars. 

 

I agree with most of that.  

 

The case of Mike Smith: he was our DC, but wasn't he hired away to be HC of the Falcons?  He wasn't run out of town at all.  His hiring was the result of our success.   So he shouldn't be on any list of personnel mistakes.  He should be on a list of good moves we've made: hiring him in the first place. 

 

As an aside, why not put Jedd Fisch on the list?  A week after we fired him, he got hired by Jim Harbaugh at Michigan.  There's about a 90% chance Michigan does well with Harbaugh.   So Fisch will probably wind up on the list, too. 

 

Like I said, the list is interesting but pointless, because it's not the same people making the decisions, and other teams have the same type of list. 

 

Your last paragraph is important.   I would add, personally, I believe Gus is going to succeed here.  But even if he doesn't, Dave can still succeed here.   I would point to the case of San Francisco and Mike Singletary and whoever preceded him as coach.  They had a couple of failed coaches, but during that time they were accumulating talent and when they finally found the right guy, Harbaugh, they were ready to take off.   Same thing could happen here.  

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