After two years of struggling to get out of the black hole that Gene Smith put this team in I think we still can't really tell objectively if we're heading in the right direction. We simply still have too many needs to be filled, personnel wise, on the field to be able to tell yet. I think that as far as our player acquisition is concerned Dave Caldwell is doing his best to try to get the best people he can on the field as quickly as can be done; but it takes time, unless you're just extraordinarily lucky!

 

Until we have more of those key pieces on the field, you can't objectively tell if what Gus wants to do will work or not. There are just so many factors that have an impact on how fast a team can 'turn it around'. For instance; we have what we hope is our franchise quarterback in Blake Bortles, but he has some issues with his fundamental throwing footwork that is going to take some time to overcome. Until he does, we aren't going to see his best game; and the current philosophy is that as the quarterback goes, so goes the team... and probably the career of the head coach.

 

Unfortunately, we have multiple factors complicating the issue of our quarterback development. For starters, our o-line was epic in it's dysfunction this past season and must be addressed or there is no hope for Blake to ever get better. Another factor is that with the firing of Jedd Fisch, the offense now has to learn a new system instead of growing more used to the old one. Until they do, there is no reason to expect anything different from what we saw last season.

 

So taking things like this into consideration, it would not be realistic, at least in my opinion, to be able to objectively judge if Gus Bradley is 'doing the right stuff' as a head coach. It's like trying to evaluate the 500 horsepower engine in your car when your transmission is only capable of handling half the torque the engine is capable of. Until all.. or at least most, of the pieces needed are on the field, we won't be able to judge Gus fairly. That's not his fault or Dave Caldwell's either; that is the fault of former owner Wayne Weaver for allowing Gene Smith to put this team in a 'black hole'. We are still trying to climb out of that hole...

---