Quote:Did not intend redundancy.  I did not see that post.  Nevertheless, his post begs the question.  I had some concerns about Babich, but the timeline for firing him sooner really didn't make sense.

It didn't.  Despite where the team ranked in 2014, there was clearly improvement as the season progressed as the defense started to figure things out.  What was so disappointing this year about the defense was the fact that any progress they made in the prior season didn't seem to carry over.  It wasn't so much a lack of effort with the play calling as it was issues with critical injuries and teams figuring out how Babich was going to scheme a pass rush without a legitimate DPR.  While his schemes worked in 2014, they didn't this past season, and the complete lack of a pass rush really put our secondary in a bad spot. 

 

If the Jaguars do nothing else this off season, fixing the pass rush on its own will create a lot more opportunity for additional wins.  The lack of any sort of sustainable pass rush was a big reason for the struggles on third down this year.  Putting pressure on the QB will make that secondary look a heck of a lot better against the pass.  There are still holes to address, but getting Fowler and Marks back healthy, adding more line help in the draft and free agency, and finding some veteran talent for the DBs will make a huge difference in how things play out this year. 

 

Babich should have been fired this year, and Gus clearly recognized this.  A year ago?  Nope.  Things seemed to be trending in the right direction at that point.  With Wash taking over, a new attitude and a different philosophy that is detail oriented and aggressive should help this team tremendously.  That's assuming Wash actually turns out to be the right guy to take this on.  We'll know soon enough.

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