Three factors kept the Jags under .500 in 2015 in my opinion.

Here are the issues they couldn't overcome. 

 

1. A  promising young QB often comes with baggage. Blake had an amazing second season for a guy that came out of school early and extremely unrefined. But -- he also hamstrung the team in three or four games with glaring mental errors that forfeited possessions resulting  in points for the opponent.  He also wasn't prepared yet to check out of plays when the defense knew what was coming.  He'll get better in these areas. I have very little doubt. 

 

2. Defensive talent and injury. (subtitle: lack of pass rush)  Missing the two guys who ought to be your main source of pressure is going to affect your defense negatively.  The fact that no one could step up and even play "solid" football in their place made it an insurmountable problem. Couple that with the lack of talent at free safety, the need for one more consistent CB, an aging MLB who's amazing in the box -but poor in coverage, and you have an ugly situation on the defensive end of the ball. 

 

3. Lack of Discipline. See, I'm not an apologist. This is where the coaching staff has to share in the blame a bit. Many of these players underachieved in 2015 in my opinion. I'm looking at the secondary and the offensive line primarily here. The amount of confusion, blown coverages and penalties (to a lesser degree) by the secondary was unacceptable no matter what their talent level may be.  The offensive line also had their own breakdowns in communication, false starts, and poor blitz pick-up. Having a LG and C who can't live up to their paychecks didn't help either. 

 

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Number 2 above is the largest contributor in my mind   --  but all of these things derailed the Jags in 2015.

Optimistically  -  they all appear to be fixable, and they've all been mentioned by the staff since season's end as areas to improve. 

With that thought in mind... are we close?  Yeah, we just might be. 

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