(02-07-2018, 11:31 AM)JaguarKick Wrote: I was thinking about this today with the news of McDaniels backing out of the Colts job (serious jerk move, by the way).  Are any of the other teams in this division anywhere near as complete as the Jaguars?  Could we be looking at a New England level period of division dominance?

The Colts are a mess.  Their defense sucks, their offense isn't anything to write home about WITH Luck, and now it looks like he might never be 100% again.  On top of that, they're going to get a bottom of the barrel coaching hire after McDaniels pulled this stunt.  This is the kind of thing that could take a decade to fully recover from.

The tacks aren't anything great, either, despite their playoff win.  Mariota is subpar.  Their defense is good, but not "Stop the Pats" good, and if they fall behind, their offense can't keep up.  I think Vrabel won't be a good coach, either, at least not for what they need.  I see them taking a major step back next year.

The tinhorns have an injury-riddled defense that is a shadow of what it once was.  Even when they get to 100%, they are holes all over it.  It remains to be seen whether Watson will duplicate what he did last year, and even that wasn't that impressive if you watch the games.  He had so few turnovers because when he missed, he missed BAD--dirt balls or well over the head of the receiver and all the defenders.  They seem to have organizational dysfunction of top of that, keeping the coach instead of the GM.  I also don't feel O'Brien is anything special, either.

Then, there's the Jags.  Our one weakness on defense is at Safety, and that because it's not to the level of the other groups--it's better than a lot of teams.  On offense, we need another guard, but our line played great all year.  The one glaring weakness is at QB, and there's a possibility Bortles improves, although I feel we need a replacement.  The only other area I see that we need some improvement is that the coaching needs to be less conservative in spots; they've showed flashes of brilliance throughout the season, and it's possibly that fixing QB will fix that as well.

I just really don't see how any other team wins the division.  Am I off base here?

I echo the sentiments of the others who have posted on this subject.

The Jaguars are in a good position to win the division again, but I'm not yet prepared to say the Jaguars will own the division.

Of all of our divisional foes, I think the Colts are in the absolute worst position to challenge the Jaguars for the division in 2018 at this stage.  Luck is an unknown quantity at tgis stage, and even if he returned completely healthy (a dubious proposition), he has a depleted offensive line and no running game to support him.  Defensively, they are a sieve.  They cannot stop the run or the pass, nor do they have a pass rush.

Houston does not pose the seemingly insurmountable matchup problems for us they once did.  J.J. Watt returned last year from a season ending injury and didn't do anything against us in the opening week.  He has since suffered another season ending injury, and his effectiveness upon his return will be in doubt.  While Clowney is talented,  his production is inconsistent.  I'm still not sold that they are using him properly or that he is in the best scheme for him.  Whitney Mercilus is still a strong pass rushing threat, though.  Their secondary needs new blood.  Offensively, Watson, if he can stay healthy, can be a superstar at QB.  But he needs help.  he has good WRs, but no offensive line.

The tacks remain the biggest threat to us in the division.  Vrabel is doing the right thing in going to an up tempo attack with Mariota, but he doesn't have the receivers to pull it off.  They do have a strong offensive line.  Defensively, they are good, but I wonder what the change in coordinators will do. Hopefully they will keep Cyprien.

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