What caused Doug to crater in the middle of last season? He had this team playing hard and winning, and in the blink of an eye the team faceplanted and are now fully into a yearlong (mostly) losing streak. There has to be a reason things turned south so suddenly. Has Khan ever spoken to him personally to find out why?

I would be all for Khan firing Baalke now to see how Doug responds. If it's positive, the problem has been found. If not, he'll be another position to fill in the offseason. I don't say this simply because I don't like Baalke and want him gone (I do). The HC is where the rubber meets the road. GMs don't make teams play well, HCs do. Is Trent casting a pall over Doug? Or is Doug just mentally checked out? That would be a simple method to find out if it's Trent, Doug, or both.

I wonder if Khan is even trying to troubleshoot the problem. If not, he's a bad owner.

Bad coaching hamstrung by bad personnel decisions in a nutshell. If you go back and look at what happened last year, where the wheels began to come off? It all started with Lawrence's ankle injury and Kirk's core injury. Then you had a revolving door of banged up offensive lineman and the offense pretty much converted into YOLO balls to Ridley for PI's or Engram in a 3 yards and a cloud of dust role because the running game was non existent. 

They all need to go. Baalke broke the bank year in and year out we ended up with a barely .500 football club and now we're left with a team that looks like it's been beaten to death with a club. That's mostly on Baalke. Sure, it's nice that Strange, Bigsby and Miller have looked good... NOW, but, what about last year? When this team started off 8 - 3 and then proceeded to fall to 1 - 6? We could have used three more viable players. We neglected the WR room, the OL group and the pass rushing department on defense entirely too much.

Firing Baalke won't fix anything now really. The roster is pretty much set in stone and the team is what it is at this point. Doug's inability to scheme his players out of this hole is the burden he has to bare and answer for. His inability to hire the right defensive staff is also the burden he has to bare. I know it's easy to get caught up on how poor the defense has been the last two years, but, for me? Look, I am pointing the fingers at this offense instead for the second straight year in a row. Especially when Doug is supposed to be some "QB Guru" and "Offensive Genius" with his boy wonder in Press Taylor at his side.

The offense, along with Lawrence, have progressively declined as a squad, and, that's been Doug's LEAST changed part of his staff. He lost Jim Bob Cooter and a WR coach I think. The primary components have always been with him though between himself, Taylor and McCoy. So, there's just no saving grace there for me. The fact that he was able to win close games in 2022, then, to clearly get his doors blown off in 2023 with that 1st place schedule burning a hole in his forehead where this team was clearly not ready for the better teams the NFL had to offer? He was exposed.

2024 has been the perfect culmination of everything that went wrong since the freefall of last year. Caldwell was 1,000% correct after he was dismissed. The problem is still in the building. And that problem is Doug and Trent.

---

"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."

No. Ben Johnson can interview but he can’t officially become the HC until Detroit is done.

Most in that situation absolutely do not take focus off the Super Bowl to go interview. It’s just a fact man.

Well that would also be wrong. It happens all the time. 

They interview BEFORE the SB but wait until after to make it official. There’s literally a period of time during the playoffs where assistants of teams in the playoffs can interview for HC openings.

Kyle Shannahan did it with the Falcons. Frank Reich with the Eagles. Kevin OcConnel and the Rams. Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson interviewed last year during the playoffs.

Just a couple off the top of my head.

---

There's no point in letting Doug go if Baalke isnt walking right there with him. If it isnt a full house clean, just run it back with them both.

---

There's no point in letting Doug go if Baalke isnt walking right there with him. If it isnt a full house clean, just run it back with them both.

I don't see the point in that.  If anything give it to a hungry OC who will take the job even with Baalke, even if they're not at the top of the list.  Someone like Klint Kubiak from NO, he comes from a good football lineage and hopefully can turn Lawrence or at least give him something else to work through.  Don't forget for the first 2 weeks New Orleans offense was on fire... before they lost the next 7.

---

NYC4jags Wrote:
Can we leave the personal insults behind for a while and get back to some semblance of topic, gents?
Please, and thank you.

There's no point in letting Doug go if Baalke isnt walking right there with him. If it isnt a full house clean, just run it back with them both.

I don't see the point in that.  If anything give it to a hungry OC who will take the job even with Baalke, even if they're not at the top of the list.  Someone like Klint Kubiak from NO, he comes from a good football lineage and hopefully can turn Lawrence or at least give him something else to work through.  Don't forget for the first 2 weeks New Orleans offense was on fire... before they lost the next 7.

Because it doesn't matter who the coach is if Baalke stays. He's the main cancer that needs to go.

---

I don't see the point in that.  If anything give it to a hungry OC who will take the job even with Baalke, even if they're not at the top of the list.  Someone like Klint Kubiak from NO, he comes from a good football lineage and hopefully can turn Lawrence or at least give him something else to work through.  Don't forget for the first 2 weeks New Orleans offense was on fire... before they lost the next 7.

Because it doesn't matter who the coach is if Baalke stays. He's the main cancer that needs to go.

Yes, I agree that he is certainly part of the problem, and should be let go.  But I was referring to the "There's no point in letting Doug go" part of the statement.  Running it back doesn't do anything to help the team in the future. Giving a new coach a shot may not work, but at 3-10 something has to be done.

---

NYC4jags Wrote:
Can we leave the personal insults behind for a while and get back to some semblance of topic, gents?
Please, and thank you.

Because it doesn't matter who the coach is if Baalke stays. He's the main cancer that needs to go.

Yes, I agree that he is certainly part of the problem, and should be let go.  But I was referring to the "There's no point in letting Doug go" part of the statement.  Running it back doesn't do anything to help the team in the future. Giving a new coach a shot may not work, but at 3-10 something has to be done.

If you don't fire Baalke, it's better to not fire Doug. If you fire Doug, Baalke stays for another 3 years minimum with the new coach. Maybe after next year both would be fired, so you save 2 years.

If there aren't changes, I don't think the Jags are going to have to worry about reduced seating capacity for the construction.


Sent from my SM-T970 using Tapatalk

---

oh noes?

so instead of us making a bad hire, the heels make the bad hire? cool beans.

---

BenJ laid out some prerequisites that likely exclude us from consideration, per Albert Breer:


Welp.

That sounded like a message to Khan to me.  Get rid of Baalke and learn from the mistakes.

For sure, but he may also want to go somewhere that the owner either is fully on board with the GM's vision or at the very least isn't going to meddle in the team's affairs (/glares at Woody Johnson).

on a side note, why did it take me till today to realize the NYJ owner's name is just a 12-year old's chuckle-worthy Call of Duty gamertag?

---

You guys still think there's going to be a change, hmm? Interesting.

White helmets in 2025, that should get the offense clickin'

---

oh noes?

so instead of us making a bad hire, the heels make the bad hire? cool beans.

---

BenJ laid out some prerequisites that likely exclude us from consideration, per Albert Breer:


Welp.

I mean a lot teams with openings will come to him say " you can help choose a GM you align with " and all will say " we want you to help fix our mistakes ", but none of the teams with openings have a recent history of those things. If they did, they wouldn't have HC openings.

Khan has repeatedly gone to new coaches/staff and even players to ask the mistakes/improvements portion. It's why the new MEC exists.

For Jax, it all comes down to if Baalke survives or not. If he does, I'm sure Khan will ask Johnson to help with FO/GM hires for alignment. Because he did the same thing when he hired both Urban Meyer and technically he asked Pedersen if he was okay with Baalke. There was even the press conferences after the Dougie hire of a better organizational alignment as a prominent change.

Neither of those criteria rule out the Jags.

It does, if Johnson thinks that Baalke is the source of our misalignment/dysfunction. As stated earlier, I believe it to be a shot across the bow, that if you want to entertain an interview, this better be a clean sweep with a clear vision of how to get things right that Johnson agrees with.

If we just come in with "we dunno why things went in the crapper last year, ideas?", something tells me the interview is over immediately.

It's all speculative, but if nothing else, I like that the guy has a clear expectation to set the tone for the franchise that looks to bring him in. It sounds like he's not willing to settle for just a job, and good on him for that.

---

There's no point in letting Doug go if Baalke isnt walking right there with him. If it isnt a full house clean, just run it back with them both.

I don't see the point in that.  If anything give it to a hungry OC who will take the job even with Baalke, even if they're not at the top of the list.  Someone like Klint Kubiak from NO, he comes from a good football lineage and hopefully can turn Lawrence or at least give him something else to work through.  Don't forget for the first 2 weeks New Orleans offense was on fire... before they lost the next 7.

Yeah, even if we keep Baalke I want a new coaching staff on both sides.

---

Looks like Bill Belichick pulling a Rodney Dangerfield and headed back to school, UNC, specifically.  Do ya'll think we dodged a bullet or missed an opportunity?

I didn't see him as a miracle cure. UNC is probably a bad fit, too, but for someone in their 70's it's a paying gig where you should be able to get by without yearly trips to the BCS playoff. I think he's retired again by age 75.

Unless he came with someone being groomed as the HCIW, it's the equivalent of signing Mitch Morse to fix the center position.

---

Looks like Bill Belichick pulling a Rodney Dangerfield and headed back to school, UNC, specifically.  Do ya'll think we dodged a bullet or missed an opportunity?

I'll side with dodged a bullet.  I just don't think a guy bordering on retirement is going to have the energy to completely change the culture.  If you had looked at the Patriots fans message board there wasn't many fans regretting the loss of the GOAT.  In my mind, I feel like you'd get one year of [BLEEP]-chewing that could turn it around for a year, but I don't see Belichick as a good architect in terms of talent acquisition and a sustainable winning approach.

@and now we can consider re-signing Mac. @

---

If we are able to get Ben Johnson i think there is a very good chance we go Jeanty in the 1st and upgrading the interior oline will be at the top of the priority list imo

---

The thing with Ben Johnson is we would likely have to wait till AFTER the superbowl to interview him. By then, Vrabel and Cohen are gone. Any good options are gone. This situation has disaster written all over it.

No. Ben Johnson can interview but he can’t officially become the HC until Detroit is done.

Makes sense, if DET clinches the 1 seed, they'll have the bye week after Black Monday and won't even know who they are playing, might be perfect time to squeeze in a quick meeting.

---

If we are able to get Ben Johnson i think there is a very good chance we go Jeanty in the 1st and upgrading the interior oline will be at the top of the priority list imo

I'm sorry, but after spending 1st round picks on Fournette and Ettiene, I would hope this franchise has learned their lesson that we cannot afford to keep using 1st round picks on RB's.

---

If we are able to get Ben Johnson i think there is a very good chance we go Jeanty in the 1st and upgrading the interior oline will be at the top of the priority list imo

Regardless of who the coach is, I certainly hope they have enough sense to prioritize the interior offensive line in free agency and the draft. Jeanty looks like the "real deal" with the skill-set to become one of the few true difference-making running backs in today's pass-happy NFL. He is most often compared to LaDainian Tomlinson, the HOF back whose 11 year career was not only extremely productive (over 13,500 yards and 145 touchdowns), but amazingly consistent. Would he be worth a top 7 pick considering the Jaguars already have a good back in Bigsby and much greater needs in the secondary and both lines? A backfield of Jeanty and Bigsby is certainly comparable to Gibbs and Montgomery which would appeal greatly to Johnson.Of course, the Jaguars do not currently have an offensive line remotely comparable to that of the Lions and it's hard to imagine they will next year, unless they miraculously sign Trey Smith and both Little and Harrison become top 10-15 tackles. 

Signing Johnson and a new G.M. would be great regardless of whom they draft, and it will certainly be very interesting to see in which direction they would go.

---

Most in that situation absolutely do not take focus off the Super Bowl to go interview. It’s just a fact man.

Well that would also be wrong. It happens all the time. 

They interview BEFORE the SB but wait until after to make it official. There’s literally a period of time during the playoffs where assistants of teams in the playoffs can interview for HC openings.

Kyle Shannahan did it with the Falcons. Frank Reich with the Eagles. Kevin OcConnel and the Rams. Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson interviewed last year during the playoffs.

Just a couple off the top of my head.

If the Lions make the superbowl, should we do a friendly wager if Ben Johnson interviews with the Jacksonville Jaguars during the week prior?

---

Well that would also be wrong. It happens all the time. 

They interview BEFORE the SB but wait until after to make it official. There’s literally a period of time during the playoffs where assistants of teams in the playoffs can interview for HC openings.

Kyle Shannahan did it with the Falcons. Frank Reich with the Eagles. Kevin OcConnel and the Rams. Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson interviewed last year during the playoffs.

Just a couple off the top of my head.

If the Lions make the superbowl, should we do a friendly wager if Ben Johnson interviews with the Jacksonville Jaguars during the week prior?

Why?

Assistant coaches interview all the time during the playoffs. 

And Ben Johnson might not even interview in Jacksonville at all.

---

If the Lions make the superbowl, should we do a friendly wager if Ben Johnson interviews with the Jacksonville Jaguars during the week prior?

Why?

Assistant coaches interview all the time during the playoffs. 

And Ben Johnson might not even interview in Jacksonville at all.

Of course Ben Johnson is going to have back channel discussions with Chicago, NY (giants and jets), and the Jags.

Dude is a hot prospective HC option.  He's gonna talk to several teams to help drive his potential contract.  Supply and demand...  He's highly demanded and there is not that much sustained supply.  The more teams he's rumored to be speaking with will drive his contract.  If Johnson doesn't have a discussion with the Jaguars it's because of Baalke...  And that is all we need to know.

Baalke is therefore the cancer of this franchise.

---

I love AI. I said "Jacksonville Jaguars fire Trent Baalke".

https://suno.com/song/37be8903-e50b-49ec...d269a4b1c8

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

---

"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."

I love AI. I said "Jacksonville Jaguars fire Trent Baalke".

https://suno.com/song/37be8903-e50b-49ec...d269a4b1c8

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

This needs to blast during the Jets game.

---