(09-08-2019, 07:01 PM)Bullseye Wrote: This is the first game of the 25th anniversary season.  Over the past 24 years, we've seen a lot of things and had a lot of memories, good and bad.  The jubilation of being awarded the team, the unveiling of the uniform, making Tom Coughlin head coach, the first ten signings, the expansion draft, the trade for Brunell, our first draft-featuring Tony Boselli, the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Boyz II Men singing the national anthem in our first game ever, Brunell to Howard for the game winning TD in our first win ever, beating the loathsome Steelers at home for our first home win   The history continued with the season opening win against Pittsburgh, getting to beat down the then hated Carolina, Rison running the wrong route, Brunell giving him an epic butt chewing, TC cutting him Rison the next day the run, continued by Morten's inexplicable miss, the wild card in in Buffalo, Woody Paige's "Jagwads" dig and Jacksonville's win in Denver are some of the noteworthy earliest memories of this franchise.  The timeline continues with the first two Monday night games-both wins, Little Man's 5 TDs in a game, 62-7, Uh-oh and three vs. the tacks, "Soward's folly", 234 yards, the punt return v. Philly, Spurrier's return, the Leftwich pick, FT vs. Doss, BL to Wilford, the return to the postseason, "Fisher Sucks," 9-0, 375, the "might getcha" defense, the collapse of 2006, Leftwich vs. Garrard, BL's release, Northcutt's drop, the trades for Derrick Harvey and Quentin Groves, "In Gene We Trust," and the sad days of Mularkey continues.  The modern day memories began with the hirings of Dave Caldwell and Gus Bradley and disastrous seasons but good draft classes in 2014 and 2016.  The fiddy birger put on Indy, the firing of Gus Bradley, Campbell and Bouye, the trade for Dareus and miraculous 2017 run, "Myles Jack wasn't down," Yannick v. Fowler, Fpurnette's faulty hammy and fighting in Buffalo, the 2018 collapse and the Nick Foles signing brings us to today's unfortunate results.  But with the ups and downs-mostly downs, especially the lack of a Super Bow-l remember the days before Jacksonville got the Jaguars.  I'd much rather live with those ups and downs than without them.  Even with the losing, the Jaguars made life in Jacksonville far more interesting.  Now onto my thoughts on the game.


1.  Let me give unmitigated hats off to the Chiefs.  I said earlier this week that the Chiefs' offense is every bit as comparable to the 1999 Rams and the 2007 Patriots as being among the most prolific offenses within the last twenty seasons.  Today they demonstrated why.  Say what you want about our defense not coming to play, but most offenses can't do that to our defense.  You had the sense watching that game that had Mahomes not injured his ankle and Hill not been hurt, the Chiefs could have scored sixty.

2.  Speaking of our defense, taking nothing at all away from the Chiefs, the defense did not play a good game at all.  Watching the game was like watching the first half of the first Colts game last year.  Guys were running ridiculously wide open.  Not just once or twice, but repeatedly.  It was like watching the Spurrier era Gators against a division 2 team.  I don't know if I can pinpoint any one culprit.  I think there is plenty of reasons/blame to go around.  I think Andy Reid, Eric Bienemy and company outcoached and plain pencil whipped Marrone, Wash and Capers.  I think the Chiefs have superlative personnel.  I think there was a lot of miscommunication/non communication in the defense and just plain getting beat.  Now I still think this is a talented defense, and without question, most of the teams are not going to pose the same problems as KC, but the mental lapses have to stop.  We can't continue to have guys running wide open by 5-10 yards and expect to beat anyone. 

3.  Now, before I get any pushback for what I am about to type, I draw your attention to the lavish praise I have heaped upon the Chiefs in the above two paragraphs.  Officiating was NOT the determining factor in the game.  Kansas City was flat out the better team.  However, I cannot say with a straight face that officiating was NOT an issue.  On KC's 4th play from scrimmage-the first play of the 2nd possession-Mahomes hit TE Travis Kelce on a huge play.  Jaguars' DE Josh Allen was held by RT Schwartz and it wasn't called.  I also believe that the hit that knocled out Nick Foles was a penalty.  The NFL supposedly wants to protect QBs and implemented new rules to stop defensive player from driving QBs into the turf with their full weight in the aftermath of Aaron Rodgers injury from 2-3 years ago.  Yet predictably, the hit on Foles meets that criteria perfectly, and they don't throw the flag.  It seemed like the only flags thrown on KC the whole game were when there were offsetting penalties.  To me, it is the continuation of a larger trend of widely disparate officiating when we go against premier QBs (think Aaron Rodgers game and AFCCG).  I reiterate a theme I uttered after the Buffalo game a few years ago.  We may not be as good a team as others, but the rules need to be applied consistently.  The benefit of the doubt by officials should not be given to or withheld from teams based upon the general impression of teams coming into the game.

4.  Most of us had trepidations about the offensive line going into this year.  Three of the projected starters on the offensive line-the entire left side-was returning from season ending injury the year before.  We had a rookie RT making his first start coming into this game.  Compounding things, LT Cam Robinson hyperextended his knee in a non contact drill on Thursday.  On top of that, his immediate replacement was going to miss this game because of hamstring issues.  We had to play a guy drafted in the 4th round last year, who hasn't played an NFL game and hadn't played LT since high school.  But Richardson actually played pretty well at LT.  He had a holding penalty on a run to the left, but I thought he held up pretty well against Clark.  Perhaps that's due to Clark not having film on him, but I think Richardson did a good job.  Hopefully he will continue to play well at LT, so when Cam Robinson finally returns, one way or another we'll have improved depth at OL and LT.   Cann allowed the hit on Foles.

5.  Another point of concern coming into the season was WR.  While most of us had confidence in Westbrook, the rest of the receiving corps was a series of question marks.  D.J. Chark did little to nothing in his rookie year, and showed next to nothing this preseason.  Chris Conley was a disappointment in Kansas City.  Marqise Lee is coming off a major knee injury, and was not exactly beloved by any number of Jaguars fans, and most people seem to have lost confidence in Cole.  Thus, seeing Chark have the game he had was encouraging.  He showed the same ability to get deep on vertical routes I saw when he was at LSU.  He showed the ability to make a catch over the middle and create yards after the catch.  Conley also had a good game with nearly 100 yards receiving.  Granted, it was against a defense that was very poor last year.  But to see those guys put up that kind of yardage was a good thing.

6.  Nice to know we still have Lambo.

7.  Rookie watch:

     A.  Josh Allen-I thought Allen played well.  He had two early pressures, including the uncalled holding penalty I described above, and he had a sack that was negated by the fight that resulted in Jack being ejected.  He also hustled in chasing down a screen to the left.

     B.  Jawaan Taylor-I thought he had a rough debut.  He had two holding penalties, and a sack.  I think he'll have better days ahead, and I am in no way hitting the panic button on him, but this was not a great performance.

     C.  Josh Oliver-DNP

     D.  Quincy Williams-Was good to see him in extended action.  Was in on his first play recording a TFL.  Later limped off the field with an apparent knee injury-seemingly the same knee that kept him out of the preseason.

     E.  Ryquell Armstead-Had a carry or two in the second half.

     F.  Gardner Minshew-what can I say?  For a 6th round pick making his first start with little game prep, thrust into action due to Foles injury, he did a heckuva job.  He wasn't going to outduek Mahomes under any circumstances, but you can't have problems with his performance.  His TD pass to Conley was nice.  He threw a pick, but that was Fournette's fault.  I still don't think we'll win many games with him in the lineup.  I think once teams prepare for him, you'll see a lot of blitzes, and I think coverage will be tighter, in part to adjust for his arm strength, in part because it's unlikely teams will have as big a lead as KC had.   I see the offense struggling.  But for today at least, you can't complain about Minshew's performance today.

     G.  Dontavious Russell-I saw him get a few reps, and I thought I saw him held on another penalty that wasn't called.  But I didn't see him make any impact.

8.  I was stunned to see Myles Jack to be ejected.  Not that I think he did nothing wrong.  He clearly punched the guy in front of the ref.  But the fact it was Jack that did it.  With as many dominant and outspoken personalities this defense has, for the comparatively understated Jack to lose it like that is stunning.  Perhaps it was borne of frustration over his performance earlier and the defense's lack of performance generally.  But Jack was way out of control and way out of character for him, and it negated a sack.

9.  But for his fumble and his contribution to the Minshew INT, Fournette actually had a decent game.  He had some good runs both inside and outside.  There was a run or two I thought he danced a little too much instead of being decisive, but on the whole I thought he was okay before he fumbled.

10.  Bottom line:  given how tough the first half of the schedule is, I'm sad to say the chances of this team reaching the playoffs is very slim, even though it's early.  Even assuming the defense returns to it's 2017 form or even better, it's unrealistic to expect Minshew to continue his level of play until Foles returns in 8 weeks, especially against the level of defenses coming up.  I don't know what fate has against this team or Jaguars fans, but it seems the stars have aligned against this team...again!  

I'm good with almost all of your analysis, but I have to disagree on your perception of Minshew.  This young man has taken the starter job in college on every team he has played for, Career overall QB rating 138.7  East Carolina 2017 129.1, 2016 124.0 and Washington State 2018 147.6 .   I will come back and eat crow if Minshew does not prove he could be the starter on a number of NFL teams after we have a body of work to really assess his play.

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