(09-21-2020, 02:50 AM)jrvegeeta Wrote:

(09-21-2020, 02:18 AM)NeptuneBeachBum Wrote: One winning season in 8 years and our next best season was 6-10? Hell yah I'm doubting him.  He's been a disaster and lucked out on Minshew as a 6th round draft pick.

If we do not win 7+ games, I expect Caldwell and Morrone will both be sent packing.

Most of the players Caldwell was drafting went exactly where they should have during the drafts. Stop blaming a GM for poor coaching decisions, which is what has dogged this team for decades. Bad coaching will ALWAYS cancel out great talent because no player, no matter how good he is, comes into the NFL without needing to learn the speed, system and the culture - no exceptions. Players do not come up with gameplans or dictate how a system is run. That's the COACHING STAFF.

On top of all that, Tom Coughlin came in and ruined a pretty good setup by Caldwell. Don't even try to say that they made the playoffs because of Coughlin - nearly all of that talent from that 2017 team was drafted by Caldwell. What happened to all of those players? Coughlin ran them off - and now Caldwell is forced to take the blame for all of it from us fans because we think we know exactly what goes on inside the building. Newsflash: WE DON'T.

Fire Caldwell if he drafts a guy that turns out to be on the same level as Blaine Gabbert or any other player from the 'He-who-must-not-be-mentioned' era, but not for drafting good/great players that the coaching staff uses incorrectly.

Caldwell had his fair share of gaffes prior to Coughlin coming in an doing for the Jags what he did for them previously, spending on free agents to get the team in a better spot quickly, and basically blowing up the cap. Unfortunatley, this approach caused us a problem where solid young talent became disgruntled and moved on once they had a chance to jump ship.

I like the post-Coughlin approach Caldwell has taken.  It required some monumentally difficult decisions, and he made them in order to get the team in turnaround mode as quickly as possible.  

You mention the coaching staff.  Caldwell hires the coaches.  He hired Gus, didn't he?  It's a toss-up to say if Coughlin or Caldwell hired Marrone, but he definitely had a say in the staff changes that did (and didn't) happen this past offseason.  I think the Gruden hire may turn out to be the one that saves his (and Marrone') job.  It's looking good so far.  

No, we don't know what's going on inside the building.  But, you get a pretty good sense of things based on what's happened with the team over the past couple of years, and it has been an absolute train wreck as far as first round picks are concerned.  Coughlin didn't help things one bit, but there was a mindset inside the organization that allowed guys like Ramsey and Yan to become distractions, to the point where veteran presences like Calais were almost completely ignored by the younger players.  

I really hope Caldwell does turn things around this year and next.  I think he's learned a lot from his mistakes over the years, and especially working under TC the past couple of seasons.  He seems to have figured out what NOT to do in rebuilding this roster.  Hopefully this new focus turns out to be the model moving forward.  But, I'm still skeptical about Caldwell unti we see what happens this year.

(09-21-2020, 08:05 AM)rufftime Wrote: I am definitely still doubting Dave.  So far the plan for this season and next is looking better than I expected.  We are young look OK and are loaded with picks and money next year.  It is a long season though, and I am just going to watch it play out.

At this moment, we appear to have a talented offense and a weak defense.  Credit to him for making some bold choices on offense including rolling with Robinson and having faith in the OL.  At the same time he choose to go with a much younger defense that is struggling.  Four defensive starters are gone via trades he made this offseason.  

If they come together and finish 8-8 or better, I am OK to let it roll.  Especially if the losses are close like yesterday.

Agreed.

Even if they don't finish 8-8, I think that as long as they show the kind of competitiveness they did the past 2 weeks, that will alleve a lot of the concerns I have.  I can live with the losses like we saw yesterday coming from such a young team.  With the draft capital and cap room they have built up, if the team is competitive now, they will be vying for a division title as soon as next year with a few more acquisitions.  

Dave had to make some very difficult, and unpopular moves this year to clean up the mess that Coughlin left behind.  Those kinds of moves can make or break a GM.  Right now, it's looking like he made the right moves.  I'm hoping that continues to be the case, and we can finally get back to winning in the way the team did going back to the early years.

I was hoping Minshew would take that next step to remove the Lawrence chatter from the lexicon.  We don't need to tank.  And with the weapons they've added this year, we're seeing what an effective QB can do.  His progression is a bright spot, and a sign that things can only get better.

This team has a feel to it very much like what we enjoyed in the '96 season.

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