Hope everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving, with plenty of good food and good times.  Of course, this has to be excluding the Jaguars, because they habitually give me indigestion.  This week has been no exception.

My thoughts...

1.  Last week was a bit of a nightmare because of 2-3 drive extending penalties that kept the Jaguars' defense on the field after 3rd down stops which led to 49ers scores.  Either the Jaguars didn't learn their lessons, or they didn't have enough of that, because on 4th and 3 inside the Falcons' 10, Larentee McCray jumps offsides, giving the Falcons a first down when they had forced a punt.  The next play, Cordarelle Patterson has like a 40 something yard run.  Later, the Jaguars stopped the Falcons on 3rd down, forcing a FG, but RRH uses leverage on a FG, drawing a 15 yard penalty giving the Falcons a 1st down.  The next play, Patterson runs for a TD, putting the Falcons up 14-0 instead of 10-0.  But that entire sequence of events was triggered by McCray jumping offsides.  In the key defensive drive, #21 gave up a first down on a 3rd down hold.  This team isn't good enough to continue to pay compound interest on mental mistakes.  If family didn't make you cuss this weekend, those drive continuing morale sapping penalties certainly did.

2.  The frustrating play didn't stop there.  We actually managed to get a coverage sack.  I didn't think I'd ever type that this year.  But anyway, the sack created a 3rd and long.  The very next play, Ryan hits a check down to a RB way short of the first down, only to have him run for and get the first down.  All the time we are behind the chains for whatever reason, we rarely convert.  One of the few times we get the other guys behind the chains, they convert.

3.  On that drop by #33 in the right flat in the red zone, could somebody please tell me what the hell Jawaan Taylor was doing?!?  At the snap, he stands up out of his stance and looks around, while everyone else around him is playing normally.  It was as if he thought there was a pre snap penalty or something.  It's hard enough for him to pass protect under normal circumstances.  Standing there looking confused and not blocking anyone can't make things any easier.  Of course, consistent with that, he had two penalties inside the red zone in the second half-a false start and a holding penalty, which caused us to kick a FG instead of possibly putting it in the end zone.

4.Granted, you certainly don't want RBs fumbling.  But given how dependable he has been, why was Robinson benched-albeit briefly?  If the idea is to discourage poor play, then the almost the entire team should have been benched at one point or another.  Certainly most of the other players who have committed bad play/penalties are nowhere near as productive as Robinson.

5.  I don't think Bartch had a particularly good game against Grady Jarrett.  There were a couple of plays where Jarrett beat him badly with quickness.  The first was on a run to Robinson that  resulted in  afast loss of yardage.  Another play late in th first half, Jarrett flushed Trevor Lawrence out of the pocket to his left resulting in an incompletion.

6.  Aside from the penalties described in #1 above, I thought Special teams were okay...nothing great.  It was good to see Mickens back.  He was a good returner for us before, and he had a nice return early on.

7.  Rookie Watch:

      A.  Trevor Lawrence-it seems apparent to me Trevor Lawrence heats up and thrives in up temp situations.  We saw it in preseason against Dallas, and we saw it today.  Inexplicably, after the change in tempo contributed to a TD drive, we got off of the tempo the very next drive.  He seemed to show more confidence in Treadwell.  He took a particularly nasty shot by #98, and got hit in the head on another pass rush in the second half.  At least one of those should have had a penalty.  He still needs to improve short accuracy.  His mobility was key today, as he ran for some good gains and first downs, and he scrambled his way out of some sacks.

     B.  Travis Etienne-DNP

     C.  Tyson Campbell-Had his best game as a pro, with a couple PBU and an INT.  It seems as though his improved play is directly tied to the switch to zone defense.  Now it's good that the coaching staff seemes to have found a scheme that matches Campbell's abilities.  But that's ultimately an indictment on Baalke.  Baalke knew or should have known Cullen's scheme preferences to play man.  He had no business drafting a zone CB.  Drafting a zone CB means he didn't correctly evaluate the talent, even though he is playing better.

     D.  Walker Little-DNP

     E.  Andre Cisco-I did not see him.  I know he had a groin injury.  I don't think he played.

     F.  Jay Tufele-DNP.  Currently on UR designated to return.

     G.  Jordan Smith-DNP-been inactive all year.

     H.  Luke Farrell-I did not see him.

8.  Earlier in the season, I felt Myles Jack was getting on my nerves.  But he played well today with a few key run blitzes.

9.  After some improvement over the past few weeks, I'd say the defense-in particular the run defense, has taken a step back.  There was a disastroud first quarter against the Colts, and backed it up with an equally bad first quarter against the 49ers last week.  This time, Cordarrelle Patterson gashed us with some big runs.  Improvement against the pass should not come at the expense of run defense.l  It's okay for us to have both strong run defense and pass defense.

10.  Bottom line-This was yet another instance of when stupid penalties at bad times cost this team dearly.  I'm not sure if that's a lack of taent, a lack of quality coaching, both, or something else.  But this has been possibly the most frustrating part of this season.  The propensity for this team to kill itself with penalties seems exponentially higher than it has been in this team's history.  Trevor and the passing offense showed some spark at times, but the team still needs more speed and ability overall.  I'm not sure, but without looking at the schedule, it seems there is maybe one or two wins left here-if the team can manage to play better football without self destructing.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

Great write up Bullseye. I agree that Tyson Campbell had his best game as a pro.

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Respect the game.  Play with a sense of urgency. 


1.)  Take care of the ball.  Win the turnover battle.

2.)  It's all about 3rd down.  Win on 3rd down to win the game.

3.) Playmakers make plays.  The only reason that you put your uniform on is to make plays. In order to EARN your paycheck, you must make plays.  

Learn from the great collapse of 2023.  

Great job as always.  A couple of comments:

6 - On the negative side, Mickens did have a fumble.  It was recovered by Claybrooks so it didn't hurt us, but it easily could have.

7H - Luke Farrell was a healthy inactive.  It appears with O'Shaugnessy healthy, Farrell joins the long list of the Jaguars draft class not getting playing time.

Edit (I had one more comment):

10 - The Jaguars have the Texans and the Jets on the schedule so those are possible wins.  Otherwise, it is tough.

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Great job as always.  A couple of comments:

6 - On the negative side, Mickens did have a fumble.  It was recovered by Claybrooks so it didn't hurt us, but it easily could have.

7H - Luke Farrell was a healthy inactive.  It appears with O'Shaugnessy healthy, Farrell joins the long list of the Jaguars draft class not getting playing time.

Agred on both counts, though the Farrell analysis is more palatable considering we are finally getting positive play from Campbell.  I still have problems with the Campbell pick, though.  It's good that the coaches are showing scheme flexibility, but they shouldn't draft guys that aren't scheme fits in the first place.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

"The Falcons had scored only three points in their past two games combined."

I was driving home from Destin....picked up the game when in range.
THIS told me all I needed to know....plus the falcons were favored.

of course, the Jags lose. 

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"Stay tight, stay close. Great things are going to continue to happen for this football team."  - Doug Peterson

I think adjusting the scheme to the players is a better idea than drafting inferior players to fit a scheme.

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I’m guessing that Hollister is going to be TE#3 next week if Arnold is unable to go.

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Respect the game.  Play with a sense of urgency. 


1.)  Take care of the ball.  Win the turnover battle.

2.)  It's all about 3rd down.  Win on 3rd down to win the game.

3.) Playmakers make plays.  The only reason that you put your uniform on is to make plays. In order to EARN your paycheck, you must make plays.  

Learn from the great collapse of 2023.  

I think adjusting the scheme to the players is a better idea than drafting inferior players to fit a scheme.

The good teams do both to a degree.

But if you continue to draft guys that aren't good scheme fits you could end up not doing anything particularly well and not getting the most out of your players.

It's one of the reasons why teams that are always changing coaches are always bad.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

Great job as always.  A couple of comments:

6 - On the negative side, Mickens did have a fumble.  It was recovered by Claybrooks so it didn't hurt us, but it easily could have.

7H - Luke Farrell was a healthy inactive.  It appears with O'Shaugnessy healthy, Farrell joins the long list of the Jaguars draft class not getting playing time.

Agred on both counts, though the Farrell analysis is more palatable considering we are finally getting positive play from Campbell.  I still have problems with the Campbell pick, though.  It's good that the coaches are showing scheme flexibility, but they shouldn't draft guys that aren't scheme fits in the first place.

I agree that it is good to see Campbell starting to play better.  Hopefully, he continues to improve.  I also think it is good coaching to design your scheme around the players.  However, it is unfortunate that they have to do so because an early draft pick can't play the type of defense they wanted to play.  

I'll also say that early picks are more important than late picks.  However, I'm still very disappointed in the lack of playing time by our rookies.  A player doesn't help you win games while sitting on a bench.  Right now, it is just the #1 overall pick and the #33 overall pick being the only ones with significant playing time.  We have a second round pick that is active, but doesn't see the field barring injury to another player.  We have a third round pick that plays on special teams, but almost nothing else.  One fourth round pick is injured right now, but even when healthy, he was either a healthy inactive or played sparingly in a backup role.  We have another fourth rounder who has been inactive all year.  It now appears that our fifth rounder will be inactive barring injury to another player.  Our sixth rounder couldn't even make this lousy team's 53 man roster despite playing at arguably our weakest position.  I hate the idea of Meyer/Baalke getting another draft to mess up.

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Agred on both counts, though the Farrell analysis is more palatable considering we are finally getting positive play from Campbell.  I still have problems with the Campbell pick, though.  It's good that the coaches are showing scheme flexibility, but they shouldn't draft guys that aren't scheme fits in the first place.

I agree that it is good to see Campbell starting to play better.  Hopefully, he continues to improve.  I also think it is good coaching to design your scheme around the players.  However, it is unfortunate that they have to do so because an early draft pick can't play the type of defense they wanted to play.  

I'll also say that early picks are more important than late picks.  However, I'm still very disappointed in the lack of playing time by our rookies.  A player doesn't help you win games while sitting on a bench.  Right now, it is just the #1 overall pick and the #33 overall pick being the only ones with significant playing time.  We have a second round pick that is active, but doesn't see the field barring injury to another player.  We have a third round pick that plays on special teams, but almost nothing else.  One fourth round pick is injured right now, but even when healthy, he was either a healthy inactive or played sparingly in a backup role.  We have another fourth rounder who has been inactive all year.  It now appears that our fifth rounder will be inactive barring injury to another player.  Our sixth rounder couldn't even make this lousy team's 53 man roster despite playing at arguably our weakest position.  I hate the idea of Meyer/Baalke getting another draft to mess up.

This year would be more tolerable if the rookies were getting a lot of playing time, making mistakes, but also making contributions.  But the draft class is a nucleus of 2, and that 2nd is Campbell.  For a 1-15 team, there is no reason we aren't getting more contributions from rookies.  I kicked around the idea of getting rid of the rookie watch segment of this post because it's been mostly just Trevor Lawrence.  Baalke has hit on some players in the past, but he has spectacularly whiffed on many players too, especially at WR, to give me trepidation about the future of this franchise.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

The major difference with Campbell's improvement has been him playing this soft zone. He is way better when he can keep the play in front of him and make a play on the ball rather than having to turn his head around and find the ball to make a play in man to man.

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Just returned home from another demoralizing loss. My main observations from today:

1. The offense is about as bad as it gets. The lack of receivers with speed makes things very difficult for Trevor Lawrence and it is clearly starting to get to him. Those who are already using the "B" word are basically ignorant about football. He will be fine if the G.M. finds better offensive linemen and receivers to help him out. Unfortunately, we will need to wait until next season to see this.

2. Jawaan Taylor needs to be benched. He is a major liability in every way imaginable. His holding penalty today may have cost them the game. Play Walker Little beginning next week. How much worse can he be than Taylor? Playing now will give him much needed experience as they need him to be a starter next season at one of the tackle positions.

3. Penalties are killing this team every week. They do not look like a team that is well coached. Lack of talent aside, continuously allowing your opponent to stay on the field due to careless penalties is inexcusable. The coaches must take some responsibility for this. I expect Bevell to be gone next season, but he is not the only guy that needs to go.

4. I have saved the one positive for last. Tyson Campbell is beginning to look like a guy that was worthy of being taken at the top of round 2. We all knew he had the physical tools to be a solid corner, but the inability to play the ball needed to improve greatly. He has shown this the past 2 weeks and as his confidence grows, I would expect to see many more games like today. He and Griffin have the makings of a very good tandem. Cisco needs to start at safety now to give him the necessary experience prior to next year. He and Campbell have the tools to be main contributors in the secondary for a long time.

Sadly, there are no more positive observations for this week. The rest of this season has only 2 "winnable" games- Jets and Texans. My guess is that they somehow win one of these games- probably against the Texans at home. A 3-14 season will be a great disappointment, especially since the team I saw today has shown little improvement as the season has progressed. That doesn't bode well for the future if Urban Meyer continues to be the head coach.

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"The Falcons had scored only three points in their past two games combined."

I was driving home from Destin....picked up the game when in range.
THIS told me all I needed to know....plus the falcons were favored.

of course, the Jags lose. 

They were without Cordarelle Patterson the previous games and now he was back...

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I'd say i were hopeful that our staff would come away from being beat up by Patterson with some insight on how to make Shenault more useful, but they still don't know what to do with James Robinson after nine months to evaluate him, so... that ain't happening.

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2. Jawaan Taylor needs to be benched. He is a major liability in every way imaginable. His holding penalty today may have cost them the game. Play Walker Little beginning next week. How much worse can he be than Taylor? Playing now will give him much needed experience as they need him to be a starter next season at one of the tackle positions.

I agree with you about Taylor however I don’t think it is as simple as plug and play with little.

People think that just because you play offensive tackle that you can play both sides but this isn’t necessarily the case. Especially in the NFL. 

When you play your entire career having guys come at you from a specific side, your instincts and muscle memory are going to be associated with that side. Switching sides is going to put you up against the best in the world on your non-dominant side that could feel foreign In a lot of ways and will be greatly exaggerated given the level of talent you will be facing.

Maybe something you can pull off in college and find success given talent gaps but rarely works on pro level.

It’s not quite as extreme as playing golf or throwing with your non dominant hand but essentially the same principles.

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3 things stand out to me.

1. Trevor looked so much more confident in the 2nd half and was throwing some absolute darts. The throw to Oshag down the seam and then the TD to Mickens were arguably his best throws of the day.
2. This team beats themselves more than any other team in the league. Having a great drive and it's 1st and goal? Terrible hold on Taylor (he is absolute garbage). Got another good drive going? Ooops... dropped pass. Falcons appear offsides so it's a free play? Nope. Finally get a big stop on 3rd down which then would give the Jags great field position? Whoops! Penalty on special teams.
3. Their gameplans are trash on offense. They look better once they abandon them at halftime.

They set themselves up to fail every single game.

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I don’t know which is killing our momentum more, dropped passes or penalties extending an opponent’s drive. Sometimes our D is their own worst enemy.

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"The Falcons had scored only three points in their past two games combined."

I was driving home from Destin....picked up the game when in range.
THIS told me all I needed to know....plus the falcons were favored.

of course, the Jags lose. 

Yes, the Falcons were outscored 63-3 in the prior 2 games.  Thank God for the Jags .... definitely a sure cure for any struggling team.

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"The Falcons had scored only three points in their past two games combined."

I was driving home from Destin....picked up the game when in range.
THIS told me all I needed to know....plus the falcons were favored.

of course, the Jags lose. 

Yes, the Falcons were outscored 63-3 in the prior 2 games.  Thank God for the Jags .... definitely a sure cure for any struggling team.

And now otw to LA to face a Rams team that has lost 3 in a row and needs some mojo back.

LA Rams also: "Thank God for the Jags".

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"The Falcons had scored only three points in their past two games combined."

I was driving home from Destin....picked up the game when in range.
THIS told me all I needed to know....plus the falcons were favored.

of course, the Jags lose. 

Yes, the Falcons were outscored 63-3 in the prior 2 games.  Thank God for the Jags .... definitely a sure cure for any struggling team.

Someone on another site called us “The slump-busters”.  

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