(06-12-2022, 08:40 PM)iHaunting Raven Wrote:

(06-12-2022, 04:20 PM)Bullseye Wrote: In 2016 the Jaguars were not a heavy blitzing team.

As a 4-3 scheme, the Jaguars LBs are more apt to drop into coverage.

They weren't habitual pass rushers that offensive schemes had to worry about blocking.  While they were key contributors to the defense, within the context of this conversation (DL production with and without surrounding help), their inclusion in this would not be appropriate.

But since you included them, both Telvin Smith and Poz were on the team and had the same attributes back in 2014 and 2015...before Ramsey and Ngakoue arrived on the team in 2016.  Both were excellent players for us.

But here were the Jaguars defensive rankings those years.

2014: 26th in points allowed and 25th in yards.
2015:  31st in points allowed and 24th in yards.

Ramsey and Ngakoue were drafted in 2016.
in 2016 They were 25th in scoring defense and 6th in yards allowed.  Notice the jumps in performance?  6 rankings higher in scoring, and 6th in yardage, up from 25th and 24th?  That was with them as rookies, and before Campbell and Bouye and Dareus were added.

There is no way you can avoid the fact Ngakoue and Ramsey were integral parts of the defense that improved between 2026-2018.

I don't act as if Ngakoue and Ramswey were the only reasons why the defense played well during that time.  To the contrary, over the years, I have lauded Campbell, Dareus, Jackson, Telvin Smith, Poz, Bouye, Church and Gipson for their play, in addition to Ramsey and Ngakoue.  But unlike those other guys, their departures were avoidable and ultimately bad for the team.  With Campbell's age and his declining play, eventually it made sense to get rid of him when we did.  Poz retired.  Again, an unavoidable departure.  Telvin Smith had his meltdown/stepped away...after the team actually extended him.  Again, that was unavoidable.  Church's and Bouye's play fell off dramatically.  They needed to go.  But Ramsey and Ngakoue were well inside their primes.  Both remained productive players, until the team pissed them off with their reluctance to sign either player.

Not trashing key contributors because I dislike their personalities is NOT the same as restricting kudos to them.

Serious question:  Have the Jaguars had enough pro bowl performances over the years to forget or completely disregard the contributions of Ngakoue and Ramsey-both of whom made the pro bowl?

The Jaguars have drafted all of two (2) Pro Bowlers at DE in our roughly 28 years of existencce. Tony Brackens in 1996 and Ngakoue in 2016-some 20 years later. But Jaguars fans hated both guys. I just hope we don't have to wait another 20 years before we manage to draft another Pro Bowl edge rusher, though I don't know why they'd ever want to play for us. Fans here hate productive defenders and the team historically does not shell out money for them.

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