Coaches don't have ceilings, QB's do. Our QB doesn't so therefore Gus doesn't.

So Bortles will has a bottom less level of potential

? He's just going to get better and better? Freaking sweet

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So Bortles will has a bottom less level of potential

? He's just going to get better and better? Freaking sweet

Until he gets to a point where he goes a full season without making a mistake, I'm not impressed [/sarcasm]

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No commercial messages in sigs

A coach's ceiling is a function of many factors, one critical one being the quality of the players.

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A coach's ceiling is a function of many factors, one critical one being the quality of the players.

take away Brady and Belichick is gone along time ago.

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So Bortles will has a bottom less level of potential

? He's just going to get better and better? Freaking sweet

 

He's in the race for the league lead inn TD passes and he's in the top ten for passing yards in his second year in the league and first year in this system.  That's a full year ahead of the Golden Child (Andrew Luck).  

 

Combine that with the top level weapons around him and right now I wouldn't put a ceiling on where Blake can go.  

 

Does that mean i think he's there yet?  no.  He has to get more consistent control of the ball through his mechanics, he has to make reads faster including identifying obvious mismatches pre-snap.  He also has to make less mistakes.  We live in a world where the top 5 QB's in the league are going to throw single digit interceptions.  He has to get better on third down, and eliminate the three and outs.  

 

That being said, there's no reason that he can't produce at an elite level for a long time.  

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Let's just be honest here. This is a safe place. There are no wrong answers...


When you heard that Gus was coming back, did you honestly think next year would be a playoff year?


I just want your first reaction. Was your first, initial/gut reaction one of excitement? Or was it one of, well here we go again? And why?


To me, it was very much a , "here we go again" reaction. Based on his defense that I have no confidence in, and what I perceive as a team that consistently looks under prepared, I'm not very optimistic about next year.


I have to talk myself into conditions of excitement. I have to rationalize scenarios that would make me optimistic. I have to talk about "ifs" that would allow us to win.


If Gus gives up on the Seattle scheme. If Gus hires a really great defensive coordinator. If Caldwell hits on free agency and the draft... then maybe we're a playoff team even with Gus as coach.


So to those that are defending the decision to stick with Gus, what was your initial reaction? Why did you have that reaction? And are there any conditions you have to give in order to be positive about Gus moving into 2016?

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Let's just be honest here. This is a safe place. There are no wrong answers...


When you heard that Gus was coming back, did you honestly think next year would be a playoff year?


I just want your first reaction. Was your first, initial/gut reaction one of excitement? Or was it one of, well here we go again? And why?


To me, it was very much a , "here we go again" reaction. Based on his defense that I have no confidence in, and what I perceive as a team that consistently looks under prepared, I'm not very optimistic about next year.


I have to talk myself into conditions of excitement. I have to rationalize scenarios that would make me optimistic. I have to talk about "ifs" that would allow us to win.


If Gus gives up on the Seattle scheme. If Gus hires a really great defensive coordinator. If Caldwell hits on free agency and the draft... then maybe we're a playoff team even with Gus as coach.


So to those that are defending the decision to stick with Gus, what was your initial reaction? Why did you have that reaction? And are there any conditions you have to give in order to be positive about Gus moving into 2016?

 

I expected Gus to be back, because it was pretty obvious through the season that he was getting the "you can suck and it doesn't matter" thumbs up from management, so I wasn't shocked at all to hear he would be. I can't say I wasn't disappointed at it, though. I had always hoped that maybe Khan would realize just how poor of a job Gus has done so far and cut him short a year to get someone decent in the building.

 

I can't see the Jaguars as a playoff team without a repeat of how the schedule worked out this season. The Jaguars will need to face a bunch of teams with their QB injured including the colts for the Jaguars to realistically stand a shot at getting to the playoffs, but my guess is that even with a lot of great offseason player acquisitions the Jaguars will continue to underachieve against the schedule and probably end up around where they are right now because they won't have the kind of fortune they had this year to face one of the easiest schedules the team has ever faced. Gus will need another 5 or 6 elite level defensive talents (not just good or great, I mean elite. The team will have to get Von Miller, Josh Norman, Fowler will have to be a monster pass rusher, and the team will need to draft someone like Jalen Ramsey along with a top tier linebacker in the draft or free agency) in order for the team to succeed, and I don't think he'll get them.

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Think Caldwell is hoping for a Marvin Lewis or Ron Rivera payoff for his patience. It's do or die next season for Gus. We do need some players on defense though, the secondary combined with the DL is just pathetic. Outside of Telvin and Dante, there is no hope for our defense

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Let's just be honest here. This is a safe place. There are no wrong answers...


When you heard that Gus was coming back, did you honestly think next year would be a playoff year?


I just want your first reaction. Was your first, initial/gut reaction one of excitement? Or was it one of, well here we go again? And why?


To me, it was very much a , "here we go again" reaction. Based on his defense that I have no confidence in, and what I perceive as a team that consistently looks under prepared, I'm not very optimistic about next year.


I have to talk myself into conditions of excitement. I have to rationalize scenarios that would make me optimistic. I have to talk about "ifs" that would allow us to win.


If Gus gives up on the Seattle scheme. If Gus hires a really great defensive coordinator. If Caldwell hits on free agency and the draft... then maybe we're a playoff team even with Gus as coach.


So to those that are defending the decision to stick with Gus, what was your initial reaction? Why did you have that reaction? And are there any conditions you have to give in order to be positive about Gus moving into 2016?

 

My initial reaction was something like this 



 

I had hoped this team looking like garbage down the stretch of what was considered "the easy part of the schedule" would be enough to get him fired, oh well.

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Think Caldwell is hoping for a Marvin Lewis or Ron Rivera payoff for his patience. It's do or die next season for Gus. We do need some players on defense though, the secondary combined with the DL is just pathetic. Outside of Telvin and Dante, there is no hope for our defense

Dante hasn't taken a single NFL snap.

And Colvin is good. Even if he isn't a "shut down" corner.

House is decent.

Safety area needs a lot of help. (draft or sign a true FS and have Sample at SS next year maybe?)

Marks and Miller are foundations of the Dline....

 

 

so.... hyperbole aside, the D is bad... but not really needing 8-9 new starters.

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Dante hasn't taken a single NFL snap.

And Colvin is good. Even if he isn't a "shut down" corner.

House is decent.

Safety area needs a lot of help. (draft or sign a true FS and have Sample at SS next year maybe?)

Marks and Miller are foundations of the Dline....



so.... hyperbole aside, the D is bad... but not really needing 8-9 new starters.

I agree with you on this. The d is bad, but it's not 32 in the league bad.


I honestly think the d underperformed this season

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I agree with you on this. The d is bad, but it's not 32 in the league bad.


I honestly think the d underperformed this season

see.... I think they over-performed last season...

which gave many the idea it would be better this season.

 

missing Fowler, and Clem falling off a cliff showed us just how close we were to terrible on defense.

Also.... our O was so bad, the D had different scenarios to deal with last year....

 

I thought going into the season our offense would have to carry our D.

That is exactly what was shown... and our offense is still too young and has a couple issues still needing to be worked out.

 

I expect next season, the D will improve, slightly.... but we will still need to lean on BB5 and crew. We NEED the run game to improve.

I think we'll still need to score 24+ every game to win next season.

 

But... we will see. Maybe Caldwell makes some magic happen.

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His head is sticking through it.

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I'm a bit excited for next season with Gus returning knowing the team isn't going to be starting over yet again. I see Caldwell adding some free agent talent while adding key talent through the draft, and then there's all the players returning off IR and young players being a year more experienced. Younger players like Yeldon, Greene, Lee, Cann and Armbrister should really be looking good next year.


 

Coming off IR I can see Arrelious Benn as another addition to the Jaguars deep passing game as the Jaguars fastest WR, and Corey Grant gives as their fastest overall players gives their running game another dynamic. I still him as the Jaguars version of Sproles despite his naysayers. Linder's return will solidify the interior OL with Cann likely kicking Beadles to the curb, and if Josh Wells has improved while on IR he should beat out Sam Young and could give Joekel a run for his money at LT.


 

Defensively the team should be much better off. Poz will be out of his cast, Fowler should give the Jaguars at least one legit pass rusher, and Sen-Derrick should be back on top of his game as a borderline pro bowl talent. With these two back, Roy Miller and Odrick are sure to look much improved, and we can add someone like Jaylon Smith at OTTO, Poz and Telvin are going to have field days out there. I imagine Skuta moving into a reserve role along with Armbrister and Tripp. S has been a huge question mark this season. We thought Sergio would be an answer, but Josh Evans appears to have beat him out, and Cyp just doesn't appear to be the answer. To this end I'm excited to see Sample back in the mix as a big, speedy S with some serious talent. He was raw last year and it showed, but I'm hoping he'll show up next season as a much improved player able to challenge for a starting role. 
At CB, House and Colvin are studs out there who will look far better with a legit pass rush, but the Jaguars need another CB. Gratz is at best a dime corner. I don't know what happened to McCray this past season after looking like an all out stud in 2014, but with any luck he'll figure things out and get back on his game. Marshall is starting to figure things out, but he's still a long ways away.


 

If this team can simply find themselves an OTTO, at least one legit Safety and a third CB, I feel it can be much improved largely because of Sen'Derrick being back on his game and Fowler finally being in the mix.  The offense is already looking great with plenty of weapons in the passing game, They just need to work on installing more of a running game. With an improved defense, I can totally see this team winning games next year despite a far tougher schedule.

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'02

Let's just be honest here. This is a safe place. There are no wrong answers...


When you heard that Gus was coming back, did you honestly think next year would be a playoff year?


I just want your first reaction. Was your first, initial/gut reaction one of excitement? Or was it one of, well here we go again? And why?


To me, it was very much a , "here we go again" reaction. Based on his defense that I have no confidence in, and what I perceive as a team that consistently looks under prepared, I'm not very optimistic about next year.


I have to talk myself into conditions of excitement. I have to rationalize scenarios that would make me optimistic. I have to talk about "ifs" that would allow us to win.


If Gus gives up on the Seattle scheme. If Gus hires a really great defensive coordinator. If Caldwell hits on free agency and the draft... then maybe we're a playoff team even with Gus as coach.


So to those that are defending the decision to stick with Gus, what was your initial reaction? Why did you have that reaction? And are there any conditions you have to give in order to be positive about Gus moving into 2016?

 

1.) Initial emotional reactions tend to not be the lost bastians of truth.  

 

2.) I didn't have an emotional reaction because i knew that he was more than likely coming back.  IF Blaine Gabbert looked like a true franchise QB that could lead a top 5 offense then Mularkey would probably have gotten a second year.  

 

3.) Against the saints We gave up 100 yards and 2 tds on explosive pass plays with undrafted rookie free agents in coverage.  Against the bucs we had a UFA get stripped of a kick, against the Jets we had a UFA drop a punt, we gave up two non offensive touchdowns on snap infractions by a Center that will probably not be here this season.  

 

I think that Gus has made his share of mistakes, as all coaches do.  But when you step back and take emotion out of the equation you can see that this was a team that in key situations showed that we had rookies and non core free agents making critical mistakes that cost us games.  

 

In the case of Corey Grant and Nick marshall I fully expect them to be more composed next year (And marshall taking his rightful place on special teams.)  Wis will be gone.  We know that we will have a completely different position group at LE, we know that we will probably draft an otto and a developmental mike.  We know that we will be getting a ton of help in the secondary and more young athletic bodies along the D-line.  

 

In other words, Gus Bradley doesn't have to be Vince Lombardi.  If Blake takes another step and the picks/signing on Defense are competent in the least this is a 10 win team, minimum.  

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