Jacksonville Jaguars

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When the schedule was announced last April, the thought was that this Sunday’s game in Baltimore would be a playoff tune-up for the Jaguars, and a play-out-the-string game for the Ravens, who were coming off a 5-11 season and would be installing the quarterback of their future in 2008. Well, the NFL is nothing if not unpredictable.

Join jaguars.com senior editor Vic Ketchman as he tackles the fans' tough questions.

The Cincinnati Bengals and Jac

A year ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars finished up the 2007 season with an 11-5 record, and a playoff berth.  A year later, they have completely flipped their fortunes, winding up with a 5-11 record, a team in disarray, and a top 10 draft pick to contemplate.

During the Jack Del Rio era, the Jaguars have done one thing consistently: play inconsistently. 

The Jags were once noted as a team that nobody relished seeing on their schedule because of their physical, punishing style of football.  Teams now salivate when they see Jacksonville on their calendar because they know that they will face an ill-prepared unit that may play well enough in spurts, but will find a way to implode in the end.  The Jaguars are the team that opponents almost instinctively pencil in as a win now. 

How the mighty have fallen.

Starting with a soft training camp that was steeped in Super Bowl hype and delusions of grandeur, the Jaguars clearly started to buy into their own press.  Conditioning was never put at a premium, and the end result was a team that lost 40% of their starting offensive line to injury in the first game of the season.  The team was supposed to have an advantage at home early in the season where heat and humidity were the things that they would be accustomed to, while their opponents would wilt.  None of that happened.  The Jaguars won only two home games all season long, and in the games where they should have had an advantage, they were the unit that couldn't handle the heat. 

There is plenty of blame to pass around.

Whether you look at analysis that centers on David Garrard being the most hit quarterback in the league, or the receiving corps holding the league title for the most drops, or a defense that lost their identity, the Jaguars have gone into a freefall.  In a desperate attempt to regain control late in the season, Jack Del Rio shifted his coaching tactics from a player's coach to a task master.  He shuffled lockers and benched a player that had been voted by his team mates as a captain.  The move backfired as it only further exacerbated the split that was developing in the locker room.

On the field, it became clear in the final Houston game that there were players on the roster who had all but given up.  They quit.  The team and the coaches denied it after the fact, but it was clear that there were players already focusing on their post season plans.  The denials were hollow, and the sense that players had quit was confirmed in post-game interviews following the loss in Baltimore yesterday when Maurice Jones-Drew implied that this was indeed the case. 

In his post game comments, Drew said, "We've just got to find guys that want to come out and give 110 percent.  If you want to be a part of the Jaguars, the new deal is gonna be that we're not quitting, we're fixing to run down the field and hit you in the mouth."

What was the implication?  Guys were not giving 110%, and they were quitting. 

Even Paul Spicer hinted at this when he said, "You're thinking, 'Oh, this game doesn't mean anything. Our season is pretty much over.' Things like that. I hope nobody did feel like that, but there were still things that went on where you kind of thought to yourself, 'Wait a minute, we can't let THAT go on."

He hoped players were not thinking in that manner, but based on what was going on out there on the field, it was obvious even to him that there were guys that did indeed quit.

The Jaguars showed a complete lack of discipline on a weekly basis.  This was not just the result of a breakdown in coaching.  The team lacked any real leadership in the locker room, and when a player did attempt to assert himself, he wound up in the dog house with Jack Del Rio.  Mike Peterson discovered this very quickly, and his career as a Jaguar likely ended on the field in Baltimore yesterday. 

From the top to the bottom, a lack of discipline, focus, and leadership created the mess that became the 2008 Jacksonville Jaguars.  Nothing short of a complete rebuild is going to rectify the problems that exist for this group, but the one area that will not be addressed is the head coaching position.  With the extension that Del Rio signed, the team is locked into him for at least another couple of seasons.  In the interim, the revolving door for coaches that has become the most prolific in the entire league over the past six seasons will continue to spin wildly.

The sad saga that has become known as the 2008 Jacksonville Jaguars added a new chapter as the team went into Chicago hopeful of stopping the bleeding only to leave the windy city with another loss on their record. 

It has almost become a foregone conclusion that if it's Sunday, the Jaguars will find a way to lose.

We hear it all about how they are practicing well and how the team is not quitting, but the effort and determination has set into motion a collapse of epic proportions for a team once touted as a title contender.

The Jaguars have no answers to the slide.

Jack Del Rio maintains his mantra of getting back to work and playing for pride.  That seems to be working out really well for the team.  Obviously, pride is not a problem for this group of Jaguars. 

There are certainly a few exceptions. 

Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor are still playing like they care.  Both running backs continue to run hard despite the fact that in most cases, they are fighting defenders for the hand-off as the offensive line demonstrates their mastery of the back pedal. 

Marcedes Lewis appears to be playing his heart out.  He has quickly become one of the best blocking tight ends in the league.  He has suffered some questionable drops, but he is one of the few players on the roster right now who at least LOOKS like he is trying out there. 

Even when David Garrard has time to set up in the pocket and pick his targets, his lack of confidence thanks to the lack of protection he has gotten from his offensive line leaves him feeling vulnerable, and the once efficient signal caller has reverted to his 2006 version, making bad decisions and forcing passes where they do not need to be thrown.  It was crystal clear with his first pass from scrimmage yesterday when Garrard planted, scanned, then launched a pass that was promptly intercepted and returned to the kill zone by Chicago. 

Garrard is hardly to blame for all of the woes that the team has suffered this year.  But, his progression has come to a screeching halt since inking the contract that gave him $18 million guaranteed in the bank, and a deal that could earn him upward of $60 million. 

This is a team that is seriously lacking talent.

The receivers, who had been expected to take a step to the next level this year, have been mediocre.  Has anyone on this roster heard of yards after the catch?  Other than a running back, the receivers on this roster have developed what can only be considered to be an aversion to contact after the catch.  They do not get any sort of separation, and when they do get a catch, their proclivity to hit the deck is becoming legendary. 

If you need 6 yards to get a first down, you can expect your receivers to run a 4 yard route, and immediately drop like wet bags of cement on first contact.  The Jaguars wide receiving corps is probably the worst in the National Football League. 

Jerry Porter has been a non-factor after signing a big free agent contract during the off season.  He has dealt with significant injury that required surgical intervention, so expectations were tempered to begin with.  He is not 100% right now, but some of the issues that he has had since returning to the lineup have had nothing at all to do with his hamstring, and everything to do with a lack of concentration.  I do not claim to be a medical expert, but hamstring injuries do not normally impact the hands.

Matt Jones has been the most productive receiver this year, but is that really saying much?  He has become a solid possession receiver, and there is nothing wrong with that.  But, this is not what he was touted to be for this team when he was drafted.  He has certainly improved his play this year, but to the extent that he is starting to live up to his draft status?  Not quite.

Reggie Williams is coming off of a franchise record ten touchdowns in 2007.  He has been almost invisible this year.  Odds are good that he will become the second first round draft pick in the Del Rio era to wind up playing in a different uniform next season.  The team cannot justify spending any money on a new contract for a guy who has been underachieving for 5 years now. 

There have been reports surfacing lately indicating that Mike Walker's photograph has been discovered on local milk cartons.  The receiver that once gave the faithful some hope of a long-term solution at wide receiver has been missing in action for most of the season, including a healthy scratch in Chicago.

The defense continues to leak like a termite riddled wooden boat.

The secondary, now struggling from the loss of Rashean Mathis, has continued to show that they are more than capable of making even the weakest quarterbacks in the league look like world beaters.  If there are any quarterbacks circling the drain out there that are in a contract year, the best way to get healthy and fleece their team for a few extra dollars, pray that the team from Jacksonville is on your schedule.  They will do their best to assure that you look like the next Peyton Manning. 

If you are a running back looking to pad your yards per carry average, run it right at the middle of the Jaguars defensive line.  You will not get much resistance.  In fact, you might find encouragement from the terrors in teal as they create the lanes for you. 

John Henderson has lost his game since seeing his line mate, Marcus Stroud sent packing.  Perhaps he needs to reinstitute his pregame ritual that included a good slap in the face.  If the Jaguars want to help their bottom line, sell the game day slap to the highest bidder on a weekly basis.  It is not like people are going to be intimidated by Henderson, or anyone else on the toothless Jaguars defense. 

The end of the season cannot come quickly enough for the 2008 Jaguars.  That is clear from the way they are closing things out between the lines.  Change is coming.  How significant that change is will directly impact how quickly this franchise rises from the ashes and returns to mediocrity under Jack Del Rio.

The Jacksonville Jaguars were once considered to be one of the most physical, intimidating teams in the league.  It was often reported that no team wanted to play the Jaguars because they knew that they'd be faced with a big, pounding, confident group that was going to beat you into submission by using their size, speed, and physical ability.

Nobody could look at their schedule, see the Jaguars, and instantly pencil in a "W" when they were predicting their season record.

It is amazing how things have changed.

Now, opposing teams see Jacksonville on their schedule and they give the Jaguars about as much thought as they would the Lions or even the bye week before they quickly pencil in the "W" and move on to the next game.

What happened?  How could a team fall so far so quickly? 

People look for someone or something to pinpoint with the blame, but in a season when the entire team has collapsed, it is impossible to find one target to focus on.  Rather, the way the team has completely collapsed since the bye week is probably the one thing that this group could point to as a complete team effort. 

The target of the month has been Shack Harris for failed first round draft picks in 2003 and 2004, and for blown free agent acquisitions including Hugh Douglas and more recently, Jerry Porter.

People ignore the good things that Harris has done for this roster, including landing Maurice Jones-Drew in the second round, or finding role players like Sammy Knight or Grady Jackson when the team needed stop-gap players because of injuries. 

Realistically, Harris is only one voice.  The Jaguars personnel decisions are handled by a committee that includes Harris, Jack Del Rio, Paul Vance, and Gene Smith.  The team abandoned the "one voice" approach to making personnel decisions when Tom Coughlin was asked to resign following the 2002 season. 

So, while Harris is the popular target, the reality is that he is not the sole proprietor of ineptitude on the staff at 1 Stadium Place.  He certainly is not free of blame, but he does not deserve all of it. 

When Jack Del Rio was given the authority to release Byron Leftwich prior to the 2007 season, he asserted himself as a more prominent voice in personnel decisions.  When Shack Harris' understudy, Charles Bailey was sent packing in favor of Gene Smith who assumed responsibility over all of the scouting for both the pro and college levels, that gave Del Rio even more leverage. 

So, as the constant drumbeat increases for the head of Shack Harris, one has to wonder if people are really paying attention, or if they are simply jumping on the bandwagon to serve the mob mentality.

Shack Harris is hardly the best personnel guy in the National Football League.  He's also not the worst.  Overall, he has been better than average in identifying talent that he and Jack Del Rio believe are coachable, and can help this team. 

So, if Shack Harris is providing the head coach with players that Jack Del Rio feels comfortable with on the roster, and these players underachieve once they arrive here, who does the blame really fall upon?

At some point, the coaching has to be questioned, and it is a simple fact that the lack of discipline and focus cannot be blamed on personnel decisions.  That is strictly a coaching issue. 

The team has taken some significant hits due to injury, particularly along the offensive line.  That almost certainly has had an impact on the running game, and to some extent, the passing offense as well. 

Still, the injuries have not been a factor for the defense, but they have been struggling just the same. 

Part of this could be due to the change of coordinators and trying to implement a new system.  That does have a tendency to cause teams to struggle early on as they try to become acclimated with the new scheme.  The problem is that the defense that Gregg Williams is running currently is barely distinguishable from what Mike Smith ran for the five previous seasons.  The biggest difference is obviously that the team does not have Marcus Stroud in the middle of the line.  Of course, this was the case when he was on the roster as he missed significant playing time due to injury and suspension over the previous three seasons.  Still, he was a popular player in the locker room, and a leader as well.  His trade hit the rest of the team hard.

Part of the blame comes down to coaching.  When normally solid players are showing the bad technique and lack of focus that we have seen this season, it has to come down to coaching at some point. Sure, if we were only talking about one or two players who have apparently forgotten how to square up a tackle or cover a receiver it could fall on the shoulders of the players.  But, when we see wholesale struggles where every player on the defense has had occasion to look bad, the coaching has to absorb some of the blame. 

With everything else piling up, age has also become a significant factor for this team.  Whether you are talking about the defense with Reggie Hayward, Paul Spicer, Rob Meier, and Mike Peterson, each of these players has become more of a liability than an asset to this team.

On the offense, Brad Meester and Khalif Barnes are almost playing their final games as Jaguars.  If rumors are true, the same thing can be said for Fred Taylor.

But, it is not just about age.  The team needs a complete rebuild from top to bottom.  There are certainly key components on the roster that will be retained, but it may come down to the Jaguars making the conscious decision to bite the bullet and take the dead money cap hit to jettison players that have created problems with the chemistry on this roster. 

Players like Jerry Porter?  Yes, injury contributed to his struggles, but Porter has not proven to be reliable as a go to receiver which is why he was brought here to begin with.  Too often, Porter has dropped catchable balls that should have been routine receptions.  The cap ramifications are certainly not appealing to a guy like Wayne Weaver, but neither is throwing money at a player who's giving you the bare minimum in production.

Reggie Williams set a franchise record with ten touchdowns in 2007.  He did not set the world on fire with his yardage, or number of receptions, but the touchdowns were a glimmer of hope that he was turning the corner.  Unfortunately, in 2008, he regressed.  There is no separation.  There is inconsistent effort.  His blocking skills are solid, but we are talking about a high first round draft pick.  He has not lived up to anything close to expectations based upon where he was selected.  Fair or not, the team cannot afford to throw more money at a player who barely registers statistically.

Fred Taylor is an iconic player for the Jacksonville Jaguars.  There is nothing that would be more deserving than to let him finish his career with the team where he has seen all of his success.  He understands that his role is changing from the top of the pyramid to more of a role player, and as he makes that transition, his contract must follow suit.  Fred Taylor has the ability to be much like Jerome Bettis, accepting a diminished role in order to finish his career with the team of his choosing, and the team where he saw his greatest success.  Taylor should be allowed to wind down a wonderful career as a Jaguar, on his own terms.  

At this point, the most logical approach to dealing with the Jaguars roster is to blow it up completely, unloading most of the aging veterans on the roster, and dumping unproductive skill players that are more of a financial burden to the team and replace them with young, hungry players looking to make their mark on the NFL.  It will not be the most glamorous method of fixing what ails this team, but it is the right approach to turn things around in the shortest period possible. 

As part of the rebuilding process, the Jaguars will probably make a move to part ways with Shack Harris.  They should take that a step further and send the entire coaching staff to the curb as well.  They have as much blame to assume in why the team has fallen as quickly and as far as the personnel staff.  If the team is truly going to rebuild, tear it up from the top down and rebuild from the bottom up.  Many will opine the fact that the team lacks true star power, but at least we will see the return of a team that might want to compete, and might actually appreciate their situation here. 

From: Pro Football Weekly Although his rookie season was an unmitigated disaster, Jaguars DE Derrick Harvey at least started to show glimpses of his potential late in the year. His best game, by far, came in the Week 17 loss to the Ravens, when he sacked Ravens QB Joe Flacco twice and recorded seven total tackles.

From: Yahoo! Sports One of the big issues of the Jaguars offseason is signing RB Maurice Jones-Drew to a new contract, but that won’t be easy because he wants to be one of the highest paid running backs in the league. His contract would normally expire after the 2009 season, but since 2010 will be an [...]

From: Florida Times-Union Despite a reputation for pink-slipping assistants, Jack Del Rio said he doesn’t plan to fire anyone on the current Jaguars coaching staff. “I like my staff. I’ve met with all of my staff,” Del Rio said. “I do have a few guys on my staff [with] opportunities that have put themselves in positions [...]