FOLIO
The “playoff-or-bust” 2016 season is spiraling out of control more than Blake Bortles’ passes.
After an impressive off-season, in a year in which the division leader sits at 6-6, who would’ve thought we’d be sitting in last place discussing another rebuild? Probably not the fans at EverBank, because they were decked out in orange and still celebrating a (Broncos) Super Bowl win.
The bright side? The thousands of Broncos fans at the game on Sunday didn’t even have to leave the stadium to buy their team’s merchandise.
They certainly weren’t buying gear for the team whose coach is about to have his third eight-game losing streak in four seasons. Or the team whose quarterback now has more pick-sixes than career wins.
The defense continued to dominate on Sunday, and punter Brad Nortman … any chance he can throw a football and read coverages? He seems more skilled than most of the other units.
Interestingly, our defense is ranked fourth in the country, yet we have the third-worst team. I’ve been following football for decades and I can’t remember the last time a top-five defense was on the league’s trash heap.
There’s been grumblings that a new coach will be able to get the offense, including Bortles, in check, but how? He can’t read coverage and has more mechanical problems than a 1987 Yugo. Yes, he’s a great guy, but he’s not an NFL quarterback.
I can’t imagine a scenario in which head coach Gus Bradley coaches next season, which leads to this question: Does general manager Dave Caldwell also get a pink slip?
People seem split on this idea, but we’ve seen where the last rebuild took us. Caldwell had one of the best possible situations for an incoming GM: new owner, massive amount of cap money to spend on players, an entirely new coaching staff and years of high draft picks.
What’s more infuriating is watching teams like Oakland pave their way to a playoff berth and possible Super Bowl run. They are a measuring stick for the Jags, having rebuilt at the same time and in a similar way to the Jaguars.
I used to hear, “Well, we’re better than the Browns,” or, “At least it’s better than the Blaine Gabbert days.” But it’s not better.
Bortles has a near identical record to Gabbert’s. The forever Bortles fans keep bringing up his 2015 season stats, but let’s face it, most of that was garbage time. We finished third out of four in the division last year. That’s not leading, that’s floating the boat.
And the boat might be sinking faster than the Browns.
Get mad, fans, get angry. Don’t buy into the off-season hopes, or believe that a simple coaching change is going to correct all the problems.
Bortles said in his post-game conference after Sunday’s loss that this season has been the “biggest nightmare possible.” How do you think it feels to fans who can barely count on their fingers how many years it’s been since they saw a winning season?
Keep loving the Jaguars and wearing your gear to work on losing Monday, but be angry at the scarlet letter that is the team logo.
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Connect with Judson at the Folio Weekly Jag City Facebook page.
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