Jaguars 2009 Resolutions
January is the month for making resolutions (and then hoping and praying that you don’t break them). While I have some very standard resolutions myself (eat less, work out more, don’t die) the Jacksonville Jaguars have a lot to improve upon. And I mean a lot. So what are their resolutions for the upcoming 2009 season? I have spared them the trouble of thinking it up themselves by making my very own, super informed and some what bitter list for the Jaguars to think about in this very, very long off season ahead of us.
Get a better conditioning coach. The conditioning coaches from 2008 are gone. They were the first to go and it is good riddance to them. I know that a lot of players got put on IR at the end of the year because we had no chance of the playoffs but we had over 20 players on that list. Over. Twenty. Players. They weren’t for injuries typical of football games, either. ACLs? Those seemed to remain intact. MCLs? Yup. Those are fine too. A lot of our injuries came from things preventable through proper conditioning. The injuries we suffered at the start of the season really hurt the Jaguars.
Protect the quarterback. David Garrard was down on the ground more than any other quarterback in the NFL. Yeah, sure. Some people (like the guy who sits behind me at the games) would say that it is because Garrard held on to the ball too long. I say that Garrard couldn’t trust his wide receivers or his offensive line this year. Give him some protection and he won’t have to worry about the pain he will suffer in about three seconds after he gets the ball.
Improve free agency pick up. With Shack Harris gone, there is no longer a power of three’s between Weaver, Del Rio and Shack. Now it is all Gene Smith. With Gene Smith being in charge, he will be able to show what he can do. We were very aggressive last year in free agency. It didn’t pay off well. I am okay with us being aggressive yet again but this time we need to spend our money wiser.
Play as a team. A lot of the rumors floating around during the middle of season dealt with the fact that the Jaguars’ locker room wasn’t as close as it was last year. Del Rio ended up taking away all the privileges of the players in the locker room, which would signal some sort of problem. Del Rio also demanded that the team work out as a team during the off season. Players like Fred Taylor leave during the off season to work out in other places. If there is one thing that Jack implied by requiring him to stay in town it is that the Jaguars need to play more like a team in order to be successful.