Consistency is the Key
By Mike Milder
May 13, 2013; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterbacks Blaine Gabbert (11) and Chad Henne (7) chat as they walk off the field after organized team activities at The Florida Blue Health & Wellness Practice Fields. Mandatory Credit: Phil Sears-USA TODAY Sports
Gus Bradley is going to have a tough job this summer and early fall when it comes to deciding on his starting Quarterback. Most of the reports so far will lead you to believe that the team prefers Blaine Gabbert. Many Jaguars fans however are buying into the hype that Gabbert after his first 2 less than stellar seasons in Jacksonville is a total bust. Fans even went as far as posting a petition on the Government website to try and have President Obama look at having the Jaguars sign Tim Tebow. Thankfully the fans do not run the team and Tebow recently signed with the Patriots.
So the Jaguars are left with the Quarterbacks they have now and any current or future free agent players that spark GM David Caldwell or Bradley’s interests, and personally I think they will be just fine. The front runners for the job so far it seems are Blaine Gabbert and Chad Henne with Matt Scott, Jordan Rodgers, and newly acquired Mike Kafka also in the mix. None of these options have proven they can win games consistently for their team in the NFL, but I still think that the Jags will be just fine this season at Quarterback.
Now in the NFL one man cannot make a team great by himself, but as a QB one man can help put his team a place where they can be great by:
- Making good accurate passes,
- Making sure the running back is not running into the defense,
- Getting into field goal position if they can’t find the endzone,
- Even worst case scenario receiving 0 points, but still getting far enough for the punter to pin the opposing offense deep into their own territory.
Out of the group of Quarterbacks that the Jaguars currently have on their roster the one I believe to be consistent enough to make those things happen is Gabbert.
Gabbert will be entering his third year in the league and also learning his third new offense. Gabbert also while learning a new offense last year made improvements to his game that were noticeable to those who watched him play last season. Even if you didn’t watch him play the numbers show improvement. Also if you look at the numbers they will show you that despite the banged up offensive line last year Gabbert was consistently a solid QB ending with a 77.4 passer rating according to jaguars.com. In only two of his ten starts last season Gabbert was overly terrible and those were against the great Chicago and Houston defenses.
Then you look at Chad Henne. Played in 10 games last season and started 6 of them. His passer rating finished at 72.2 which yes isn’t much lower than Gabbert’s. However to look closer you see that Henne’s rating was inflated by 3 games where his rating was over 100, with his highest rating being a near win against Houston and his 3rd highest the next week a win over Tennessee which were impressive.
Dec 30, 2012; Nashville, TN, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Chad Henne (7) prior to the game against the Tennessee Titans at LP Field. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
However his 2nd highest rating came in relief of Gabbert where Henne threw only 2 passes. Aside from those games Henne by not doing any of the 4 things I mentioned earlier a QB can do to help his team win blew a lead that looked to be a blowout win over Oakland that Gabbert and the rest of the team was working on. As for the rest of Henne’s games he started the Jags last 6 games and even with only one the teams over that span finishing the season over .500 he still could only manage to string together one good game.
As for Kafka, Scott, and Rodgers who are still in the mix. None have enough experience to be thought of as a front runner yet. Scott and Rodgers were signed as undrafted rookies this season and Kafka is entering his 3rd season like Gabbert is, but Kafka comes with less games experience. So as far as i’m concerned at this point Gabbert will once again be the starter for at least this season.
-Mike Milder