If the Falcons are trying to recreate some level of success that the Jags had under Koetter, I have news for them: there isn’t any.

Chris Redman, I'll miss seeing you throw that ball. Now go back to selling insurance! Source: Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE

I’ve long disliked Koetter’s philosophy (stretching the field with a vertical passing game) and his coaching.  Further, I know that his system does not work…or at least didn’t with the Jaguars’ personnel.  After the 2007 season (a very good offensive year) the Jaguars attempted to fully implement Koetter’s approach and yielded greater scoring, more yards, and less wins.  I don’t care how you win in the NFL, but that’s the ultimate measure.  Besides that, the offense wasn’t nearly as successful as they had hoped.

And now there is Luke McCown.  I’ve been a McCown fan for a while and I like him as a backup.  But only on the bench.  If you need backup to show someone up in practice, he’s your man.  If you need a backup to take a few snaps late in a game, McCown’s your man.  If your quarterback goes down for an extended period of time, McCown is  not your man.  McCown has looked good in practice since he entered the league, but the journeyman backup will forever be a backup and doesn’t have the potential to raise your team from the depression that sets in once your starting quarterback goes down.  To go further, McCown has failed at orchestrating an offense under Koetter before.  If I were running the team, this would not be the way I would want things to be going.

I like Matt Ryan, I like Mike Smith, on the whole I think the Falcons are a solid organization.  But the trend of brining in failed offensive pieces should stop.  Atlanta has been hoping to make a splash in the playoffs for some time, this is not the way to do it.

It’s a tough league out there, the Falcons shouldn’t be making it harder on themselves.

- Luke N. Sims

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He did all of this after a lockout-shortened offseason.  During that offseason he was much like Sunshine in Remember The Titans.  He came in, wasn’t exactly popular and had to make an impact.  Unlike Sunshine, Gabbert didn’t make a positive one. But what if he had had that entire offseason to make an impression?

Aug 21,2010; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback David Garrard (9) throws the ball against the Miami Dolphins during the game at EverBank Field. Mandatory Credit: Fernando Medina-US PRESSWIRE

When a first round quarterback is waiting in the wings, it adds pressure to everyone.  The starter wants to keep his job for as long as possible, the offensive line needs to prove it can be cohesive and flexible enough to match the young guy’s play style.  The receivers need to start cementing a relationship that could make them the go-to guy for years to come.  There are two ways you don’t want it to go: The Blaine Gabbert/David Garrard way and the Brett Favre/Aaron Rodgers way.  One way, the new guy gets to sit behind a starter and learn for a period of time and enter a dysfunctional publica relations disaster with the competency, confidence, and skills to be an effective starter.  The other, the new guy enters completely unprepared and muddles through a rookie and (probably) sophomore quagmire while trying his hardest not to sink.

Give me the Brett Favre/Aaron Rodgers dysfunction every time.

Being the leader of the team and making an impact during the offseason is often overlooked by those of us who pay attention to football.  Sometimes the best players aren’t the leaders of the franchise.  Sometimes the leaders are leaders in the locker room only.  Sometimes just being with your teammates cements your spot with the team by making you an important off-the-field contributor.  Gabbert didn’t have an opportunity to do any of these extra-curricular impacts or on-field contributions last offseason.

This season should be different though.  This season, Gabbert has a chance to make an impact during the offseason.  He can work harder, stay later, interact more, and be the leader the Jags need him to be.  We won’t know until everyone starts telling us what’s going on in the locker room, but pretty soon I think we’ll see the young man from Mizzou leading the Jaguars up toward stardom.

- Luke N. Sims

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In order to keep this discussion more relevant to the modern Jaguars era, we will place an emphasis on the more recent years for the Jaguars rather than delving into the early days of the franchise.

The table showing the passing offense and the rushing offense over the last few years is pretty helpful in looking at the absolute lack of progress that was made under Jack Del Rio.  While the offense had some good seasons – oh the glory days of 2007 – there was no marked progress by the passing game, and the rushing offense wasn’t good enough to make the necessary contribution to win games consistently.

I like that the Jaguars hover around 2,000 yards of running in a season.  I think the amount shows a commitment to the run, which was one of the selling factors to me when I decided to start rooting for the Jags.  But the absolutely pedestrian numbers in the passing game shift the balance of the offense too far to the ground.  In the NFL a team is not necessarily balanced when the play calling is about 50/50.  For a team to eat up more yards and have a more effective offense, the play calling of a balanced offense seems to tend toward 60/40 in favor of the pass.  This is not necessarily true if you are the Saints, Packers, or Patriots.

Ok, I'm going to be honest, I didn't think Leftwich could even run....Source: Fernando Medina-US PRESSWIRE

The Jaguars have a tendency to lean heavy on the run, even when the passing offense is doing decently well.  In five of the seven years sampled, the Jags ran more run plays than they did passing plays.  A shift toward the pass occurred after the 2007 season when Garrard and Gray put up excellent numbers (28 touchdowns and 3rd most yards in our seven year sample).  The shift toward airing the bal out was not as effective as anticipated, however, and resulted in less offensive scoring despite gaining more yards.

The Jags have leaned run for a long time now.  It isn’t a bad strategy when the backfield is loaded with talent like Freddy T and MJD.  However, at some point an outside mind has to notice that the offense has been too reliant on the run and has grown stagnant over the most recent period of time.

That man appears to be Mike Mularkey and he is bringing a supporting cast with him in Bob Bratkowski and Jerry Sullivan that should help to reverse the Jaguars one-dimensional trend from recent years.  It isn’t that the team can’t throw the ball, it’s just that they aren’t as good as other teams.  Sure there needs to be better talent behind center, but sometimes an emphasis and increased repetition in games will lead to faster and stronger game-day development.

Some better receivers should help too.

- Luke N. Sims

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