The Jags are trusting Caldwell (right) to provide the same kind of turnaround he helped orchestrate in Atlanta.  A Championship game is leaps and bounds above where the Jaguars are currently.  Source: Phil Sears-USA TODAY Sports

They may have lost in the NFC Championship game, but the Atlanta Falcons really played well to get where they were on Sunday.  The 28-24 loss to the San Francisco 49ers will be a heartbreaker for years to come, but the ability to turn around the franchise and rise to the top four teams in the NFL is something that GM Thomas Dimitroff and new-Jaguars GM Dave Caldwell should be proud of.

I don’t know where Caldwell watched the Falcons/Niners game from, but I can only imagine that he is proud of the product on the field that he helped to build.  Whether it’s Matt Ryan’s almost 400 yards passing, Julio Jones’ monster receiving day, or the time-defying play of Tony Gonzalez, the Falcons have a unique mix of talent that has made Michael Vick and the early 2000s a distant memory.

That rebuild is a difficult thing to accomplish.

Getting a coach to come in and revamp the entire team to post a 56-24 record in five years is impressive.

At all stages, the Atlanta Falcons have been set up for success.  They may have only been one poorly timed fumble away from  putting the game on ice in Atlanta on Sunday.  Unfortunately, it was not to be.

Caldwell has an opportunity to emulate that success again in Jacksonville.  The Jaguars desperately need a complete overhaul.  It has already begun with Caldwell’s hiring, Gus Bradley’s installment as head coach, and the beginning of the shaping of the coaching staff.  The goal is success like the Falcons.  If they can make it past the conference championship, that will just be one step better.

The Falcons’ success is what gives us Jags fans hope about the turnaround of our franchise.  It is a large part of why we trust Caldwell.  While we are all hoping for the change that Atlanta received, it is up to Caldwell to make that change happen.

From the perspective of a 2-14 team fan, losing in the championship games seems like an awful lot of success right now.

- Luke N. Sims

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While I love the Jaguars, I recognize that the offense is easily the worst part of the team.  Maurice Jones-Drew can’t do everything, Blaine Gabbert can’t do a lot of things, and the receivers can’t do anything.  But in 2012 that will have to change if the Jaguars plan on being even remotely successful.

There were far too few Mike Thomas first downs in 2011....Source: Fernando Medina-US PRESSWIRE

The Jaguars faced more third downs (241) than any other team last year.  This was not just a result of bad offense play calling (Dirk Koetter….) it was also a consequence of inexperience and poor play.   But it was the resulting 33.6% of converted third downs that truly embarrassed the Jaguars during the 2011 season.  Being 25th in the league at converting third downs to continue the drive is another negative talking point for the media to jump on when criticizing the Jaguars.  If the Jags had been even remotely close to the league-best Saints mark of 56.7% they would not have had to attempt the sixth most fourth down plays (17) during the season.

I bring up the poor statistics of the Jaguars ability to continue drives because it is frequently overlooked.  While the offense was anemic (especially the passing offense), the job of the offense is to move the ball.  When your defense is especially good it is expected that the offense at least somewhat capitalize on the better field position the defense puts you in place with.  In the Jaguars case this mostly occurs via the leg of Josh Scobee.

Unfortunately, even with the massive leg of Mr. Scobee, the Jaguars were only in position for him to boot the ball 25 times.  25 times is good for 27th in the league and a full 25 less than league-leader David Akers of San Francisco.  Scobee was 5-6  on field goals from 50+ yards and we all know he can make a 59 yarder, he’s got quite the leg With a 92% chance of making his kicks, the offense really only needs to get the ball to the opponent’s forty yard line (realistically) to have a decent shot at sending in Scobee to get the team three points.  Yet they only got close enough 25 times.

The Jaguars averaged a league-worst 22 yards per drive, meaning that despite averaging 22.4 yards per kickoff return (yes, the team’s special teams consistently put up more yards than our offense…) the team could not move the ball a meager four first downs to get Scobee in range for a field goal and some points for the Jags (assuming the team began from the 22 yard line and started the return from the goal line).  To be fair, the Saints only averaged 42.4 yards per drive and they were the best in the league.

My point here is not that the Jaguars offense was terrible – this we already knew – but that a greater emphasis must be placed on gaining first downs for a team that has the ability to score from relatively far away from the goal line.  I firmly believe that the Jaguars could be the team leading the league in field goal attempts.  It got the Niners to the NFC Championship game on a good defense and Akers’ leg.  By focusing more on getting the ball past the next ten yards the team will greatly increase its odds of gaining those points.  With the new offense of Mike Mularkey and Bob Bratkowski, I think the team will have a greater emphasis placed on the intermediate routes that should free up first downs for the team rather than the more vertical focus of Koetter.

Scobee for MVP?

- Luke N. Sims

Feel free to leave comments on here or visit us at Facebook or Twitter!

You can also find me on Twitter @LukeNSims