You initially had me worried with all the Tim Tebow talk Mr. Khan! Source: Phil Sears-US PRESSWIRE

Back when Tim Tebow was being shopped by the Denver Broncos earlier in the offseason, the Jags’ new owner, Shahid Khan, thought that acquiring the young Florida star would be good for the Jaguars.  This move was appealing to some, devastating to others, and downright fanatical to the national media.

As we all know, ultimately Khan failed and Rex Ryan and the Jets took on the debacle that is Tim Tebow.

I don’t bring up Tebow because I want to begin the Jacksonville-Tebow Time saga that gripped the team and fans for a month and a half.  Instead, I want to focus on how smart our front office was to not make a very strong bid for Tebow.  And how happy I am that he ultimately chose the Jets.

In March our very own Daniel Lago outlined a few pros and cons about not acquiring Tebow:

Pros

• This shows that ultimately the man in charge of football operations is Gene Smith. If Khan really wanted Tebow, regardless of the price, he could have forced his hand. In the end, Khan let the football front office make the final decision.
• The Jaguars can develop Gabbert without the circus of Tim Tebow supporters clamoring to bench Gabbert after every incompletion. This situation has already been brought up multiple times in regards to Mark Sanchez in New York, and it would be significantly magnified in Jacksonville with Gabbert.
• Because Tebow chose the Jets, the Jaguar brass can now say, “hey, we tried but Tebow didn’t want to come here.”
• The price for Tim Tebow illustrated that no team in the league thinks he is a legitimate starting quarterback in the NFL. A starting quarterback is worth more than a 4^th and 6^th round pick.

Cons

• Even though Khan ultimately let Gene Smith control the situation, he still felt the need to impose his will in the front office. It’s clear he saw a business opportunity and a way to spark interest in the team, and he let that get in the way of what should be a pure football decision. Fair or not, he’s now opened himself up to criticism as an owner who interferes with personnel decisions, i.e. Jerry Jones and Bud Adams.
• Not really a con, but this is annoying: Jaguar fans now have to continue to listen to the complete garbage being spewed by most of the national media about the Jaguars. Not acquiring Tebow will now be spun as “the Jaguars failing to save the franchise” and “the Jaguars are so bad, Tebow isn’t even willing to go home and play for them.” I don’t need to name any names (I do that on twitter instead), but some members of the media have already left the Jaguars for dead for the 2012 season. These people are idiots. Period. We’ve already talked about how we feel about the national media on B&T but you can never bash them enough.

It was a beautiful listing of the Jaguars pros from not acquiring the error-prone quarterback.  We can only imagine how much worse Gabbert’s development would be if Tebow had been there to take snaps away from him with the first team to run ridiculous wildcat packages. Proof of the step backward can be found in Mark Sanchez’s play.  Poor Sanchez was expected to rebound after a big step backward in 2011.  Instead it looks like Tebow and the attempt to implement the wildcat has caused an even further step backward at worst and staying the same at best.

It is nice to see this reality occurring, especially since 48% of those who responded to the B&T poll “How do you feel about the Jaguars not being able to acquire Tim Tebow” chose the option “The Jaguars are a joke.  They ruined their only chance to be relevant again. This was a huge blunder.”  Based on what I’m seeing out of New York, I think it was a miracle he chose the Jets.

On Wednesday Tim said that he was more focused on scoring touchdowns than posting impressive QB stats.  You’d have to be if your stat line ran like this: 13/36 (36%), 151 yards, two picks, and no touchdowns.  Where are those touchdowns Tim?  It’s tough to have 4th quarter comebacks and rally the team when you aren’t in the end zone.  But maybe it isn’t all his fault, the Jets have yet to find the endzone at all through three preseason games.

Tony, the wildcat didn't work in Miami and it won't work in New York. Run while you still can Tim! Source: Rich Barnes-US PRESSWIRE

I can’t imagine that bringing in Tony Sparano to run the offense is helping.  Especially since he is focusing so much on using Tebow in the wildcat.  But even then Tebow doesn’t have a single touchdown running despite racking up 84 yards on 11 rushes.  Yet despite the lack of yardage and points coming from Tebow, Sparano predicts 100+ attempts from the wildcat in 2012…

I don’t know if it is just because hindsight is 20/20 or that Gabbert is actually having a good preseason, but I’m thrilled to see Tebow in a different uniform.  I’m thrilled he’s in a different part of the country, far removed from Jacksonville.  The best part is that Tebow knows that the team needs to get better,  “Honestly, it’s not about the percentages,” said Tebow of his quarterback numbers. “It’s about just trying to get your team in the end zone and obviously that’s something we have to do a better job (of).”

Obviously, Tim.  Good luck in New York, you’re going to need it.

- Luke N. Sims

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You can also find me on Twitter @LukeNSims

Eli Manning did it this past season.  He won’t be throwing for as many yards as Drew Brees, his brother Peyton, Matt Stafford, or Tom Brady but he’ll get the ring and that is truly how we measure greatness.  Joe Flacco came close.  Alex Smith came close.  Manning was the man though.

Yet the Jaguars are relatively quiet about their offseason exclamations.  There always seems to be a severe lack of offseason exuberance coming out of Jacksonville.  Jack Del Rio tried to get everyone interested with the Oklahoma Drill but failed to translate the product to the field.  Even then, he may have been the most cocky person on the team (excluding the 2008 receiving corps).

Under Gene Smith the Jaguars preach high character.  Some may say this translates into being a good, hard working, humble man.  While I agree that those are three good characteristics I think there is a little something about someone with that little je ne sais quoi – a little pizzaz to go with his game.

Yes, this is the man with the most "attitude" Source: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

Currently the most outspoken player on the team is probably kicker Josh Scobee.  Like Pat McAfee (the punter for the Colts who routinely gets a little too rowdy and sometimes wakes up in the street) he’s got a bit more attitude than the other players on the roster.   Maurice Jones-Drew doesn’t have the same outspoken nature that Scobee has.  But what about Gabbert?

Since the young quarterback doesn’t seem to be doing it himself, I think its about time we started to give him that little bit of something.  He isn’t Dan the Man, the Blonde Bomber, or Elite Eli but he very well could be Gabbert the Great!  The coming season won’t just prove whether he has the skills to be a true NFL quarterback, it will show whether he has the ability to be the leader of the franchise.  He will either become Gabbert the Great (or at least show it) or he will forever be the guy who failed during his rookie campaign.

We know that Gabbert has the attitude to make it work.  He brings it on the field, even when running out of bounds his mouth is moving.  He has a little bit of attitude.  While his long locks have been cut off, his ability will not disappear (that’s a Samson reference for you) and with it some attitude should be coming.  The leader of a franchise has some attitude.  Brees does it with some cool confidence, Brady does it by demanding perfection, Peyton Manning does it through humorous minivan commercials.  Whatever it is, somebody brings it – Gabbert has got to become something more than himself and start to fashion that image if he wants to last long in this league.

- Luke N. Sims

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You can also find me on Twitter @LukeNSims

                                                              Source: nydailynews.com

So despite all the talk last week – it seems the Jacksonville Jaguars are not an awful team. Right? Well, I think we must wait and see this weekend’s game to have a clear answer. I think the Jaguars are a still a middle of the road team (not bad, yet still not so good either). And this week, they will face a really good or should I say great team, which is  widely considered as a powerhouse these days(2 AFC Championship game appearance in the last 2 seasons is quite good to me). Yeah, I remember what happened on Week 10 of 2009 (a. k. a. the only big victory of the ’09 Jaguars..), but this Jets team is much better than it was two years. Yeah, some say, the Jaguars have a better team now, too. Well, on Sunday we can judge, based on the game, how much progress the two team have made in the last two years. (more…)