Who is running the Offense?

It seems I have more questions than answers lately. Writing a blog, I have the Jacksonville Jaguars on my mind a lot. Thoughts creep in and questions come to mind. Things add up and things don’t add up.  Here is my latest “wondering” ideas.

I know Dirk Koetter is running the offense. Zoltan and I have been paying attention to this point quite a bit more than you think. Mike Thomas said Jack Del Rio doesn’t bother with the offense much. Jack is spending time on the defense. Mike Tice is gone and Kennedy Pola is gone. Dirk Koetter can run his own show, or can he?

The Jaguars had to commit to an identity and that was running the ball. Maurice Jones Drew complained last year when the team got away from running the ball. Dirk Koetter is a mad scientist in love with the passing game. Dirk admitted this in a TU article. He said he is more disposed to passing. So who makes him run the ball? Who will monitor his play calling and say “we aren’t running the ball enough Dirk”. Who will do that?

Is Dirk Koetter going to try and change his philosophy to satisfy what the Jaguars want to be? Will Dirk Koetter feel someone is looking over his shoulder if he doesn’t call this many run plays during a game? In short, who is in charge of Dirk Koetter? Is it Jack Del Rio? He is the head coach, but we don’t see the involvement. How will the Jaguar game plan be developed? How is this going to work in real game situations?

We saw last year that David Garrard was told to check off if the defense showed a certain look. The defense picked up on that, showed the look and baited David into changing the play. Finally the Jaguars had to tell David to commit to the original play no matter what. Confusion was the result and it cost the team victories, in my opinion. The Jacksonville Jaguars did not always have their act together on offense last year.

So why will this year be different? What has changed? I can feel the energy on the defense. I can feel the difference coming. I don’t yet sense that on offense. I still don’t know why we will be different and better. All I hear is that Monroe and Britton will be better. I see Kynan Forney coming on strongly and I hope Justin Smiley is a healthy addition. But that tells me the offensive line will get better, not that the offense will be better. Our Red Zone performance showed the confusion we suffered.

Until camp opens and I can see what is happening, I remain skeptical that the Jaguars have addressed the leadership of the offense. I don’t question Dirk Koetter. Well during games, we all question Dirk, but I don’t question his overall competence. I like him. I just don’t know if he is free to do what he wants and if not, who is holding him back?

We will see soon enough. June is almost half over and that means one thing… training camp! I want to see someone leading the Jaguar offense. I want to see real improvement. I am not yet sure it is there.  What are your thoughts?

– Terry O’Brien