Falling for Coach-Speak
By Luke Sims
I don’t know about you guys, but the Jags seem really optimistic.
Ok, everyone is optimistic when all the teams are 0-0. But they sound really optimistic. Not in the old Jack Del Rio “We’re going to win the division” kind of way either.
Mularkey and Co. sound like they are only interested in one thing right now: development. It doesn’t matter that Gabbert didn’t have the best rookie campaign because he has the potential to be better than Cam Newton at passing. It doesn’t matter that Jeremy Mincey only had eight sacks in 2011 because he is going to be better. It doesn’t matter that Aaron Kampman has only played in 11 games since joining the Jaguars two years ago, because this year he’ll be healthy.
The coaches are looking at the pieces they have in place, pieces they didn’t have much input in choosing mind you, and they seem content.
Beyond content actually. They seem excited.
When QB Matt Ryan came to Atlanta, I bet Mike Mularkey was jumping with joy. He had a quarterback he could turn into a Super Star with a wicked nickname (“Matty Ice” is pretty cool).
I’m betting Bob Bratkowski is pretty pumped to have Blaine Gabbert.
When a coach spends half of his time talking about the abilities of his quarterback, especially the power with which he throws (especially at a young age), you know that there is something special behind it. Whether it’s an overexageration of Blaine’s abilities (which I doubt, it’s really his mechanics that are off) or not, I think that Bratkowski is really going to get behind Gabbert and try to make him the best that he can be.
And it seems that the best that he can be is going to b pretty high.
Evening with the Coaches was a good time for all. And a number of insights could be gleaned from what was said. But to be honest, I think that the coaches were pretty spot on with what they were saying.
But hey, maybe I’m just optimistic.
– Luke N. Sims