Do The Jacksonville Jaguars Need A New Quarterback?
By David Johns
You guessed it. Yet another disappointing loss from our Jacksonville Jaguars. The New England Patriots marched into Everbank last Sunday and delivered the thirteenth loss of the season. While 23-16 isn’t half as bad as the other major losses this team has experienced in 2012 ,and to lesser competition at that, it’s still a loss nonetheless. There were times in the game where the team looked to play with a spark, but in the end the Jaguars did what they usually do…they fell completely flat.
Mandatory Credit: Rob Foldy-USA TODAY Sports
It was an uninspiring loss if there is such a thing, and just another black eye in a colossal beat down of a season. The 2012 season began with such high hopes. New owner. New coaching staff. New committment to our quarterback, Blaine Gabbert. New wide receiver, the 5th overall pick, Justin Blackmon.
The front office handled the Maurice Jones-Drew holdout admirably. Besides, who needs him right? Rashad Jennings is going to have a breakout year. The same defense that finished in the top 10 last year is returning almost completely intact. Thank goodness Mel Tucker is returning. Daryl Smith should be good to go by the beginning of the season.
This team sure did look good in preseason. Gabbert is surely going to turn a new leaf. Yup. This season is going to be much different than 2011.
If only winning two games (depending on how the week 17 tilt with Tennessee goes) was what you meant, then congrats. You were absolutely correct. The Jacksonville Jaguars are currently on a 4 game losing streak. That’s nothing compared to the 7 game losing streak they had prior to their only home win of the season against the Titans.
Week 4 we lost to the Cincinnati Bengals at home in a blowout loss. The following week, the Chicago Bears came to town. It was after that loss that I believe it was apparent that this was going to be business as usual for the Jaguars in 2012.
It’s been well documented that the Jaguars simply don’t have the talent to compete against even the average teams in the NFL. I have to agree. Speaking of talent, it’s up to GM Gene Smith to get that talent on the field. He simply has not, and if he’s back with the team next year I will be shocked.
I’m about to break my usual trend of not getting ahead of myself and living in the present. Many of us are left wondering if this team will ever get any better. How do we do that? Is it possible for this team to go from a possible 2-14 to actually being competitive? It’s not impossible. Improbable, but not impossible.
There’s only one way for that to happen. Forgive me for seeming unreasonable, but I just don’t see how the Jaguars don’t draft a quarterback with their first pick. A few weeks ago, I was completely against this idea. I’m now changing my tune and saying that the Jaguars should “reach” for a quarterback unless there is an elite, undeniable talent at another position of need. I wouldn’t be totally opposed to getting a pass rusher, but a pass rusher can’t spark a franchise. You can’t help but look at other teams’ recent success of rookie quarterbacks and try to duplicate that.
The first two names that pop into mind are Geno Smith from West Virginia and Matt Barkley from USC. I’d take Smith over Barkley at this point, especially considering his athletic ability and how bad our offensive line is. I’m not saying if you have a mobile quarterback you don’t need a good offensive line, I’m simply saying that with the recent state of our offensive line we’ll need a QB with scrambling ability.
Let’s face the facts. This team is many, many pieces away from being a good ball club. The offensive and defensive lines are downright horrendous. The secondary needs help. The run game without MJD has been nonexistent. Alright. It seems as if this team needs help at just about every position, but it all starts with the quarterback.
There’s already rumours linking Tim Tebow to Jacksonville. I’m so tired of this team losing I’m willing to try anything at this point. Chad Henne has won one game. Blaine Gabbert has won one game. Can Tim Tebow do worse? I guess it just depends on how the front office wants to use him. Are we looking at a Gabbert/Henne/Tebow competition? If and when we do get a new GM just how dedicated will he be to Gabbert?
Enough with the speculation for now. There will be plenty of time for this in the offseason…which starts next week for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
-David R. Johns