Jacksonville Jaguars’ discipline still an issue
By Luke Sims
The Jacksonville Jaguars are improving, that’s no secret, but the team still needs to improve in keeping their assignments and maintaining discipline.
Three years ago when Gus Bradley first became the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, fans grew accustomed to hearing the term “rookie mistakes” a lot. The young team was still learning and that was expected, so the lack of discipline in assignments and execution was normal.
Over the last three seasons we had all hoped to hear that term disappear.
Unfortunately, it hasn’t disappeared, it has simply morphed into “lack of discipline” under Bradley’s tenure. This isn’t to say there hasn’t been improvement (there has) but there is still this lingering problem for a team that is much better and should no longer be having rookie mistake type problems.
This was on full display in the special teams breakdowns during the first preseason game with the New York Jets and also, at times, on defense. It isn’t as obvious as the absolute breakdowns in Bradley’s first couple of years, but it is still a concern.
Bradley himself knows it to be a concern, saying afterward, “The discipline was not where we need it to be.” He knows that the players need to step up and actually execute their respective roles and deliver what is expected of them.
If this trend continues (despite all of the obvious positives), it may be worth exploring if this is a cultural issue under Bradley. If this is something that he has created inadvertently despite taking steps to improve.
Now, this is still the preseason and there were some key inactives (looking at you, Tashaun Gipson and Jalen Ramsey) and the Jags still have plenty of time to correct these issues. This isn’t an overreaction piece. It is, however, something to keep an eye on.
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Let’s see if these rookie mistakes and discipline issues continue through the season. It’s something that helps gauge how far the Jags have progressed under Bradley and will help us all understand just how much further the team has to go before it is competitive against the best in the business.