Jacksonville Jaguars: How does Mike Mallory still have a job?
By Luke Sims
Jacksonville Jaguars special teams appear to be at an all-time low, directly influencing games’ outcomes, but somehow the special teams coordinator is still employed.
Credit to Gus Bradley for getting rid of Greg Olson as offensive coordinator when it was clear his offense wasn’t working. Even if it was motivated as a possible way to keep his job, Bradley wasn’t blind to the play on-field and made a change.
Somehow, special teams has escaped his attention. The Jacksonville Jaguars have consistently allowed punt returners and kick returns to either run it back for a score or make a play that sets the opposition up to win. The muffed returns by Jags returners are just the cherry on top of a terrible, terrible sundae.
The man in charge of that mess is Mike Mallory, special teams coordinator. The man has been in charge of special teams for the Jaguars since 2013 and despite his units’ consistent poor play he is still somehow in charge of special teams. Special teams is a crucial part of any team and can make or break momentum and completely shift games. The Jags special teams have only managed to shift games against them to this point, rarely every having a positive impact.
It’s gotten so bad that Jags senior writer John Oehser calls out the unit before the Jacksonville Jaguars vs Houston Texans game in Week 15:
"Stop the madness!!!! The Jaguars have allowed a long punt or kickoff return to set up a score in six consecutive games. They turned in a special-teams performance filled with so many penalties last week against Minnesota that it was hard to process. That must stop. It simply must."
The way to stop that is by moving on from the special teams coordinator. Unfortunately, at this late point in the season, it’s worth wondering if it will even matter. Why mess with a ship that is so clearly sinking?
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Unfortunately, that is the attitude fans and the organization appear to be taking. There’s so much wrong that the Jags seem to have only one goal in mind: limp to the finish line to end the 2016 season and move on. The competitive spirit has successfully been killed.