Accountability a key theme through Jacksonville Jaguars OTA’s
By Luke Sims
The Jacksonville Jaguars were not held accountable under former head coach Gus Bradley, but that has changed under Tom Coughlin and Doug Marrone. It’s a positive change per quarterback Blake Bortles.
When executive vice president for football operations Tom Coughlin came on board with the Jacksonville Jaguars, it was clear that there would be a big shift in culture for the team. That culture shift was cemented when Doug Marrone was promoted from interim head coach to head coach.
Both Coughlin and Marrone are disciplined coaches that emphasize accountability on the team. While getting tougher seems to be the primary spoken theme throughout the offseason, accountability is quickly rising as well.
Starting quarterback Blake Bortles highlights this to the media, stating:
"I don’t mind [the culture change] at all. I think it’s good. I think it allows you do some different things. I think, most importantly, it holds everybody accountable. It’s white and black. There’s not: maybe or maybe you were wrong. It’s either you did it right or you did it wrong."
Where the Jaguars used to be satisfied with simply getting better, the team is now about perfecting practices and getting closer to doing everything right. What used to fly under former head coach Gus Bradley will no longer be acceptable.
It is hard to overstate how important it is for accountability to be enforced. It’s something that former Jaguars great Fred Taylor highlighted in Tom Coughlin: A Football Life when going from the Jaguars to the Patriots and seeing how important accountability is under Bill Belichick and how it shapes winners and builds a culture of winning.
Accountability and discipline are not simply strictness for the sake of strictness. They are the tools to mold a group of young men into a cohesive unit that can accomplish great things.
This is a culture shift that some players may not fare well under and it is a culture shift that may turn some players away, but it is a break from the previous way that wasn’t working. It’s also a step in the right direction and proven to work under Coughlin – the only head coach to steal Super Bowl rings from fellow-great coach Belichick.