JaguarsTalk: Fan Mail Time
JaguarsTalk: Mann and Manley. Name a better edge rushing duo, I dare you.
Much has changed since our last Fan mail column roughly a month ago. Growth has been exponential and we truly owe you all, the fans, a debt of gratitude for making JaguarsTalk as popular as it is in such a short amount of time. I hope that we are rewarding your patronage sufficiently, with almost daily content and our brand of no punches pulled, in-depth analysis. Thank you to everyone who has tuned in to see what JaguarsTalk is all about. We have many special things planned on the horizon and can’t wait to see them all come to fruition. Now that the sappy crap is out of the way let’s get down to brass tacks. You’ve got questions and we’ve got answers. They may not be the answers you want to hear, nor may they be answers you like (which is sort of the same thing really). But what they are are answers, we can promise you that.
The most often asked question deals with the decision Coach Pederson made to give the veterans this coming week off from practice. The question burning a hole in everyone’s head is, why? More specifically, why would you give a team that has only four wins over two seasons and a multitude of new players, both from off-season acquisition and the draft, who are all learning brand new offensive and defensive schemes and who need all of the practice together that they can get in order to gel as a unit, the week off? Okay, I will try to include more periods in my answer than existed in that previous sentence. I wrote an entire column on this exact issue (JaguarsTalk: Call Sign - Braveheart). It’s a great column and for everyone who can’t fathom an answer as to why Pederson would make such a decision, I urge you to go read it now, please. But I will bottom line it for you here. Jacksonville fans admit that the way things were handled last year by an inexperienced professional football coaching staff, resulting in a three win season, was completely wrong. A literal mess. So I answer your question with one of my own. Now that you have a Super Bowl caliber, NFL success story, highly experienced professional coaching staff, why are you questioning their decisions? I think that about covers it.
This next question is also a pretty simple one to answer. We wrote in a previous column, JaguarsTalk: An Evening with Coach and Quarterback, that Trevor Lawrence looked very skinny. It worries us only because we feel it might become a durability issue, especially if he is being sacked and hit often. I may have hit a chord with some readers who agree that he should pack on some muscle before the season begins. I can address this concern with two answers. First, he had some sort of stomach bug a few weeks ago and lost about 8-10 lbs. He said as much in a press conference after OTAs that particular day. He also stated that he is happiest weighing in around 220. Though I would prefer my 6’6” franchise quarterback to weigh maybe 10-20 pounds more, but who the hell am I? Secondly, if Trevor Lawrence says he is happiest at 220 pounds and Trevor Lawrence can perform to the best of his ability and be durable at 220 pounds then, by god, Trevor Lawrence should weigh 220 pounds. I’ll start to worry when and if Mr. Lawrence starts to get injured because he is too skinny, but I am pretty sure that Brandon Scherff and Like Fortner were brought to Jacksonville specifically to make sure that doesn’t happen. Until then, you be you Trev.
A question that has been coming up a lot lately, which I find to be of a pretty humorous nature, deals with depth. Specifically with defensive depth up front. Jacksonville has specifically situated themselves in a position to stop the run and hurry the opposing quarterback. These are good things. They did this by drafting unbelievably well, Travon Walker OLB, Devin Lloyd ILB, Chad Muma ILB. They also brought in Foye Oluokun ILB, a literal tackling machine and return Josh Allen OLB and K’Lavon Chaisson OLB. In addition to the linebacking core the Jags stacked their defensive lineman as well. Fatukasi, Hamilton, Robertson-Harris, Smoot, Key, etc… The Jaguars will be running a 3-4 defense and they have more than seven NFL starting caliber players for those seven positions. The question I have been getting is, did the Jags go overboard with the beefing up of their defense? Too many starters for too few positions, while they could have taken fewer front seven guys and used the money and picks to beef up other areas of the team. I almost want to answer this question by simply ignoring it. But I need to fill page space so I will say this.
The most important part of an NFL football team, hands down, without a doubt, is the defensive front seven (followed closely by the offensive line). None of these positions get the credit they deserve, save for maybe edge rusher. The bottom line is that the defensive front seven is the most disruptive force in the entire game. They control the opposing teams running back and their quarterback. You take away those two things and you shut down your opponent. If you hurry, hit and sack their QB you force the run. If you stop the run, you win the game. Every single W starts with the defensive front seven. The answer is, you can never have too many NFL starting caliber defensive linemen and linebackers on your team.
I will argue until I am blue in the face that you don’t need a star QB or a big name RB to win a Super Bowl. Most people will disagree with this. I point to Mark Rypien, Doug Williams, Joe Flacco, Jim Plunkett, Eli Manning, Bob Griese, Jeff Hostetler, Jim McMahon, Brad Johnson, Trent Dilfer, Nick Foles, Joe Theismann. All solidly average to good NFL quarterbacks. None of them were greats. None were Tom Brady, Terry Bradshaw, or Johnny Unitas. They were good NFL quarterbacks that won Super Bowls. I was sitting in Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego when the Redskins and Doug Williams beat the Denver Broncos 42-10. I certainly consider the losing quarterback that day, John Elway, to be one of the great quarterbacks in NFL history. Doug Williams, the winning QB, was merely good. So how did the Redskins beat Denver that day? The Redskins defensive front seven, Dave Butz, Monte Coleman, Anthony Copeland, Kurt Gouveia, Darryl Grant, Dexter Manley, Charles Mann, Mark May, Neal Olkewicz (these are just the names coming to mind as I sit here) shut down John Elway. Minus the first long bomb at the beginning of the game, Elway’s passing game and Denver’s running game were completely disrupted by Washington’s great front seven. You can never have too many NFL starting caliber defensive linemen or linebackers on a team. Never. Now coming in right behind the front seven, on the importance scale, is the offensive line. That year folks, the Washington Redskins had arguably the greatest offensive line ever assembled. But nobody asked a question about the offensive line, and you know me, I’m not one for tangents.
Be sure to keep the comments coming and I’ll be sure to answer your most pressing issues. If you agree, disagree, or have additional questions you would like answered in the next Fan Mail installment please leave it in the comments section below. Remember, however, that my answers are final and unarguable, even if I say “arguably”.