Jaguars Change Afoot?

Right now, it’s bad.

I’ve been around this team since their first day of practice in 1995 and it’s bad. Maybe worse than their first expansion team.

As much as I liked what I saw last week, this week was a step backwards. As in back in time. They were listless and unfocused. They couldn’t execute. Penalties caused stopped the smallest of drives. Fumbles gave the Cardinals the ball. They’re not disciplined. Each time it looked like something might be happening, the Jaguars created their own problems.

And, oh by the way, Arizona went to the Super Bowl last year and played like the defending NFC Champions. Kurt Warner threw on time and with accuracy. (24-26 223) Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin caught everything thrown in their direction. (In fact Warner tied a club record for consecutive completions at the beginning of the game.)

I knew they’d take their lumps this year. Starting four rookies including two rookie tackles on offense was supposed to be the start of a rebuilding process. But this was not good. Arizona looked like a professional football team contending for a division title and perhaps a championship.

The Jaguars looked lost.

There are lots of reasons this stuff can happen but it starts at the top, especially with the head coach. Wayne Weaver is a competitive guy and a good owner when it comes to trying to win. But I think it’s time to really take a hard look at what Jack Del Rio is doing as the head coach of this club.

The penalties the Jaguars incurred in the first half were the product of sloppy play, undisciplined actions and a lack of focus. As John Madden used to say, “Discipline isn’t wearing ties on the plane, it’s not jumping off sides when it’s third and 4.”

Del Rio has adopted this “cool” personality and it’s rubbed off on his team.

This week Torry Holt said when asked how to get going in the right direction that this team needed to figure out what they wanted. “Do you just want to say you’re in the NFL, that you play for the Jaguars or the Cardinals? Or do you want to try and be great? It’s an all the time thing. You can’t just turn it on and off. It has to start when you wake up in the morning.”

I was pretty concerned when heard those comments. While he didn’t call anybody out individually, he left the impression that this team was fairly “cool” toward their objective. If that’s the case, something drastic has to change.

With the game in reach and the breaks going their way, the Jaguars did just about everything they could to back away from success.

I’m also concerned about Garrard. He’s a big trigger shy, a little late on just about every throw. He should be made to watch Warner operate his offense, looking like he knows where the ball’s going before the ball is snapped. Garrard isn’t anything like that. And what’s disappointing is how he’s ‘regressed from the player he was in 2007.

So they have multiple problems, with none looking like they’re going to be solved in the next couple of weeks in the division at Houston and at home against Tennessee.

0-4 doesn’t look like any fun.