Jeff Fisher is out

Jeff Fisher is leaving Tennessee and while Vic may be swooning and reminiscing about days gone by, I will be glad to see his arrogant little mustache go. I only wish Vince Young was hanging around (and he still might. They haven't actually gotten rid of him yet) for the next coach. When your rival has a QB who throws "like a girl" (I apologize to women/girls, I really mean from the elbow but who is going to know what I'm talking about if I say that), there's a certain bliss in knowing they are never really going anywhere. They won't win the Super Bowl, or the AFC, or the division. I imagine VY had trouble winning scrimmages in practice.

Vic is a journalist first and foremost (although he did admit he likes for the team to win, which isn't exactly a neutral statement) so he's understandably more interested in compelling story lines. Jeff Fisher certainly was that. I hated playing the Titans especially because even when you thought they would be truly, truly awful, they would go out and beat you (see 2007 opening day). Fisher never really had the talent in my opinion. He dealt with a lot of busts, and I always got the sense even Titan fans were surprised when their latest star arrived (Cortland who? Jason Jones?). The sheer litany of high profile busts is pretty outstanding (Vince Young, Lendale White, Pacman Jones, Chris Henry). They even let talented guys like Randy Starks (congrats on that first Pro Bowl big fella) walk away. In hindsight he did a pretty masterful job of getting anything out of the most athletic piece of fat on the planet (Albert Hayneworth). I don't really want that. It is not important to me that the Jaguars play in the best division in football. I will cheer when Peyton Manning retires. When the NFL was finalizing their realignment of the division, I vividly remember a local sports radio host talking about what a treat it would be to watch Peyton Manning for the next ten years. Yeah, its been barrels of fun.

Look, its perfectly true that rivalries are no fun if one team is dominant over the other. It's also no fun to be the runt little brother, and the Jags often feel like the runt little brother (ok, we're better off than Houston, so maybe we're more like the forgotten middle child). I just want to be the smarter, better, faster, stronger sibling. After the last eight years I'd prefer Peyton Manning not being our daddy. For that to happen, we need some things to change.

-Q

Image: Credit: Reuters/Jason Cohn

*Also I think it's fitting for Jeff Fisher to be the first image on the blog

Vic Ketchman links and a thought

Round up of reactions to Vic Ketchman's departure:

Paul Kuharsky: http://espn.go.com/blog/afcsouth/post/_/id/20616/jags-losing-ketchman-a-major-link-to-fans

Big Cat Country: http://www.bigcatcountry.com/2011/1/19/1945112/farwell-vic-ketchman

Jags Report:http://jagsreport.com/2011/01/550/vic-ketchman-resigns-as-jaguars-com-senior-editor/

And from the other side: http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/114336339.html

It really pains me that it was financial. That sounds odd, but I'd almost prefer it wasn't such a direct connection to what every Jaguar fan fears: That the team is broke, or too broke to provide the same quality product most NFL fans get. All that they love about the Jags will wither away, until one day the team heads off to LA, not amongst protest or anguish, but with a whimper and a shrug.

-Q

Vic Ketchman leaves Jaguars

My heart is broken. Vic Ketchman is leaving the Jags to go to the Green Bay Packers.

The name of this blog is a direct reference to two of Vic Ketchman's favorite things, khaki pants and press box hot dogs (which he can no longer consume). Needless to say, I enjoy his work and would say it has had an immeasurable effect on how I watch and think about football. I thought he would leave at some point but assumed it would be to run off to a mountain top somewhere, not for another team. I wish him the best and hope that Green Bay appreciates my favorite sports writer in America. I don't know who will replace him but hopefully the Jags continue to let them have the same creative and expressive freedom they gave Vic.

I'll post a tribute to him at some point either in the next few days or when he leaves in February. Sad day for Jags fans.

-Q

What they could lose?

Just some info today, and brief thoughts on what the Jags will do...

According to Ask Vic yesterday, these are the players whose contracts are set to expire on March 3rd: Marcedes Lewis, Jeremy Cain, Kirk Morrison, Sean Considine, Mike Sims-Walker, Justin Durant, Adam Podlesh, David Jones, Jason Hill, Todd Bauman, Trent Edwards and Luke McCown.

Provided the League works out how franchise tags will be applied with the lockout looming, Marcedes Lewis isn't going anywhere. The general specualtion is that Durant and Sims-Walker are on their way out. I'm perfectly happy to let Morrison, Considine, Jones, and any of the quarterbacks walk, although I'd think they'd bring Edwards or McKown back. Not to say the Jags aren't thinking deeply about those guys but they're relatively easily replaced. The intriguing guys are Podlesh, Hill, and Cain. I'd assume they want to bring Cain, who is the team's long snapper back. He didn't seem to do anything wrong and they let Joe Zelenka go to keep him. Hill is a guy they've spoken very findly of and you have to think they really want to keep him. Podlesh, who I think benefits greatly from coverage, was one of the tops in the league in terms of net coverage, so i think they'll try to make sure and keep him. We shall see

Note: This was supposed to go out yesterday but i forgot to click publish. More to come later today

-Q

Sorry for the quiet

My khaki pants turned a bit gray for a while but new year, some hope and a touch more resolve, I plan on updating daily. I haven't been good (read, I've been pathetic) at updating when things head south for the Jags and things really headed south at the end of this year but I'll work on that, while the Jags work on filling a need at every position except TE and kicker.

1) The loss to the Colts was devastating and heart breaking. I think most Jags fans have moved on but it didn't help seeing the Jets beat them. Random but an odd, marginally unexplainable win in Jags history was when they beat the Jets in 2009. Those Jets have now gone on to two AFC championship games (I suppose what's actually odd is all those wins after. I wonder if the Colts regret not going undefeated and knocking the Jets out of the playoffs in 2009)

2) Keeping Del Rio felt a bit like a sucker punch from Weaver. Weren't we all on the same page at the beginning of the season? Playoffs or he's out?

I think Del Rio is alright. His record as a coach, somewhere in the neighborhood of .500, probably a game or two above that, is a fairly accurate representation. The problem for Jags fans is his soul-stealing penchant for late season losses. If it was only the last two years I'd be more sympathetic, young team and what not, but the Jags collapsed in 2006 as well. To be fair to Del Rio, it hasn't all been December blues. They closed out 2003 and 2004 reasonably well, going 3-2 and 3-1 respectively. In, 2005 and 2007, they made the playoffs, closing out each season strongly (/having refuted my initial point I should move on).

Ultimately though, I just don't think you'd be set back that far if the Jags had fired Del Rio. He's an average coach and if you picked a guy as best you could I think you'd expect to get a coach back about as good as him. They could have kept the defensive mindset and gone with a guy like Rob Ryan, who I like a lot as a future head coach, or any number of qualified assistants. Yeah, there's some uncertainty and cost but Del Rio isn't a genius. He's lost control of teams before (see 2008) and there's no guarantee if the Jags are somewhat unlucky in 2011, he couldn't lose this team. This had to be about money and I don't blame Weaver and he'll never, nor should he, admit that. It's not my millions but couldn't you have just hired some random cheap guy who everyone knows can coach (This is clearly my most analytical proposition)?

This could cost Weaver some money as well. I don't think there's a magical head coach out there who sells tickets for the Jags. That said, keeping Del Rio made the ticket sales job infinitely more difficult. Head coaches are exciting. The Jags reported an increase in ticket sales after the Del Rio hire in 2003 and I think the situation is somewhat analogous. This team is closer to turning the corner than the 2003 team was, and that was Weaver's stated reason for keeping Del Rio. The culture and mood in the building is presumably better than it was at the end of the Coughlin era (if only cause Coughlin liked it unpleasant. I miss that curmudgeon). The fans wanted blood though and I highly doubt taking the play calling away from Del Rio satisfies anyone (Was anyone complaining about defensive play calling?).

We shall see. More to come this week but mostly I'm going to focus on getting a thought or two out each day, probably riffing off of Vic or something I've read somewhere else. Any suggestions, Jags or something else, pass them along.

Q

Jags win and Al Davis loses

I touched on this last week but as if to further confirm that the Raiders are an organization that does it the "wrong way". This story came out after the game. A quick summary, when Kyle Boller came into the game Sunday, the Raiders threw a couple of times. Obvious questions arose about why they did that cause, well, Darren McFadden was having his way with the Jaguars (more specifically Sean Considine) and a run seemed like the more prudent thing to do (cause it's, you know, Kyle Boller). Like all play calling, it's great if it works, it was wrong if it doesn't, hindsight bias, etc. When Tom Cable, Raiders head coach, was asked about it, he said “I don’t know. That is not for me to decide right now.” Hue Jackson, meet bus. While that's bad, its not exactly the problem.

Jack Del Rio has probably at some point thrown his offensive or, less likely his defensive coordinator to the dogs (less likely cause Del Rio's domain is defense and he can't ever really skirt the blame for their failure). He, though has control over who his guys are, and while Del Rio has his own coach issues, most notably the revolving door that are his assistants. He's in charge and is ultimately accountable and responsible for Dirk Koetter's performance. For the Raiders, they have a particularly odd management strategy, one that. as far as I know is unique in the NFL to them. The owner highers the head coach, offensive and defensive coordinator. The coordinators have control over their particular units while the head coach is a kind of figure head. Now Cable and Jackson claim to have laughed about this particular incident and who knows maybe they did, but this type of conflict is inevitable when you have one guy who keeps his job based on one metric (wins) and another guy who has a significant amount of control over those outcomes. If they disagree,which they will, things get nasty. This is all speculation although if Jackson leaves after the season, especially if he leaves for a lower profile job, we'll have a clue.

Ultimately, owners have enough trouble bringing in one right person, the head coach. The process of hiring three people while also juggling how personally compatible they are as well as their football philosophies, is an order of magnitude more complicated. The Cowboys did a similar thing a few years ago, hiring Jason Garrett to be offensive coordinator, before they hired Wade Phillips. That combo won zero playoff games.

While I don't think it's true in all aspects of business or life, in football, I think its especially important to have singular points of authority. For players, quarterbacks tend to assume this role. It is part of the reason why teams are so much more adamant in declaring who their starting QB is. They want to make him into a credible leader. For teams generally, a head coach's authority has to be absolute. It is his vision, philosophy and ability to convince others to follow and execute his strategy that is ultimately being evaluated. By taking away his authority to hire his top assistants, the owner undermines the coach. Al Davis and Jerry Jones effectively have neutered coaches. Wayne Weaver, conversely, has clearly delegated responsibility. Presumably, this is why Gene Smith has the "conn" (am I doing that right?) and Del Rio's role is so well defined. He is responsible for getting the most out of the 53 that Gene Smith gives him.

Final thought, it's worth pondering why do Jerry Jones and Al Davis do this? The most likely answer is essentially ego. Think about how much more strongly Jones and Davis are associated on a national level with the Cowboys and Raiders than Weaver is with the Jaguars. Think about who the faces of each of these franchises are. For the 'Boys and Raiders, it's their owners. For the Jags, it's probably MJD (God bless him). If any of these teams won the Super Bowl, the credit would largely go to the person most highly associated with those teams. While Robert Kraft is well respected, the credit for the Patriot's success this decade largely falls to Belichick and Brady. Outside of Daniel Snyder, I doubt anyone dabbles in football decisions as much as Jones and Davis. I also don't think it's a coincidence that they're the two owners who've had the most football success on the field. Paradoxically, this means that as a fan, you are better off having someone like Weaver or Kraft, who essentially are nothing more than fans with lots of money, than a guy who has had moderate on-field success. Go figure.

-Q

Really Quick thoughts on jags game

Final today so these are my super quick observations.
1) If you switched the head coaches from yesterdays game, I think Oakland wins. Jags fans love to complain about Del Rio but it could be a lot worse.
2) I think the Jags might lose if Rolando McClain, Oakland's first round pick, was there yesterday. He was injured and there seemed to be a huge drop off in talent.

Fortunately, neither of those things matter and the Jags are now 8-5.

-Q