Ollie Matson

There aren't any rules for blogs but as this is a Jaguars blog, I try to connect my thoughts, no matter how random, to the Jags in some fashion. Well, this article (obit? post?) from the NY Times on Ollie Matson isn't Jaguars related and outside of really stretching it, I can't think of any reason why it would be. That said, I find football history really interesting and Matson's story compelling. In any case, check it out, if you have a moment.

That's a big strong man. He should act as a reminder to everyone that you have to be a big strong man to play running back in the NFL.

On message boards and what not, occasionally some blow hard will go off about how old players wouldn't be able to cut it in today's NFL. Generally, I think this is a dumb thing to say. Yeah, generally, if you magically transported the best athletes from prior decades to today, they wouldn't hold up well, but that says nothing about the former players, and is really just a very obvious statement about the nature of technology. A player like Matson in today's game, given the same technological advances, would absolutely dominate.

-Q

Bob Sanders

So Bob Sanders stopped by for a visit and a physical over the weekend before heading up to Buffalo.

This is one of those trust in Gene moments so there's really not much for me to add here without sounding stupid. If he's healthy, they almost can't overpay him. If he's not healthy, well hopefully he was cheap.

Also, I don't know if there are different rules right now because of the expiring CBA but generally the likelihood of a player signing with a team drops significantly once he leaves the building. So as Bob heads to Buffalo, whatever happens, credit to Gene Smith for doing his due diligence.

Hopefully, a longer article tomorrow. I have some thoughts I want to spell out in something approaching an essay or argument. We shall see.

-Q

A roundup on Bob Sanders...

PFT's take

Big Cat Country's

Paul Kuharsky's

The general summary is everyone thinks someone should jump on him cause he'll be cheap but I doubt that's the case. If he were cheap, the Colts would've kept him. Yeah, maybe the Titans, Jags, or Texans can grab him by paying a little bit more than the Colts but I bet someone pays him a lot more. The market isn't going to be set by Sanders average value, it's going to be set by the one team that offers him a chunk of guaranteed money. If I had to bet, someone will do it (Aren't big name players with huge question marks the Redskins specialty? Well, that and petty law suits).

-Q

Special thanks to Dr. JC Benjamin for the image

NFL labor, The O-zone is alive and well...

First, quick update on the NFL labor front. According to PFT, the two sides have agreed to meet for seven straight days. That's about as much good news as we can hope for.

Over on jaguars.com, the O-Zone (the new Ask Vic) is alive and well. It wrapped up its first week and despite a few moments that seemed forced, it's probably safe to say that we're in good hands with Mr. Oehser. So we got that going for us, which is nice.

Hopefully more to come today...

Colts cut Bob Sanders

Despite a report earlier today that the Colts were working on getting a new deal done with Bob Sanders, it appears that's not going to be happening. PFT is reporting that the Colts have cut Bob Sanders.

I'm pretty blown away. Bob Sanders is insanely talented and you don't need to look any further than the turn around the Colts run defense experienced in 2007 on their Super Bowl run. That turn around perfectly coincided with his return from injury. I'm sure there were other factors but when a player can have that kind of impact (the Jags rushed for 375 yards right before he returned), then you learn to fear him. I fear Bob Sanders. My only thought is his injury must be of such a severe nature that they don't think he'll recover. I suppose it could be that negotiations weren't going well but why cut him now? Why not keep negotiating and cut him in a few weeks?

In any case, I hope Bob Sanders gets healthy and blossoms again on a team far, far away from the Jaguars (or on the Jaguars. That's a fun possibility). He's an extremely exciting player to watch who plays too big for his body. Thanks for the memories, Bob, and make sure to grab Peyton's Super Bowl ring on your way out. You earned it for him after all.

-Q

NFL and Union agree to federal mediation

Not much Jaguars news going on. John Oehser decided to refer to Peyton Manning and the Colts by their names instead of some other moniker (like That Guy or the Team from Indiana, or something to that affect). Jaguar fans promptly said "Uh, yeah, we're not that dumb."

In NFL news, what can only be a good thing, the League and the Union have agreed to federal mediation. This can only be a good thing. Here's a curious coincidence (or not if you're into conspiracy theories): The CBA is set to expire on March 4th which is the same day the government would shut down if Congress doesn't pass a budget or continuing resolution. That would be all kinds of crazy. I don't know how long mediation lasts (Do they try it for a week? Is this something they do until they get a deal done or one of them walks away?) but it would really suck if the return of the NFL was hindered because of politics. Congress always has insanely low approval ratings but if they end up on the hook for shutting down the NFL they could achieve an all time low.

In other things a lockout would disrupt, Aaron Kampman is rehabbing at Everbank right now but would move to another facility in Jacksonville post-lockout.

I'm hoping the Jags can lock up Marcedes Lewis in the next few days but if not, fingers crossed he understands why the team would franchise him.

-Q

John Oehser arrives at Jaguars.com, Mike Tice to Titans denied

Just wanted to take this moment to welcome John Oehser as the new Senior Editor to Jaguars.com. Here's his introduction. I thought it was great. Strong voice, very reassuring and addressed a number of things that at least some fans were worried about, mainly would he still do a daily mailbag, and how would his time with the Colts affect his writing now. I assume we won't be getting any more Peyton Manning is a choker jokes (personal relationships tend to mellow criticisms). I'm ok with that. Even if the senior editor isn't poking fun, Peyton will always be the NFL's greatest choke artist.

Onward. I think the Bears denying the Titans a chance to interview Mike Tice for their offensive coordinator position is good news for the Jaguars. Losing Tice was a blow to the quality of the Jaguars coaching staff, not crippling, Andy Heck is as good a coach as there is, but Tice provided a lot to the whole offense. I'm always a fan of having former head coaches as assistants, even guys who had really rough runs as a head coach like Tice did. They tend to have a good sense of the big picture and understand the value of organization, staying to the head coaches message, long term development, etc. The downside is they tend to be well connected and always looking for better opportunities. It can make them difficult to hold onto when the situation becomes less than ideal. I don't particularly care where Tice ends up but since I do think he's an above average coach, coupled with a fairly intimate understanding of the Jaguars organization, I'd prefer if he stayed out of the AFC South. That doubles for the Titans who I'd be prefer were run by Dan Snyder (I contemplated going with monkeys or children or some other dumb jokesy group but since I'm pretty sure at this point Snyder is testing how poorly an organization can operate while still sucking the life blood of its fans, I think there's probably no worse curse on a franchise. Don't sue me, danny boy)

-Q

John Oehser to replace Vic Ketchman

John Oesher, the former Times-Union reporter, will be replacing Vic Ketchman as Jaguars.com senior editor. I don't have much to say but I'm looking forward to his first column and the return of fresh content to Jaguars.com.

One funny (maybe mildly amusing, or alternatively trivial) side note, he wrote a book with Pete Prisco called 'Rags to Riches' all about the Jags 1996 Cinderella run to the AFC championship game. My girlfriend, from here on out I'll refer to her as Lil' Salty, found the book for me at a thrift store. I haven't read it (and lets be honest, it's probably out of print for a reason) though I might read a bit to get a handle on his writing style.

A round up of stories on it:

Jaguars.com: http://www.jaguars.com/news/article.aspx?id=9790

Times-Union: http://jacksonville.com/sports/football/jaguars/2011-02-10/story/former-t-u-reporter-john-oehser-replacing-vic-ketchman

Big Cat Country: http://www.bigcatcountry.com/2011/2/9/1984797/john-oehser-is-the-new-writer-for-jaguars-com

Also, Jags lost Todd Monken today to Oklahoma State. He's going to be their offensive coordinator so it's somewhat understandable but the Jaguars have experienced quite the exodus of coaches on the offensive side of the ball the last two years (Mike Tice, Kennedy Pola, Mike Shula, and now Monken). No good and reminds me of my biggest fear with Del Rio, although the two this year can probably be laid at the feet of Weaver. Assistant coaches bounce around quite a bit and do so more when you only give them one year contracts.

-Q

My bet on Ryan Mallet

So I made a little bet with my friend, The Bear (soon to be famous for his 100% accurate mock draft). I bet him a dinner that Ryan Mallet would end up going in the top five in the NFL draft. It's pretty early and who knows, maybe the Raiders will trade up, but this story doesn't make me feel good about it. All this talk of mysterious off the field concerns makes me really curious though. Considering all the rapists, womanizers, drunk drivers, and what not the NFL employs on a regular basis (and has no problem drafting), Mallet must have done something really bad. Or maybe he's just not as cute as Mark Sanchez...

As for the Jaguars, if Mallet does have legitimate character concerns, we can probably safely assume Gene Smith won't be interested. That said, at some point Gene Smith is going to find a talented player he thinks was given a bad rap. That should be interesting and I'd love to hear more about how the personnel department goes about evaluating and investigating any off the field issues.

-Q

Image is courtesy of SaturdayDownSouth (who may have stolen it from somewhere else)

Who will replace Vic Ketchman?

Despite the name (khaki pants and press box hot dogs are two things former Jaguars.com senior editor Vic Ketchman repeatedly expressed his love for), this blog is actually supposed to follow the Jags. That said, since news is slow, a little speculation on who could possibly replace the curmudgeon who had come to fill Jaguars fans' hearts the last 15 years.

Here's what we know: Vic Ketchman said, I believe in one of his chats, that he recommended the person. He also said he thought Jaguars fans would be pleased. We also know that a primary reason for Vic's departure was money, so the replacement will probably not be too expensive.

The name that immediately jumps to most fan's mind is Ryan Robinson. I don't think this is a terrible guess but I'd also be surprised if that's who they went with. Working for him, he's written editorials in the past. He is already familiar with the organization, as well as the website and would probably have a good handle on Vic's relationship with fans. That said, currently Robinson, while in the Communications department, is less of a football guy and a more of a public relations, community service guy. Unfortunately for him, I think this works against him, at least in the short run. The PR guys tend to get overrun a little in the NFL. Players don't always afford community service requests a lot of respect and Robinson's association with PR could somewhat hamper the respect players have for him. Also, putting a PR guy into that role would instantly wipe out any credibility the team's website had developed. It would essentially be perceived as a PR machine. Robinson could certainly overcome this but I think it makes him a less than ideal candidate.
Ed Bouchette. He the Steelers beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. a kind of Vic 2.0. To be honest I don't really know a lot about him. I imagine he's too expensive but maybe he's looking to jump the sinking ship formerly known as newspapers. He's also a close friend of Vic Ketchman's.

Another interesting candidate, in my opinion, is Jim Wexell. He's a freelance reporter who covers mostly the Steelers. I don't know how much he's making but it seems possible the Jaguars could at least offer more stability than freelance work. Also, Vic Ketchman knows him as Wexell worked under him at the Irwin Standard Observer. Here's an interview he gave. He's also got a little bit a fiery side. Twice he's gotten into arguments with another member of the media, Mark Madden. The arguments were ten years apart. I won't speculate on those at all but this seems to sum them up nicely.

In all honesty, I have no idea who will replace Vic Ketchman. If I get any hot tips, I'll be sure to pass them along. Whoever it is, while they have big metaphorical shoes to fill (I bet Vic actually has smallish feet), I'm sure Jags fans will welcome them with open arms.

-Q

Jordan Black released

Not much going on today in Jaguars world.

Jordan Black was released. He started nine games for the Jags last year but if you listened closely there were plenty of rumblings about him not playing well. It hasn't been uncommon for Gene Smith to release players who had played fairly significant roles the previous season (Torry Holt, Fred Taylor). Then, it was pitched as part of the process of getting younger, and that's a fair description, but this move also probably reflects the idea that if someone is given a chance, and they aren't good enough, then there's no sense in keeping them around. Jordan Black is an average to below average player and the offseason should offer plenty of chances to acquire a replacement.

I suppose money could have been a factor. According to PFT (not sure where they got it from, I couldn't verify), Black was due a 1.1 million salary. I'm not sure how carefully they choose that wording but if part of that was due as a roster bonus on a certain date then maybe a decision had to be made sooner rather than later. In any case, the minimum salary next year in the NFL is approximately $300,000 for a first year player. That sucks for Black cause even if he is a better player than the 1st or 2nd year guy, the team can save 600-800K by going with the younger guy. To put that in perspective, $500,000 isn't a bad rough estimate for a game of concession sales ($10 profit/person * 50,000 persons). I don't really know if that played a factor but as Vic use to say, it's professional football, it's about the money.

-Q

Bud Adams going cheap

PFT: Bud Adams wants to hire new Titans coach on the cheap

I imagine there are some Jags fans out there for whom the headline above warms their heart but I totally support this approach. It won't play well with fans and Adams probably should've done everything he could to keep that kind of info from getting out (He may have. It's not immediately clear from the article how TitansInsider learned about the future coach's salary. It could've come from one of the candidates). Fans generally don't like to see their team is being cheap, and conversely, they don't like to see articles about how a man paid 2.5 million is cheap.

There seems to be a surplus of good coaches. Paying for past coaching performance doesn't seem to insure future success (Mike Shanahan being the most recent example). I also tend to think there's value in getting a less established guy, who will work unbelievably hard to earn respect and credibility. It is admittedly a short term strategy. Success will cost you. Mike McCarthy, Mike Smith and Mike Tomlin were all relatively unknown before they were hired. They'll each most likely end up with contract extensions and salaries after this season closer to the top of the coaching pyramid(Smitty may get his real soon). You don't have to pay to get em' but you gotta pay to keep em'

My Last Ask Vic

It started in high school. I went something like three of three or four of four. As in, the first handful of questions I sent in to Vic were answered. I didn’t send him one everyday, more just once, twice, maybe three times a year but I always put a fair amount of thought into each question, trying to identify a topic unique enough to be answered but that held mass appeal so he’d include it. I remember once a column was even titled after my question. I’ve annoyed many a friend with an email or phone call alerting them to “Quinton from Jacksonville’s” question.

I never made the Ask Vic Hall of Fame or Idiots. I don’t remember any of those questions and neither does anyone else but there was a real joy to contributing to the column. A tangible connection to a community and experience that you wanted every Jaguars fan to experience. I was always a little shocked when I met another fan, or one of my friends who was a Jaguars fan, and they didn’t read Vic regularly. I had looked at websites around the league. We were the lucky ones. There wasn’t a writer out there who had his combination of access, integrity, history, or quite simply, his ability to write. Every website had a guy but we had “The Man.”

It’s been a while since Vic included one of my questions in the column. My percentage is way down but something even cooler happened the last time I sent him a question. He replied via email, straight to me, and no one else. I had asked him why do player profiles overlap, as in why would the Times-Union do a story on Vince Manuwai the same day as jaguars.com? His reply was short and quick “Sometimes it happens. Everybody goes to the same press conference.” I reverted pretty quickly to high school and promptly forwarded the email to some friends.

I’ve always put Vic on a special level, probably a level that held me back and wasn’t a fair standard for him to live up to. Whenever I sent him a question I always read it carefully, meticulously checking grammar, and rehearsing in my head possible responses (especially when I disagreed with him). I didn’t want to be labeled for my youth or mistakenly told to quit playing video games. While I avoided this fate, I nonetheless, never totally overcame how intimidated I was of Vic. For no rational reason it was important to me that this man who I had never met respect my opinion. I probably should have emailed him more, given more of myself to the column and risked his making fun of me. I would have survived. Vic certainly gave of himself, absorbing a truly astonishing amount of vitriol that would flow in the days after a loss.

My meekness spilled into real life at one point too. I interned for the Jaguars one summer in college. I had absolutely no trouble talking to Jack Del Rio, Shack Harris or Wayne Weaver. I knew most of the players and had no trouble calling them out for skipping meals or not checking in. Vic, however, was a different story. I had a handful of opportunities to meet him and each time I chickened out. I don’t know what I thought would happen if I just went up and introduced myself to him but I didn’t want to seem like a fan so I played it cool. In the process I probably lost my best chance at a chance for a real Vic story. He was by all accounts a great colleague and treated everyone with the respect they deserved.

It’s time to take Vic off the pedestal now. He’s a pro, a pro’s pro at that but its professional football and it's about the money. And while he is my favorite sports writer, he has no duty to write about my favorite team. I should’ve recognized sooner that he’s always been a guy who seeks new challenges and embraces change (quite an accomplishment for such a curmudgeon). Nothing speaks louder to that than his decision to come leave his home state and come to Jacksonville in 1995. I always thought when Vic left the Jags it would be for his mountaintop. I wasn’t totally wrong. Green Bay is a mountaintop. It’s the summit of football tradition, passion and history. As Fred Taylor said today, “[It] was destined for him.”

Thanks for the memories, Vic.

-Q

Image is courtesy of Jaguars.com

Over the next few weeks...

...going to introduce a few new contributors to the site.

First, The Bear (let's call him 'The Bear' for now. I think he'd like that) will be providing a mock draft. At some point before April, I'll also be doing one in collaboration with C.C, that mysterious other contributor, who wrote something about Mr. Tebow a while back.

Second, a lawyer friend of mine will be providing some legit actual analysis of the labor situation in the NFL. For professional reasons, they'll remain anonymous but I think it's going to be excellent.

Speaking of Mr. Tebow, I have had for some time a long-term bet (I'm a big fan of long-term bets) that David Garrard will finish with more wins as a starter than Mr. Tebow. Currently Garrard has 39 wins as a starter versus one for Tebow. The bet is for either a dinner or a steak dinner, can't remember. I don't think it's enough to sway my opinion on Garrard or Tebow although I should be on guard for that. I'd gladly give away multiple steak dinners if it would save me from the insufferable clamour that will fill Jacksonville and befall Gene Smith if Tebow is a very successful QB.

-Q