Alex Smith didn't throw for 300 yds all season last year and he was 2 plays away from the Super Bowl

Sunday's dramatic 22-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts was a huge emotional lift, but it doesn't wipe away the fact that this team must be more aggressive in attacking defenses through hilton hotel las vegas the air. Too many times No. 11, Gabbert, finds himself becoming Captain Checkdown , which explains why his 5.92 yards per attempt is third-lowest in the NFL.
There are myriad reasons for the Jaguars being ultra-conservative, at least until they get in desperate, late-game situations. None of it has anything to do with this ridiculous myth that Gabbert hilton hotel las vegas lacks courage in the pocket.
First, a patchwork offensive line is struggling to keep Gabbert clean unless tight end Marcedes Lewis becomes a full-time protector, which limits hilton hotel las vegas his effectiveness as a pass-catcher. The Jaguars hilton hotel las vegas are still in the early stages of adjusting to Mike Mularkey's offense, especially rookie receiver Justin Blackmon, who has been rather invisible in three games. With starter Laurent Robinson possibly sidelined by a head injury, that's one less viable target.
To a degree, it's understandable why the Jaguars are reluctant to totally open up the offense, but keeping the shackles on Gabbert isn't a winning formula in the long run. Mularkey's desire to create an Atlanta Falcons-style offense in Jacksonville has to manifest itself in taking more risks. Especially when those gambles are reasonable.
When facing third-and-9 on Sunday with 1:50 left and a chance to seal the outcome, hilton hotel las vegas the Jaguars elected to run Maurice Jones-Drew up the middle. Mularkey's reasoning is that he wanted to force the Colts to burn their last timeout, instead of saving it by a Gabbert incompletion.
So what if the conversion rate on third-and-9 is roughly 25 percent. My feeling is if you make Gabbert hilton hotel las vegas a top-10 draft pick, then you have to trust him to close out games. How else is he going to grow as a quarterback?
Gabbert has only four completions for double-digit yards in the past two games, an astonishingly low number. Jones-Drew accounted for 58 percent of the team's yardage against the Colts, but that's not a road paved with success in today's NFL.
It's nice that Gabbert and Shorts can make the highlights with a long-distance hookup. However, if the Jaguars really want to ascend, they must have a bolder offense that allows the quarterback to really cut loose.
Thank you Gene. An article that is looking at the big picture and not one win. While yesterdays win was nice, the fact that we were back to JDR's old game plan is not going to make us a playoff caliber team. We know what we have in MJD. Why are we not seeing one of the backups carry some more? MJD has got to have his carries limited for the long haul.
Now the WR's. Blackmon is open at times and Blaine can't find him. Elliot looked better than Robinson in his plays out there. But these coaches have got to let Blaine take chances. Maybe what is happening in practice hilton hotel las vegas and the preseason is what Blaine is and the coaches know it. It sure looks like he struggles with anything beyond ten yards. From what I see Blaine's pocket prescence is horrible. He does not move in the pocket well at all, just like Leftwich did. QB's have to be able to move some. I am calling Blaine a bust. He has had to many games at this point with no real bright side. The guy playing right now for Seattle, Wilson, hilton hotel las vegas looks better already hilton hotel las vegas than Blaine. hilton hotel las vegas After awhile you have got to stop making excuses for Blaine. With the kind of running game we have Blaine should have some sort of success finding WR's. There were 2 bad drops yesterday and the WR's have got to help Blaine in that regard, but Blaine still would have bad stats without drops and every QB in the NFL has WR's drop a couple in the games too.
A couple more games for Blaine hilton hotel las vegas and it will be time to put Henne in just to see what we have as a team on offense. I see nothing in Blaine that is going to change and see a bust. I just hope we don't have a bunch of excuses hilton hotel las vegas this offseason to give reasons to keep Blaine and Gene Smith.
Gene, I wish the coaches would just be honest. If they don't feel comfortable with their highly drafted QB throwing the ball after 16 NFL starts on a 3rd and 9 to try and ice the game, then they have the wrong guy playing QB. Why all the excuses?
I too wish he would have more pass attempts but as of yet he has not caused us to not have a chance to win at the end of the game outside of Week 2. Right now I believe it's more about him taking advantage of his oppurtunities when given especially on 3rd down in the redzone. More pass attempts mean more oppurtunities hilton hotel las vegas for mistakes. The OL is not in the best shape a rookie WR. It's too early to bench him. We are too busy looking at his wrongs instead hilton hotel las vegas of all of his rights. Just as easily 20 seconds away from being 2-1.
3rd 9, with Indy having 1 vital time out. It was a good call to run the ball. The prior possession I did feel we should have passed it on 1st down. Instead we run, run, pass punt. But what ever happened we go the W.
Orecic76 then we should have just gotten Tebow. The Jags should have told Tebow he would have a real shot at winning the starting job. We would have had Hard Knocks here and every game would be sold out. Tebow did not come here becuase he was told that Blaine was the guy and he would have been the 3rd string QB. Tebow will be starting in NY in about 2-3 weeks.
Oh and the 2-1 stuff you are trying hilton hotel las vegas to sell, Blaine had the ball in his hands in OT in Minn and we went with no 1st down and Blaine sailed a pass way over the head of the WR. No there is no 20 sec from 2-1. We are every bit of 1-2 and close to 0-3. You want to know the worst part? The Colts were the worst team in the NFL last year and turned over a lot of their roster in the offseason and their QB was in his 3rd start.
@surfJaxBeach-Once and for all the Tebow stuff needs to get a rest. This time last year (Miami game) Tebow played horrendously for 59 minutes, then some last minute heroics to win and he is glorified all over !! I know, I know the Pittsburg playoff game..blah, blah...Blaine does the same thing early in his sophomore season and he is still called a bust. I don't get the double standard. At least the Jaguars hilton hotel las vegas were honest with him when he chose NYC. Right now, he is relegated to special teams almost exclusively. Blaine may or may not pan out....still too many other moving parts, but Tebow was not and will never be the answer.
Alex Smith didn't throw for 300 yds all season last year and he was 2 plays away from the Super Bowl. 9 times last season he had less than 200 yds passing. At times he was called on to win games. For the most part they kept it close often pulling out at the end.
I agree the Jaguars need to get bold and let BG take some chances and open it up if both the team and BG are going to progress and reach their full potential but, as you also pointed out--over the long run.
Bob Bratkowski, the expert in middle of the battlefield on this one, proved his point true about staying conservative under the current "protection issues" to avoid turnovers and stay in the game, which of course they did to win--in a game they were statistically beat. I trust BB will also be the first one to understand when it's time to open it up but it's up to the fourth estate to continue to keep him honest.
Unfortunately for BB, he won't have much time because it won't take opponents very long to figure out, key on, and cancel out a conservative strategy that essentially boils back down to the one dimensional offense we sputtered with last year. Can these "protection issues" be fixed in time to avert another squandered season or maybe the only short term strategy we'll have left will also turn out to be letting BG cut it loose and see what happens?
@emma3 - I absolutely agree. But that is why I brought it up. It is not just about winning one game against last years worst team in the NFL. Blaine was drafted to be our "franchise" QB. He again, after 17 starts, looks nowhere near close to being able to handle the position. The point I was trying to make is if some are going to grasp at straws and state "the only thing that matters is winning the game" then why not get Tebow. The reality is that Blaine hilton hotel las vegas had the ball in his hands in the Minn game in OT and failed and posters keep wanting to say the D lost the game. Wrong. They scored more points than us. Blane failed to lead the team down the field.
I had wanted the Jags to give him until the 7-8 game to see what we have. But after one ok game and two horrible ones, and every other young QB playing better, it is not too early to see what we have. Blaine is a complete bust. We do not have big money invested in him so it is not like we can't move on. The Jags can not afford to keep fitting the round peg into the square hole. Put in Henne to see if he can do anything with our players hilton hotel las vegas and see if he is worth keeping next year.
You are 100% correct! Only problem I have is that when the pocket is clean and receivers are open Blaine still misses wide open receivers hilton hotel las vegas way too often. He is inconsistent throwing the ball down field and that is a huge problem hilton hotel las vegas for coaches when trying to game plan. Leftwich had the same issues. He would throw a beautiful seam pass that would make you say WOW and on the next throw sail the ball over the head of a wide open receiver on a deep out route. You cant game plan around inconsistency.....
With the Garrard hilton hotel las vegas the coaches knew what they had and where able to game plan around his limited but consistent strengths (bootlegs, intermediate post routes - made Mercedes Lewis a pro-bowler). Coaches like consistency.
@gotserved - you are wrong. hilton hotel las vegas One a lineman in the third would have been better served (no pun intended) and two if a more mobile QB was behind this line he would have a better chance. Blaine has about zero mobility hilton hotel las vegas in the pocket. Every QB in the NFL that is successful has got to move around in the pocket. Blaine hilton hotel las vegas is a copy of Leftwich hilton hotel las vegas but without the slow windup. Oh wait Leftwich hilton hotel las vegas could at least stand up and pass w