JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it …
Michael from Orange Park, FL
So, now they have won a game. One whole game. Whee. And in the process, they ruined their draft positioning. So, now what?
I have received multiple versions of this email since the Jaguars snapped a five-game losing streak with a victory over the Tennessee Titans this past Sunday – and it's true that there remains a general feeling of malaise among Jaguars fans as a home game against the New York Jets approaches. Fans – and not just those concerned with draft positioning – are having trouble with motivation for a team eliminated from the postseason so early after entering the season with such high expectations. That malaise for some will last at least until the end of the regular season, until there's a restart – whatever form that restart may take. For those, the final four regular-season games will be about hoping the Jaguars don't win – lest they ruin that aforementioned draft positioning. That many will take this view is unavoidable and understandable. For others, they simply want their team to win. Either way, the Jaguars' players and coaches will prepare to do whatever they can to win. Does that dynamic make the end of these seasons weird and a little disconnected? Sure. But it's what they are, and it's a too-familiar feeling around these parts by now.
Andrew from the 904
After the season was clearly lost, I was doing the typical fan thing of hoping the Jags lose out for a better draft pick, so I bemoaned losing the No. 1 overall pick for a while after we beat the Titans but then I came around to a different line of thinking. There are good players worth drafting in every round in every draft, just as there are busts. What's more important than draft position is having a general manager who can identify the good players regardless of where they're drafting, which would explain why there are franchises who are consistently successful despite having later draft picks. Also, as you often say, the draft is a crapshoot. The players considered the best prospects at their position wind up not being the best relatively often and there are elite players drafted in later rounds almost every year. Do you think this a reasonable take or is having a high draft pick ultimately better for the team?
It's absolutely a very reasonable take. Your chances of selecting a better player are obviously better the earlier you select – even if only marginally. But if you don't have a long-term vision for your team and the ability to project how players will fit that vision, your percentages of success drop significantly. I don't know that the draft is a crapshoot, exactly – though I'm sure I've said and written as much quite often. But the draft is a percentage game in which even the best general managers "miss" every year. It's the general manager that keeps misses to a minimum slightly better than his counterparts that gives a franchise the best chance to succeed.
I so enjoy the O-Zone. LOVE football. But football leaves a hole and when the season is over, the O-Zone fills that void when you wake up and smile. After my Geritol, I'm going to read the Zone with my cup of coffee. The fans add so much, even though some make you frown. GO JAGS. DTWD.
You could have stopped at "so enjoy the O-Zone." I mean, who doesn't? Except, you know, for a lot of people.
Bruce from St. Simons Island, GA
I can see the Jags winning at least three more games to finish the season. Do you agree, and would this be the best outcome for the team?
Four games remain in the 2024 Jaguars regular season. If winning three means young Jaguars players and other players who will be here in the future are improving, then winning is the best outcome.
Nick from Virginia Beach, VA
I say bring on the wins! You can get great players throughout the draft, we just never do it! What is the best-case scenario for this team the rest of the season?
One fer winning.
Brendan from Yulee, FL
Is cutting Arik Armstead a strong possibility in the offseason? Cut our losses like we did with Blakey B.
Jaguars defensive end Arik Armstead, who signed as an unrestricted free agent this past offseason, carries a salary-cap hit of $7.4 million for the 2025 NFL League Year with a dead cap figure of $24 million. That makes releasing him very difficult. It's quite the contract.
Kathy from Palm Coast, FL
I read with interest the comment by a reader about his 14-year-old son. Why are our best defenders running off the field when the other team needs to pass and we have an excellent chance to force them to punt. It has amazed me all year. Why did we sign Armstead, an interior lineman, and then insist he play defensive end? Does Head Coach Doug Pederson have any say about this or is he the one who decided to play defense this way?
Ryan Nielsen is the Jaguars' defensive coordinator. He believes in rotating defensive players and determines the rotation on game day. Pederson is the ultimate authority on this and it wouldn't happen if he weren't OK with it.
Sal from Austin, TX
Guys are in here crying because the Jaguars won a game? Because of draft position? The Steelers, who are 10-3 right now, have two quarterbacks that they got for pennies on the dollar. Their starter was taken 75th overall in the third round, and their backup was taken 11th. That's one example: Ryan Leaf, Rick Meier, Zach Wilson, Jamarcus Russell. Conversely, Joe Montana, Brock Purdy, Tom Brady, etc. If the culture is hard, you can bring in football players and the organization is going to win, a weak culture like this one, you can draft Sammy Baugh and he'll play like, well, like the ones we get around here.
Well said, Sal. And one for Slinging Sammy.
Kei from Kitakyushu, Japan
If there's anything close to a feel-good story with the Jags this season, it's Mac Jones living his best life as a backup quarterback for his hometown team and actually winning a game for them. Who knows what will happen to him beyond this year, but he might be the one guy on the team with reasons to genuinely cherish his experiences this season.
One fer Jones.
Phil D from Baton Rouge, LA
Three games that Tank plays a prominent role in the offense, three wins. Think Head Coach Doug Pederson will do what needs to be done or will he stick by Travis Etienne Jr. as starting the way he sticks by Press Taylor as offensive coordinator?
I don't know who will start at running back for the Jaguars moving forward. I expect Bigsby to continue to increasingly get the majority of the carries. This generally has been the case as the season has continued except when Bigsby has been dealing with an ankle injury.
Tim from Fernandina Beach, FL
Even with this year's emphasis that offensive tackles line up on the line of scrimmage and can't jump early (thanks to our buddy, Jawan), I still see it happening at least once or twice when I watch games. Isn't there a ref on each side of the field whose job it is to watch down the line of scrimmage for offsides, false starts, etc. It's not like it occurs in the interior line. How do they keep missing it?
A false start is a precision timing play, and offensive linemen – former Jaguars and current Kansas City Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor very much included – increasingly try to time the snap exactly. This means officials are trying to make a call within a millisecond or two on either side of the snap. It makes it a tough call get right every time. It's a little like when officials don't always call illegal contact against overaggressive defensive backs. Officials sometimes weary of calling it on every play.
Brandon from Arkansas
To win or not to win that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of higher draft picks or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing receive lower draft picks.
'Tis indeed the question. And the masses therefore asked O-Zone, "Is it OK to celebrate winning in December?" And O-Zone in his wisdom said, ''Tis indeed OK" because saying "'Tis indeed OK" is better than saying "Do whatever the hell you like." And it was good.
Zac from Austin, Tejas
I'm playing catch up – and WOW, November 13 was a wild one. Teal is a weak color and Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence is being a bad leader during the week of the USMC Birthday? It got dark and bleak around here before the season was resigned to itself.
Wait until you get to November 14.