When I'm not insulting the glitter helmets the Jacksonville Jaguars wear or laughing at the general incompetence of owner Wayne Weaver, I'm often singing the praises of one of the Jags most loyal and well-informed bloggers, Alfie Crow.
Alfie, as you may or may not know, took over the day-to-day running of Big Cat Country after my good friend, Chris Harris, had to take a break from blogging so he could work on a U.S. Senate Campaign Team. Alfie has done a magnificent job transforming BCC into a must read blog.
But, compliments aimed at Alfie are not enough to prevent him from challenging me to pistols ad ten paces after I insulted his favorite team. Since neither one of us could get our hands on flintlock pistols or a pair of white, poofy wigs, we decided to fight it out, Queensbury rules style.
Once we both quickly discovered we could box to save our lives, we settled on asking each other five questions.
His to me at located here. Mine to him are after the jump.
Matt Grecco and I think Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio is coaching for his job this weekend. Is he?
I disagree to an extent. I honestly don't believe Wayne Weaver will fire Jack Del Rio mid-season, unless the string of blowouts continue past the Colts game. If there is a negative for Wayne Weaver, it's that he's loyal to a fault at times. He'll still have to pay Del Rio for the remainder of the season regardless, so firing him after a 1-3 or worse start doesn't accomplish much other than bloodletting to appease the fans. If the Jaguars were to say lose Sunday, lose to the Bills in Buffalo and comeback on Monday Night Football and get pounded... then I could see it.
Prior to the start of the season, Colts president Bill Polian said that the Jaguars would be the an improved team in the AFC South this year and a 'contender' in 2010. What has happened these last two weeks that has made Bill's prediction look so odd?
David Garrard's what happened. It's that simple. In Week 1, the Jaguars looked like what most of us thought they'd be, a gritty football team. It was a grind it out game that they pulled off with Garrard having a solid day. The next coming weeks Garrard poopoo'ed the bed. I've always felt like Garrard was simply mediocre and all teams needed to do was load up and force him to throw and that came to fruition on Sunday against the Eagles where he was facing 8 and sometimes 9 man fronts only to be utterly useless passing the football.
What's happened to David Garrard lately?
As I said before, I don't think he's necessarily a bad quarterback he's just not very good. If you look at his career from 2006 to now, the 2007 season he had looks like a fluke. In 2006, 2008, 2009, and now he looks like an average at best quarterback. When everything around him is perfect, he's pretty good, when it's not he can be pretty bad. He has trouble seeing the field, he has really poor pocket presence, and his downfield passing is questionable. In 07 he had near 2 1,000 yard backs to fall back on. Now teams just load up and force him to throw. Being as he doesn't really have a knack for crunch time heroics, it typically works for the other team. A good friend of mine alway says about Garrard, "He's good enough to get you beat."
Have Eugene Monroe and Eben Britton developed into the stud bookend tackles many of us expected they'd become?
For the most part, I'll say yes. I think Monroe has had a really good start to the season. He struggled against Trent Cole in the second half of the Eagles game, but it's tough to block a guy of Cole's caliber who knows you're passing and doesn't have to worry about the run. Prior to that, he was dominant. Britton on the other had has been kind of "meh." He battled a calf injury all pre-season, but he still struggles with pure edge rushers on the right side. He hasn't been Tony Pashos yet, however.
Have the Jaguars finally found a pass rush?
Indeed they have. Aaron Kampman is seemingly a steal for the price he was had in free agency and Tyson Alualu (WHO?) has 1.5 sacks already. As a team, the Jaguars already have 7 sacks through three games. They've been able to hit the quarterback quite a bit and force them to rush throws and move in the pocket, but the back end of the Jaguars defense is so bad it doesn't seem to matter. They're giving up nearly 300 yards a game passing which shouldn't happen with a decent pass rush, but they just can't cover anyone. It's a world of difference from last season, however.
Many thanks to Alfie for not spitting in my face after he finished answering my questions. Visit Big Cat Country for the very best news and commentary about the Jaguars.