2008 Jacksonville Jaguars - The GIGGAS's Blog

The GIGGAS's Blog

2008 Jacksonville Jaguars

Posted on November 16, 2008 at 10:04 PM.

(0)

To be honest, I had high hopes for this season. In the wake of Super Bowl XLII, I stated (very confidently, in fact) that the Jaguars would be the AFC representative in Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa.

Fast forward to now.

After today's loss to the Titans, the Jaguars are sitting at 4-6. What happened?

In my opinion, three major things are adding together to end up where the Jaguars are now. Offensive line injuries, opponents being able to stop the run, and Gregg Williams.

Now, of course, the first item leads directly into the second. Losing Manuwai, Mo Williams, Brad Meester, and Collier (whose predicament is a horrible testament to the human race) can lead into a tough time running the ball, and of course, as shown by the Steelers and Patriots in last year's playoffs, teams are now able to figure out how to stop the dynamic duo of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew.

Now, Gregg Williams isn't the problem. It's just the same amount of hard-headedness that has been a problem at the University of Michigan. Rich Rod, instead of gradually phasing out Lloyd Carr's style of play over time, has decided to force the spread offense onto the players at Ann Arbor.

In my opinion, that's the same thing that Gregg Williams is doing to the players at Jacksonville. Jacksonville's been forced to adopt the attacking, blitzing defense that Gregg Williams has always favored, and they're not built for that. They're built for Mike Smith's system, which has gone to Atlanta.

By the way, how fantastic is Atlanta? They really turned it around. And a lot of the praise has to be on Mike Smith.

Too bad he's not in Jacksonville.

I don't have too much hope for the rest of the season, but perhaps in the offseason Jacksonville can improve the depth of the offensive line, and go find players more suited for Gregg Williams' style of defense.

Hopefully.