SB Nation User Blog: River City Rage

Barack Obama loves the Jacksonville Jaguars: Photo's to prove it

River City Rage — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:36:15 -0000

Just stumbled upon this while browsing, thought it was worth a view.

Jacksonville Jaguars trade Dennis Northcutt to Detroit Lions: Safety Gerald Alexander Joins Team

River City Rage — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:51:52 -0000

And then there were two...

The Jacksonville Jaguars have traded Wide Receiver Dennis Northcutt to the Detroit Lions for Safety Gerald Alexander. It was recently reported that Northcutt would be allowed to work out a trade, something that I thought would only end in the release of the somewhat maligned receiver. Northcutt is the third Jaguars receiver to find himself going from the starting roster in 2008 to packing his bags and leaving town in 2009. Clearly, Gene Smith thinks that there is something worth developing in our draft class of receivers and in Mike Walker, Troy Williamson and the esteemed veteran in Torry Holt.

Dennis, in most minds, will be forever remembered for his end zone drop during the playoff game in New England. For me, Northcutt is a relative bright spot in an otherwise miserable history at the position. Dennis did his job, if not more, and did so with his mouth shut. The team needs to get younger and give the developing players the starting repetitions. Dennis, surprisingly, had some value, and brings the Jaguars a former 2nd round pick. I'll admit, I'm learning about Alexander as we speak, but from what I've seen, he's going to be in the mix at strong safety.

As always, in Gene we trust, though Gerald is not without some concerns. He suffered a neck injury which had him sidelined, though according to Alexander, this is behind him:

The neck is no longer an issue, physically and mentally," Alexander said. "Just out there trying to get better every day, learn the system, making good plays, making mistakes. Just trying to get everything right so I'll be ready."

So there you go, Mike Walker, Torry Holt and Troy Williamson are nearly assured roster spots, with Mike Thomas and Jarret Dillard practically locked in as well.

Still, the training camp battle for the 4th and 5th (or maybe 6th) spot at WR will be intense and wide open, the sort of competition that brings out the best.

-Chris

Poll

Do you like the trade for Alexander?

Desperate Jaguars Fans willing to steal for their hydration:

River City Rage — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:46:14 -0000

I was going to talk about Vince Manuwai's return to the field, but the Florida Times Union decided to drop this little bomb into the bottom of the story.

From the department of WTF?

Thief gets away with Gatorade

A thief broke into the Jacksonville Jaguars practice field Saturday and made off a cooler full of Gatorade and a box of nutrition bars, police said.

A security guard at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium spotted the thief fleeing the field and tried to catch him. But with the lightning speed of a running back, the man bolted, dropping the nutrition bars in the process.

Really? How fast can you run with a 5 gallon cooler of Gatorade? I remember lugging those things around and the idea of running and getting away with it seems pretty far fetched. Not to mention the insanity of actually stealing it from the practice field. Under what circumstance is this a good idea?

John Henderson: What is your MALFUNCTION

River City Rage — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:36:58 -0000

WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION JOHN HENDERSON!

I was "all in". I saw what Jack Del Rio said to John Henderson and I was OK with it. I saw that Henderson elected to respond positively and announce that he's "all in", and was OK with it. It looked like this would be an example of Jack calling a player out and it not being a sign that the guy was on the way out. Then I see as a toss-away item on Jaguars.com that Big "Lazy" John had missed another practice with his mysterious shoulder:

Defensive tackle John Henderson (shoulder) did not participate.

Stunning. Eight words that beg so many questions. Is the shoulder hurt so bad that he cannot take the field? Is he being legitimately held out? Or did he tell Jack Del Rio to shove it?

Normally I'm slow to react to things like this. There should be a certain tension within a team, as the coaches do their job and drive their players to push a little harder. Comments, like the ones made by Del Rio, send a message to everyone that anyone in that locker room can be pushed out if they fail to buy in to the overall direction. There are thirty rookies or UFA's on this roster right now, all of them need to learn, and all of them must see that the coach calls out the sure thing roster locks and pushes them to show results.

But no, Henderson rides the bike during the OTA and Jack backs down during the post practice interview.

Call me crazy, call me irrational, call me short tempered, but I think this is something we should be outraged about. I'd like to shout from the rooftops that this is an undercutting of the new regime, (the last for Del Rio, should things not improve), and that Henderson should face serious consequences. And if you pull the "these are voluntary practices" card, I'd encourage you to look at the contact drills held throughout the league at this time before you complain.

Henderson, in my opinion, is sending a bad message to a crowd of rookies fighting for his roster spot. If Big John wants to burn his way out of the team, more power to him. We have a young and developing roster. Derek Landri has put on the weight and spent the time working to contribute at DT as a serious part of the rotation. The Jaguars have no time, no place, and no need for anyone who's going to speak out of both sides of his mouth. You're either all in, and coming to practice, or you better damn well have a serious reason to be absent. Should John have a serious injury, then I'll by all means take this back, but to announce to the press that you're responding to your coaches, and then miss another practice, that reeks of nonsense.

-Chris

Reggie Nelson: Hard at work.

River City Rage — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:04:18 -0000

Reggie Nelson: Hard at work.

"With the players off last week for the Memorial Day holiday, Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio strolled down the facility's empty hallways into the locker room.

Once inside, he saw third-year safety Reggie Nelson hitting the showers after a workout.

"We were off, yet I go in and see him doing that," Del Rio said. "He's just putting in that extra right now."

The View from 10,000 Feet:

River City Rage — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 02:15:37 -0000

Jacksonville Municipal Stadium: From 10,000 Feet (estimated)

I used to have a boss who had, amongst other unique attributes, a tendency to view the world through a very strict filter. You see, we worked in a industry that sometimes lets the immediate day-to-day interactions and requirements for instant reaction take over strategy and the overall plan. We would have weekly conference calls where our staff would offer their interpretation of the days campaign, often letting one or two specific incidents cloud the overall picture.

In order to filter through this over-reaction, my boss would insist that we offered perspectives that were taken "from 10,000 feet". If the sample wasn't large enough to register from a broader perspective, it wasn't important enough to discuss. For me, it prevented awful conference calls from taking hours and hours, though it also taught me something about understanding the bigger picture.

Of course, this relates back to the Jaguars as they work to rebuild through the summer. Things are going to happen with the team, players will try new positions, receivers will make great catches (or drop a few balls) and we're going to salivate over every single catch, run, and throw. Then we're going to find ourselves in the dead center of the dead zone trying to figure out who goes where and what the final roster looks like with only the smallest bit of information. It's going to be very easy to get distracted from what's important if we're looking at the small and short term picture.

My promise to you, the Jaguars fan and reader of this site, is to provide commentary and perspective from 10,000 feet. Ive been away for a little bit, worked through a few things, and now I'm re-dedicated and re-energized for these next few months of dead zone and the oh-so-close start of training camp. I've been doing some thinking and some reading and I've come to the conclusion that the 2009 season is going to be a very, very good one. I'm excited at the prospects and can't wait to see what happens when the team puts on pads and shakes out the position battles in camp.

Now we've just got to survive the few months between now and then.

I'll be with you the whole way!

-Chris

Good Evening!

River City Rage — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:34:27 -0000

I'll be here, first thing tomorrow morning.

-Chris

Meta-Jaguar issues, The State of the NFL, and Why this is the worst part of the year.

River City Rage — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:19:11 -0000

Ticket Sale Issues, Jaguars to LA, and other things that make me yawn.

In the Beginning:

The Jacksonville Jaguars were given to the city of Jacksonville on the promise of growth and the idea that the NFL could be profitable in a smaller market. This promise has been matched with the Jaguars, purchased for 203 million and currently worth somewhere around 876 million dollars. The team has seen rapid success, competed with the big dollar teams, and carved out a respectable but small corner of the league.

But, with the passing of the draft and the slow entry into the dead zone, it's time for the yearly struggles with ticket sales to emerge. It's a problem that I'm completely convinced is part of the Jaguars yearly marketing scheme. We get to late May and then Tim Connolly, vice-president for business administration, gives Vito Stellino a call and suddenly we've got a few hundred words all over the internet about how the Jaguars, yet again, can't sell their tickets.

Every year, every damn year, every single offseason we go through the same merry-go-round of stories. First, someone within the Jaguars goes to the media to talk about ticket sales, then Michael Silver will write his yearly article criticizing "whine Weaver", and then someone from the LA Stadium Group will announce that there are "several teams interested in moving to the new facility". And we'll debate it, I'll get angry at it, and we'll all talk about how if there were just a few more die-hard fans, the team would be set.

I respectfully decline:

This year, I just can't do it. I refuse to fall into the trap. I don't want to spend the offseason worrying about the state of the Jaguars or how many non-premium tickets are left to sell, or if covering seats is embarrassing or if Stampede Blue calls out Wayne Weaver for opting out of the league mandated pension plan. I just don't care. No, this is a rebuilding year, and there's a good chance that ticket sales will lag, and some games won't be on TV.

But you know what, I know that the Jaguars are building a quality product. I know that the Jaguars, regardless of ticket numbers in 2009, are going to build a superior presence on the field that will attract ticket owners in the right way. I know that the Jaguars are secure in their medium-term future, and that the yearly ride around the media circus will end up in the same way.

Kickoff, opening day, the 2009 Jaguars take the field, and the team continues it's building toward something special.

So let's take a breather, if you can afford it, buy season tickets,if you can't, be sure to pick up a single game ticket or three, and remember that it's our house. Let's not fall into the trap of worrying ourselves half to death about ticket sales. Instead, let's figure out who the hell will make up our defensive secondary, let's see if Tony Pashos starts at right guard or if he'll get beat out by the rookie.

But I won't endlessly debate the ways the Jaguars could sell more tickets. It's something I just can't wrap my head around. There are only so many outrages I can muster up, this year, this time, it's all about what the Jaguars are building.

Call me what you will, but I'm out on the ticket debate.

-Chris

Call off the APB: RCR is Here

River City Rage — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:53:44 -0000

Many thanks to Terry for calling the search party, but truth be told, I've been here the whole time. My job's been a little crazy, though thankfully it's the slow part of the offseason. Besides, just because you don't see me on the front page, that doesn't mean I'm not working (like in fixing HTML code foul-ups that make the site look weird)

No worries though, I've got some things cooking for next week that will, if nothing else, spark some debate.

Now, for the time being, enjoy the weekend. I know I will (It's my birthday weekend)

-Chris

Friday Afternoon Q&A/Open Thread

River City Rage — Fri, 08 May 2009 19:35:47 -0000

I'm painfully bored at work. Anyone want to talk Jaguars football? Anyone off work already?

I can tell you this, I'm working for the weekend...

-Chris