JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it …
Bill from Hawthorn Woods, IL
Look, I know Tom Coughlin's second stint with the Jaguars did not truly go as desired, BUT what he did as the first head coach cannot be overestimated. He deserves to be in the PRIDE, and that should be without debate. Watching the video of Boselli telling him made my heart warm. Congrats, Tom!
The Jaguars on Thursday announced that Tom Coughlin will be inducted into the Pride of the Jaguars next season (2024), with the specific game to be determined. Pro Football Hall of Fame left tackle Tony Boselli indeed informed Coughlin of the honor in a video that can be seen on jaguars.com. I couldn't agree more that the honor is well-deserved. You're right that Coughlin's tenure as Executive Vice President of Football Operations from 2017-2019 ended poorly, as did his first tenure with the organization. But guess what? Tenures in professional football, even successful ones, usually end poorly. The late 1990s – 1996-1999 – still stands as far and away the most successful period in this organization's history. The franchise made two AFC Championship Games, won two AFC Central titles and made four postseason appearances in those four seasons. This was in the second through fifth seasons of the franchise, and a community that had been hungry for the NFL for decades embraced the organization and the players. It was a special time. Coughlin not only built the franchise from nothing, but he embodied and symbolized it to an extent that I'm not sure any player or coach has done since or will do again. He in many ways was the Jaguars for much of the franchise's first decade. Deserving? Yeah, on that there is no debate.
David from Maplewood, NJ
John, Congrats to our first ever coach. Anyone questioning Coach being added to the Pride is either pretty young or has amnesia.
The Pride of the Jaguars is incomplete without Coughlin.
JT from Palm Coast
Congrats to Coach Coughlin. Absolutely well-deserved.
Yep.
Zac from Austin, Tejas
Do you think this game serves as a measuring stick for the debate of "is it better to have a star quarterback or a bunch of stars around an average quarterback?" Not trying to be clever, just curious
Not really. NFL games are usually close and decided on a few plays. As such, one regular-season game is rarely if ever an end-all measure on general leaguewide issues.
JJHollister from Yulee.
Hey, O-Zone. Do you know what my two favorite numbers are? Fifteen and two.
OK.
Jason from Suffolk, VA
Travon Walker has one less sack compared to the person he is always compared to. So maybe he's not so terrible after all?
Jaguars outside linebacker Travon Walker never has been terrible. He was fine as a rookie last season, when he made impact plays at times late in the season and has been very good this season.
Sean from Jacksonville
Here's a question for all the mind readers out there...
I'm a little embarrassed to admit I laughed at this. But I did, so there's that.
Brian from Round Rock, TX
Division pride isn't a thing. I never took pride in Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning's success. In fact, I always rooted against division rivals if they made the playoffs and we didn't, and I loved it when they lost. You want to sweep your division. That's more likely when the other teams aren't as good. Thoughts?
I've never gotten the sense that NFL players or coaches care much about other teams winning or losing except if it affects themselves in some way. I certainly have never known players or coaches to be particularly prideful over the success of other teams in their division. And yes … sweeping division rivals is the goal. It's a difficult goal to attain because of the familiarity within the division. But it's certainly the goal.
Dave from Canton, GA
If Joshua Dobbs starts the rest of the year for the Minnesota Vikings, will he be the first quarterback to start for an entire season but on two different teams?
I have no idea. Maybe. But maybe not.
Chris from Mandarin
People seem to overlook the Cleveland Browns game when talking about matchups that are upcoming. That team is 5-3 with the number one defense. What gives?
I suppose one reason for this is people have been discussing the Jaguars' difficult upcoming home games. In that sense, discussing the 49ers (5-3), Baltimore Ravens (7-2) and Cincinnati Bengals makes for a convenient grouping. But playing a tough Cleveland Browns team with a front-level defense on the road? That's as tough as any remaining Jaguars game this season. No doubt.
Princefig from Jax
O, If Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams refuses to sign with the team that drafts him, I understand he can join the draft next year, but does the team that drafted him get some sort of compensation or are they just out of luck?
They are out of luck.
Angelica from Melbourne
Will be in town for the 49ers game this weekend. Can you recommend a bar or pub near downtown for Saturday night? Staying at the Southbank Riverwalk.
Southbank Riverwalk is a relatively short Lyft to San Marco, where several restaurants/pubs/bars can be found. It's also a relatively short Lyft to Springfield and Strings, which – as loyal readers (and he knows who he is) – know more often than not is the O-Zone weekend spot of choice. If you're there, stay off the cot. It's mine and mine alone.
Lou from Jax
You mentioned earlier that Pederson requested a later bye week, this one. Did the exchange cause another team to give up this week??
In the abstract, I suppose. But all Head Coach Doug Pederson did in in this vein was opt against accepting a Week 6 bye following the Jaguars' back-to-back games in London. That didn't guarantee the Jaguars a specific bye. Whatever the league did on that front was a league issue and not a Jaguars issue.
Crickets from Melbourne
better than Ezra. That's a "Good" one!
I am the king of all funk.
Stephen from 113 from Jacksonville via Pennsauken, NJ
John, Football is full of statistics with the win-loss record as the ultimate statistic. With the nearly infinite number of statistics in football, such as total offense, passing yards, rushing yards, sacks, pressures, interceptions, turn overs ... and if you include ratios (interceptions/completions for example) what would be your Top 5 (or maybe 10) favorite statistics to evaluate how good a team is playing? If you want extra credit, where are the Jaguars compared to the rest of the teams in the league with your 5 (maybe 10) favorite statistics? Thanks.
I generally don't care all that much about statistics as a measure of how well or poorly a team is playing. This is because you can usually find exceptions in any statistic – and in this Twitter age, any time you offer a statistic as such a measure you're sure to draw a chorus of "Yeah buts" and it usually ends up being a big headache. But for the sake of this discussion, one obvious statistic indicating success or failure is turnover margin. It's difficult to make the postseason if you're awful in this statistic because being awful in this statistic means you're giving away too many points offensively and giving the opponent too many opportunities to score against your defense. An underrated statistic is rushing touchdowns. Even in this pass-centric era, teams that score a lot of rushing touchdowns are able to control the line of scrimmage – and that can greatly increase your chances of maximizing your red-zone opportunities. The opposite is also true. If you're allowing a lot of rushing touchdowns, you're often letting teams take control of games too often. Rushing yards allowed per attempt also can be a good gauge, far better than total yards allowed. As for extra credit … I usually don't bother. When you're acing the test of life, you don't need it.
Nathan from Utah, US
Zone, they might think it my duty to my house to carry on the tradition my father and his brother started. That is not why I play fantasy football. I have found a couple things from fantasy stats that I think will play into what the caliber of Sunday's home game versus the 49ers will be. San Francisco gives up the fewest fantasy points to DEF. Jaguars DEF is ranked 10th. SF and J'ville stats, respectively: Sacks-18, 16. INT's-11, 11. Forced fumbles/recovered fumbles-4/2, 9/7. Points allowed-140, 150. This battle may be a Classic between two teams currently going in different directions. The Jaguars win with a Recovered McCafferey Fumble. SF wins with a DEF TD. Jacksonville wins, 31-26. Period. What say you?
I recall feeling lost in a few classes at good old Episcopal High School in Jacksonville, biology and chemistry foremost examples. I would feel overwhelmed, brain foggy, knowing I would never get it –not really caring while knowing I should care. I feel that way now.
