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Jaguars News | Jacksonville Jaguars - jaguars.com

Sorry to see Fisher go

Join jaguars.com Senior Editor Vic Ketchman as he tackles the fans' tough questions.

Andrew from Gainesville, VA:
You will be deeply missed by this Jags fan, Vic, but I look forward to following your Green Bay adventure. You've talked a lot about Bradshaw, Montana and Unitas over the years. I was wondering what your thoughts are on Elway, Young and Aikman?

Vic: I was glad to see John Elway get a couple of Super Bowl titles at the end of his career. He was wrongly criticized for his Super Bowl failures against the 49ers, Giants and Redskins; the Broncos just weren't in the same class with those teams. Elway gave us "The Drive," which says it all about what he could do and did at crunch time. Steve Young unfortunately spent too many years in Tampa and on the bench in San Francisco. He was a great quarterback who, in many ways, revolutionized the game. Aikman was one of the most accurate passers in NFL history. He doesn't get nearly enough credit for what he did in Dallas. He suffers from the same convoluted logic that dogs quarterbacks who played on great teams: His team was too good for him to have been great. That's laughable. Had Jimmy Johnson decided on Steve Walsh instead of Aikman, the Cowboys would've won nothing.

Charles from Jacksonville:
I have been reading this column for the past four years straight. There is nothing that I read that consistently ever in my life.

Vic: Read, Charles, read. Read everything you can get your hands on. Some of the best books I've ever read were ones I found lying around when I didn't have anything else to read. I'm reading such a book right now and I love it. The best thing about the Internet and this whole viral-media craze is that America is reading more. That's good.

Matt from Jacksonville:
Fun stat that should be seen as a positive going forward: The Jaguars have more players on the roster from Gene Smith's first draft, 2009 (nine), than the previous four years combined (seven). That includes zero remaining from 2005.

Vic: Good work, Matt. That's the kind of football-savvy thinking that makes me proud of this column.

Chris from Titusville, FL:
If the Jags go for a quarterback and these three were available, who would you choose, Andy Dalton, Jake Locker or Ryan Mallett?

Vic: I like all three but I would be partial to Mallett. I like the ease of his throwing motion. There's nothing mechanical about it. Mallett is a pure passer of the football; he only needs to dedicate himself fully to learning how to play the pro game.

Kevin from Orlando, FL:
Do you still think playing games in Orlando is a good idea for attracting new fans?

Vic: Yes, I do. I think it is an absolute must for this franchise, especially during these hard economic times. We all need a little help from time to time.

Johan from Gothenburg, Sweden:
With you soon leaving Jacksonville to go up north again, it made me wonder what it was that once brought you down to Jacksonville.

Vic: It was opportunity. For you, it's all about football. It's all about being a fan. For me, it's about being a journalist. That's my job. I'm a sportswriter. Jaguars Inside Report offered me a chance, the only chance I would likely ever have, to run a newspaper, and a unique partnership between the Jaguars and The Florida Times-Union gave the project a can't-lose look. Then, just as we were beginning to build a circulation and advertising base, something happened that would doom the project: the Internet and the very website concept that is carrying this column to you today exploded onto the scene. What chance did JIR have if big-city newspapers all across the country were being run out of business by their own websites? I was fortunate that jaguars.com came along for me when it did.

Caleb from Donaldsonville, LA:
To you, what's the best draft of the last 10 years? I was looking at 2006. It's pretty good.

Vic: I'm partial to the 2004 NFL draft class, because of the four franchise quarterbacks it gave us: Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Schaub. It's a quarterback game and those four quarterbacks combined to throw for 102 touchdowns in 2010.

Gary from Puyallup, WA:
There should be plenty of attention focused upon Pittsburgh's Doug Legursky next week. My friend Patty Zeleski (she's a cousin of Packers Super Bowl I hero Max McGee, by the way) asked me about famous football "ski" guys. I quickly came up with Bronco Nagurski, Bob Skoronski, Zeke Bratkowski and Jim Grabowski for her. Who else would you add to the all-time "ski" team, Vicski?

Vic: I grew up in a town of "skis." I was one of the few kids who didn't have a "ski" at the end of his name. My all-time favorite "ski" is Dick "Little Mo" Modzelewski, a great defensive tackle on those Giants teams of the Sam Huff and Frank Gifford era. "Little Mo" is from my hometown and he played in the first pro game I ever attended, which is why we went. You want some "skis?" I'll give you some "skis." Go to link and click on "inductees."

Randy from Navarre, FL:
I know you don't want to be thanked for the last 16 years because it was your job, but your writing not only made me a fan of the team but increased my knowledge of the game. I sincerely thank you. I will certainly go to that other site to get my daily Vic fix.

Vic: All the thank yous will go one way when I say goodbye, and I've got a lot of thank yous to say.

Wally from Jacksonville:
It's a rough week. First we're losing you and now we're losing our best villain in Jeff Fisher. Both have been a part of the team's history.

Vic: I am truly saddened to hear the news that the AFC South has lost a great coach and a major piece of its tradition. Coach Fisher has been good for the Titans, the Jaguars and the AFC South for a long time. He gave this division flavor. He singlehandedly provided the Jaguars with a rival, at a time when they desperately needed one because they were losing the Steelers. The Titans, in my opinion, have made a big mistake. I can tell you this: I would not have enjoyed covering the Jaguars-Titans games next season nearly as much as I have enjoyed covering them for all the years I've been in Jacksonville. Fisher was the coach of the Oilers in the first-ever Jaguars game and in the first-ever Jaguars win. This, in my opinion, is a loss.

Al from Jacksonville:
What can you tell me about the New York Titans?

Vic: They were the forerunner of the New York Jets and they made fans sit on the same side of the field so the stands in the Polo Grounds didn't appear on TV to be as empty as they really were.

Ron from Ponte Vedra Beach, FL:
Thanks for making this an awesome website for information, and I enjoyed all the Monday and Wednesday radio shows, too. It's funny to hear the local radio guys guess about what the Jags will do. If they listened to Gene Smith on the Monday shows, they would know.

Vic: I can tell you exactly what the Jaguars will do under Smith's direction: They will draft wisely and sign players in free agency carefully. They will patiently accumulate talent and improve their roster.

Sean from Kent, OH:
Hey, Vic, as an avid Jags fan and a current Kent State student, I, as well as the rest of the Golden Flash community and black squirrel nation, want to wish you the best in Green Bay. Could you tell us of any fond memories you have of when you went to KSU?

Vic: There's not enough room in this column to tell you of my fond memories from my Kent State days. What I can tell you is that they all revolve around my very tight circle of college friends, many of whom made their way to Jacksonville for the Cleveland game this past season. I can also tell you that one of those friends was supposed to play golf with me yesterday but he wimped out because he had to get up too early to make the tee time.

Eric from Sunnyvale, CA:
I have seen a few teams in the last few days signing players to "reserve/futures" contracts. What sort of contract is that?

Vic: We're still in the 53-man roster time of the year, but the league allows its teams to sign players to "futures" contracts up to the 80-man offseason roster limit that is just around the corner.

John from Saint Augustine, FL:
The "Real Men of Genius" tribute touched my inner child. It has been a long and strange trip, Vic. Thanks for the ride.

Vic: Always have fun; sports were created for us to enjoy. Don't be afraid to poke fun at yourself and don't be so sensitive that you can't take some playful ribbing from others. We need more playfulness and less anger.

Mike from Gallitzin, PA:
I've doubted the Steelers' chances of winning the Super Bowl all year. I figured that eventually their offensive line problems would lead to their demise. Now, Pouncey is supposedly out for the game. They certainly cannot overcome this, can they?

Vic: Probably not, but they sure deserve a pat on the back for what they accomplished this season, especially considering that they were without their starting quarterback for the first four games, lost both offensive tackles, their best defensive lineman and faced a brutally difficult schedule that included games against the Falcons, Saints, Patriots, two against the Jets and three against the Ravens.

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