Join *Jaguars Inside Report *Senior Editor Vic Ketchman as he tackles the fans' tough questions.
Rusty Rhodes from Atlantic Beach, FL:
I love your column and your straight-forward answers. I've been a season ticket holder from day one and my question requires you to assume somewhat of a therapist position. Brunell, Boselli, Bryant, Nickerson, Taylor; the list of injuries continues to grow and we are only at the fourth game of the season. I'm getting a sick feeling in my stomach and having flashbacks from last year. Is it too early to justify my feelings, and should I just relax, or are my instincts rightly causing me the sinking feeling that I'm beginning to have?
Vic: I hear you. You bet the injury list is a growing concern. This team can not contend for the playoffs if its star players aren't in the lineup. I'm as befuddled as you are. Why can't this team avoid injuries? I don't know the answer.
George Young from Brunswick, GA:
With the league so opposed to taunting, why wasn't the entire Cleveland team fined for their totally inappropriate actions before the game? I would think a professional team would not be so childish as to not deface the opposing team's logo by gathering and "breaking" on it. I have never felt such a great feeling of disrespect in any other football game.
Vic: The league didn't act on this matter because video of the "event" did not exist.
Brian W. Fullford from Jacksonville:
Two items in the Seattle game have really stuck in my craw. The Mack benching is one. Was this an example of Tom Coughlin's frustration getting the best of him? You have covered the NFL for years. Is it extreme for a coach to bench a second-string running back after two fumbles? Also, the logic behind punting with 2:13 left in the game on fourth-and-18 on the Jags' six-yard line escapes me. Could you shed some light on this as well?
Vic:
Fumbling will get a running back benched. Tom Coughlin is just a little quicker to pull the trigger than most coaches. Mack fumbled in Baltimore a year ago, he fumbled against Cleveland two weeks ago, and his second fumble in Seattle sent Coughlin over the edge. How much is enough? As far as the late-game punt, I can understand why you might think it was a white flag of surrender, but Coughlin explained Monday that, trailing by two scores, he decided to punt and have the Seahawks run out the clock because he didn't want to risk further injury. That makes sense to me.
Bill Coleman from Jacksonville:
I enjoy your comments on the air and on the website. I especially applaud your editorial about our mayor's obviously political position about the blackout situation; very short-sighted and illustrates a complete lack of knowledge. Since the Seattle loss, the underlying feelings of hostility and animosity between the coach and media came to the surface in some very ugly ways. Why do some members of the local media display so much anger and, it seems to me, rudeness, on occasion? And, you gotta admit, some of those questions are pretty bad.
Vic: Coaches and the media who cover them are often adversaries. It's the nature of their disciplines; one is attempting to not provide information, the other one is charged with the task of supplying information. You begin with that difference and the natural tension it creates. In the case of Tom Coughlin and the media who cover the Jaguars, Coughlin's reluctance to supply injury information has become a battleground that fuels the clash and, at times, when the media has the drop on the coach, ill feelings surface in the questions and in the answers.
