JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it …
Adrian from who knows anymore
Why is Trevor extremely indecisive? He holds the ball too long and I wonder when watching other young quarterbacks why they are quicker to release. Is it really Trevor, or the offense, or the receivers? I doubt that we simply have the worst receivers possible. Other rookies are doing more with less or similar, it seems.
This understandably is an increasingly common topic in the inbox. Rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence entered the season as the Jaguars' No. 1 issue because his development was critical to the long-term success of the franchise. The reality is he hasn't played well for the last two months, so that remains the organization's No. 1 concern. I didn't sense Lawrence being extremely indecisive early in the season, particularly for a rookie. He seemed through the first six games to be developing normally, having three consecutive games with a passer rating over 90 entering a Week 7 bye. He also was passing the eye test and seemed on the right path. Then, running back James Robinson sustained a heel issue early against the Seattle Seahawks and whatever momentum/development the Jaguars' offense had gained went awry. Lawrence since the bye has seemed to lose confidence and had accuracy issues. The lack of playmaking wide receivers and overall offensive struggles haven't helped, and Lawrence's issues undoubtedly have caused the receivers to struggle, too; the play of those two positions is by nature intertwined. But it seems from this writer's view that Lawrence's indecisiveness is mostly an aftereffect of everything going wrong in recent weeks. I have seen him look good enough – when confident – that I continue to believe he is more the quarterback we saw in Weeks 4-6 than the one we have seen in recent weeks. We'll see.
John from Ramsey, NJ
It looks like more and more of Trevor's throws are going into the dirt. Is there reason for concern?
I am not overly concerned or unconcerned with Lawrence's play in recent weeks. That's because the offense overall feels broken, and it has felt that way for several weeks – maybe longer. Lawrence did not look like this in the first month and a half of the season. I believe he can and will again look like he did during that period. There are nuances to the discussion, but that's the broad-brush version.
Jags No. 1 from just shy of the ditch
Do you really think there is any other team that can wrestle the Jags' iron grip on the worst team and record this year? IMHO we are a lock, stupid ad lifeless...
No, I do not think there is a team that will keep the Jaguars from obtaining the No. 1 selection in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Steve from Shreveport, LA
Well, we have the No. 1 pick again. We got that going for us, which is nice …
I guess.
Daniel from Jersey City, NJ
O-man, would we be the first team ever to get the first draft pick two years in a row?
The Jaguars would be the third team since 1970 to hold the No. 1 selection in the NFL Draft two consecutive offseasons. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers held it back-to-back seasons twice (1976-77 and 1986-87) and the Cleveland Browns also held it back-to-back seasons twice (1999-2000) and (2017-2018). The Indianapolis Colts once held it three times in nine years (1990, 1992 and 1998) and the Dallas Cowboys held it twice in three seasons (1989, 1991). This is not the company teams want to keep, but it's the Jaguars' situation.
Jacob from New York, NY
With the way the Jaguars play, why don't we start talking about the draft after the second regular-season game?
Because there's more than enough time to talk about the draft once the regular season ends.
John from Jacksonville
I wasn't into football. The only games I watched were sideshows to a Super Bowl party. Then I took my 12-year-old son to the Jaguars' first home game: 70,000 people and smoking hot that night but we had club seats, so it was fantastic even though the Jags lost. I pretty much have watched every televised game and even listened to blacked out games fishing in the boat. Fast forward to now. We still watch the games, only now with an 11-month-old grandson. It has been hard to watch, so we lowered expectations and cheer for anything the team does right. Even that is hard, but we still get together to watch. Why do we do this? Super Bowl parties with friends and family because there is always hope.
Times are bad for Jaguars fans and have been for far too long. They don't deserve this. It's supposed to be much more fun than this. It's not supposed to be this hard. It's up to the team to make it fun again. Owner Shad Khan will keep trying to get it right. And he does care. If he didn't, he would have let former Head Coach Urban Meyer continue in the role. Stay tuned.
Art from Drexel Hill
It's weird that our offense looked better but was still bad Sunday.
The Jaguars' offense was better Sunday – briefly. That was for the first two series, when the unit had two long drives for a field goal and a touchdown. And then it wasn't.
Garrett from Edgetown
Hey, Zone. How does it work with head coaches and their contract? Say, for example, we decide that we want Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich but his contract with Tampa goes for another three years. How does that work? Are we just out of luck or are there ways around these kinds of things?
NFL teams can hire coordinators or position coaches who are under contract with other teams if they're hiring that person as a head coach. Teams may "block" their own head coaches from becoming head coaches for other teams.
John from Jacksonville
Hi, King of Zone. I'm trying to better understand how a very successful college coach could have so many people piling on him after already being tackled. I would guess a lot of the drama was exaggerated because a successful coach doesn't become an outright misfit overnight. Are we dealing with generational cupcakes who cry when their feelings are hurt? I never understood the concept of playing a violent physical sport risking serious injury but being offended when someone yells "boo" when walking around a corner.
You say you would guess a lot of the drama was exaggerated. I would guess that's incorrect.
Joe from Jacksonville
O-Zone, you knew Meyer. How was your relationship and what vibes did you get from him as a coach, and person?
I knew Meyer as most people in the media and similar positions knew him – from a distance, from news conferences and from the briefest interactions. He isn't a guy you necessarily "get to know." I didn't get much in the way of "vibes."
Mike from Jacksonville
I'm willing to bet that Meyer was laughing so hard Sunday his stomach was hurting.
If was laughing, he was laughing at himself. I doubt he was laughing.
Tom from Mandarin
Shad is celebrating owning this "team" for ten years. You continue to wave his flag for all the good that he has done for the city. But let's not forget that it is Shad who has hired all of the wrong head coaches and all of the wrong general managers and even the wrong senior executive vice president. From where I sit it appears that Shad is the only constant in this dumpster fire that has been the past ten years. Can you spin that?
No one doesn't realize that Khan has hired the Jaguars' coaches and general managers, Tom. No one doesn't realize Khan has been the constant at the top of the organization. Khan realizes this. Every Jaguars fan realizes this. And anyone who read the O-Zone on anything remotely resembling a regular basis has read it here.
Braddock from Jax
I keep hearing and reading about how Lawrence is the best prospect since Andrew Luck when there are guys like Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert who came after Luck and quite frankly are better than he was. Mahomes is way more accomplished. Whatcha think?
I think you're missing the point of the discussion. No one is saying that Lawrence is better than Mahomes or Herbert. And of course those quarterbacks were more accomplished than Lawrence when Lawrence was entering the draft – because those quarterbacks had been in the NFL when Lawrence was in the draft. The discussion was that Lawrence was the best quarterback prospect at the time of the draft since Andrew Luck – i.e., the surest thing before actually playing in the NFL. He hasn't yet lived up to that. His story is far from written.
Fred from Naples, FL
Is it safe to say the Jaguars will have an entirely different offensive line next year?
Entirely? No.
