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Jaguars News | Jacksonville Jaguars - jaguars.com

Poll results revealing

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

Ryan from Jacksonville Beach, FL:
The poll on the front page asking people which positions on the Jaguars they consider to be the strongest really puts into perspective how little depth we have at each position. I think we are at least a draft or two away from putting together a solid roster.

Vic: I, too, found it to be revealing. Expectations are one thing, analysis is another. In this case, the analysis is not matching the expectations. Look at the results from that survey. The overwhelming winner is running back, which is almost solely the result of Maurice Jones-Drew's stardom. All other running backs gained 226 yards last season. The next-highest vote-getting position is linebacker, which I don't get at all. Linebacker is a position that was judged to have underperformed last season. The remaining six positions all received 10 percent or less of the vote, and four positions received three percent or less. A deep and balanced roster would be expected to produce a much more balanced vote. Personally, I think defensive line is the team's deepest position, but that's based on projections, not results from last season. Clearly, this is a roster in construction.

Jon from Jacksonville:
Other teams' scouts could come to the scrimmage if they were season-ticket holders, which would help season-ticket sales. Am I right?

Vic: I was waiting for this one. You're right. If you wanna scout the Jags in their intrasquad scrimmage, buy a season ticket. I hope 31 teams do that because it would be 31 fewer season tickets the Jaguars would have to sell. As far as what would be gained by scouting them, forget about it. There isn't anything in that scrimmage a scout couldn't see in the preseason.

Clifford from Jacksonville:
Could you elaborate on why you think it might have been better for the coach to say goodbye to his players in the locker room following the team's last game of the season, and not see them again until training camp?

Vic: It had its positives. Players developed careers during the offseason and those careers were waiting for them when their football-playing days were over. It allowed players' bodies to rest and recover. Getting away from the game bred freshness for the start of a new season. The two big ones, however, were: 1.) It kept playbooks small. 2.) It gave training camp a reunion feel to it. Training camp was special in those days. It was a major event. We've lost that in today's game. Those days aren't coming back, but I think we've reached a point that the league and its coaches need to take a closer look at how they do business. The offseason, in my opinion, has become tedious. A lot of it is busy work and that breeds burnout. Something between the way it was and the way it is would, in my opinion, be better for everybody. Playbooks are way too thick, and that's the product of coordinators having too much time with the players.

Jason from Jacksonville:
If the NFL expands the regular season to 18 games, how do you think the new schedule will be determined?

Vic: The easiest way would be to play three other divisions in full. As it stands now, each division plays in full one other division from each conference. The remaining two games on the schedule pit teams from the other two divisions within their conference. The simplest and fairest way to do it in an 18-game format is to play two other divisions in full from within your conference, and one division in full from the other conference. The thing I like best about that format is that everyone in your division would play the same schedule of opponents.

Matt from Keystone Heights, FL:
What would you say was the Jaguars' biggest regular-season win ever and why?

Vic: It has to be the win over the Falcons in the final game of the 1996 regular season because it put the Jaguars into the playoffs and allowed for what I believe is the greatest win in Jaguars history, the playoff win in Denver.

William from Savannah, GA:
Will vuvuzelas be allowed in NFL stadiums this year? I ask in all seriousness because they are showing up at minor league baseball games and now the Florida Marlins actually gave 15,000 of them away to fans for a recent game.

Vic: They will not be allowed in NFL stadiums this year and I say that in all seriousness because I hate them. They have ruined my lunch break because the TVs in the cafeteria are tuned to the World Cup matches and the noise is very annoying. I can't wait for it to end.

Jon from Jacksonville:
If the NFL goes to an 18-game schedule, does the 30/30 plan cover the two additional games?

Vic: I don't expect that there would be additional games. I would expect two preseason games to become two regular-season games, which means that from a season-ticket standpoint, everything would stay the same. The difference is that the fan would receive added value for two games.

Greg from Fayetteville, AR:
Yeah, funding for the space program is useless. Do we really need smoke detectors, LEDs, Velcro, CAT scans and MRIs, advances in prosthetics, breathing systems for firefighters, satellites for scientific and environmental research, forest fire mapping and tracking, recycling waste to grow edible plants, precise lasers for medical uses and even oil-spill control? I'm sure there are lots of other things they've helped develop that are useless, too.

Vic: Why do we need all that stuff? Hey, we have fire and the wheel. What more do we need?

Steve from Orange Park, FL:
I see where Unga will enter the supplemental draft, as he was run out of BYU because of allegations of premarital sex. Do you consider this to be a character issue?

Vic: Yeah, it would bother me that a group of people would deny a young man the pursuit of an education because he succumbed to natural urges. I see that as a character flaw.

Dennis from Port Saint Lucie, FL:
I can understand the Jaguars using the scrimmage to increase ticket sales, so why not take full advantage of it by adding value to the event? Promote three dates prior to the scrimmage where Jaguars fans can come and purchase season tickets in the Bud Zone, check out their seats and enjoy a meet the rookies and pick your seats day. Maybe incorporate a special payment plan for these events. If not a payment plan, then a discount for tickets purchased during the three-day event. I think as long as they have decided to make the scrimmage a ticket-buying event, they should focus on promoting it to the fan base. These events can be scheduled during the dead zone so players will be available to meet the fans.

Vic: Here's another marketing idea: The Jaguars hold a monster truck show with Tim Tebow as a guest monster truck driver. During the show, a hypnotist puts the crowd in a trance and tells them that when he snaps his fingers they will all buy Jaguars season tickets.

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