Comments from J-Ville

How much of the offense being out of sync is credited to Bell's holdout? Then you add in Roethlisberger still getting on the same page with Bryant again and acquainted with JuJu, it takes time. The offense started to click against Baltimore, so I am expecting more improvement this week. I am actually more concerned about Haley's game planning than I am Roethlisberger's performances.

 

Jags lead overall regular season because Coughlin owned Cowher in the early years of the series.

 

Yeah, that`s the funny part, lol. I guess in a Jags fan`s mind, they are AFC perennial contenders.

 

I like having a pregame thread like this, checking on the enemy fan`s thinking. So now with the "post game complaint thread", win or lose, and the official game day thread, the three threads got us covered about our games before, during and after. Let`s keep it going.

 

Jags were a good team from 96 - 2001. We had 3 weak teams from 1997-2000, winning 6, 7 and 9 game those seasons. I believe Jags made it to two conference championship games in that span, losing to NE and Titans. (in 1999, Jags lost only 3 games and all to the same team, TN). I believe both Jags and Panthers got so good so quickly that they changed how many draft picks expansion teams got moving forward. Both Jags and Panthers were in conf. championships in only their 2nd year.

 

I just smile and figuratively pat them on the head. We are mostly all they have to feel good about and we are spoiled rotten with 6 rings and endless div. titles. When I sport my Steelers' gear around after another Big Ben comeback, they shake their heads and look at the ground and just say, "Big Ben." They did that especially after the game when the Jags were up late and Ben broke a tackle and hit Hines for a 1st down and ended up winning on that drive. It bummed them out, bad.

 

Well I am not gonna say Bell's hold out hasn't had an affect on our team but I will not agree it has an affect on Ben. How does Bell's hold out change the way Ben is throwing the ball? Ben is way off on his deep pass and look at where his passes are, has he hit a wr in stride? Then you have MB and Juju who have been in camp and he is still off??? Out of all of the guys Ben and Juju have imo been on a pretty good page.

I am not concerned about Haley's play calling, we have the best RB and WR in the game. One of the best olines in the game and a QB who has been a stud, has 2 rings and a ton of experience. Add in the rest of the guys who also are pretty good(MB,Juju,JJ) and there is no reason what play Haley calls it should work. Now with all these parts of this team struggling and us going against a strong Jax secondary and a front that can pressure I am worried. Glad this game is home thats for sure.

 

We have been giving up the big play out side on the stretch here and there but inside the tackles I noticed we have not been stout. I am no expert and don't have stats or plays to point out to this but I have seen our middle give up a lot of yards. Your right we have had a ton of missed tackles and guys shooting the gaps and just coming up short. Hope this gets cleaned up, like this week.

 

I just read yesterday (and can’t find today) a stat breakdown of our run defense. It said that, overall, we’re relatively strong between the tackles.

 

To be fair, Bryant missed part of camp due to Goodell-foot-dragging issues, and JJSS also missed a good portion with various injuries.

I’m no sports psychologist, but perhaps not having Bell as a sure outlet—in terms of knowing both where he’ll be and that he’ll catch the ball—affected Ben’s reading through his progressions. Maybe forcing a throw somewhere because he didn’t trust the checkdown, staying locked on one receiver too long, and so on. Practice like that over and over for weeks, and perhaps this is what we get.

 

I would like to see that stat......

 

Well the whole missing training camp so they are out of sync kills me. We are not talking about High School kids here. This is their job they eat drink sleep football, missing a few weeks imo isn't the end of the world when these guys(bell&ben) have played together for the last few years. In this day and age there is very few hitting practices. Lets not forget how little starters play during preseason anyway. I am not saying it has not effect I am just saying you can use that as an excuse. Man we are in week 5 how long are we gonna blame sitting out of training camp????

 

There was a play in the Bears game in the 3rd qtr around 6 min where Bell ran the ball and they showed the play from behind him in the endzone and he moved and cut like in the past. He waited for the hole to open then hit it and the camera view showed this perfect. Now am I saying a guy can get off the couch and play no way. What I am saying is these guys do nothing but eat sleep and drink football and it all comes back to them just like riding a bike. I do not believe cause he missed preseason that he can't see a hole or read his blockers any better or worse. Where I do believe it effects him and anyone else is in the stamina department. I agree with the veteran statement and while Bell is still young I feel he has enough time with this team to were his time gone should not be an excuse......jmo.

 

Today will most certainly tell.

 

Steel4Blood you were right. Good call on the Jags defense.