Future Story Preview: "The Tao of Shack"

by silencecs on Nov 18, 2008 2:17 PM EST Comment 19 comments

Well, 10 games into the season and the Jags are all but out of the playoffs and because of that we are going to be phasing out some of our stories involving the playoff race such as "Ideal Scenario". In the place of that story series I'll be doing another series about the Jacksonville Jaguars' GM Shack Harris.

"The Tao of Shack" or "Keeping Shack Harris, a recipe for continued success"(working titles).

I'm a huge Shack Harris fan and I'll be breaking down his performance as GM since his inception. I believe that this season's collapse can be traced to the destruction of our offensive line. We lost Vince Manuwai, one of the league's premier guards. That disaster was compounded when Brad Meester, a top-flight center, injured his biceps. Now, as if losing two start caliber players on the line wasn't enough, we lose our two most competent back-ups, one to injury, the other to a fluke shooting (Williams and Collier). What does Shack do? He signs Chris Naeole, a solid veteran who still is familiar with the Jaguars' system. What happens next is indicitive of our entire season. Naeole breaks his hand in pre-game warm-ups just prior to his first start. These utter disasters are not the fault of James "Shack" Harris, they are fate and part of football. Let us not forget about the injury to our star free agent Jerry Porter. We won't even know if he's a bust until next season. No one could predict the need for hamstring surgery... I'd never even heard of it prior to Jerry needing it and I've been watching football for 18 years (Since I was six for those keeping count).

To all the fans calling for Shack's head, I say your anger is misplaced. Bitterness should not beget rash decisions.

The story is going to be broken down into multiple sections, one on free agency, one on the draft, one on compiling a coaching staff, and one on contract extensions.

If any of you have any story ideas or biographies on any of the staff let us know in the comments. We want to write about what you want to read about so let us know. Also, if any of you want to start working on scouting reports of any players, please do and post them as fan-posts.

-Collin

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You know what's funny?

I’ll be doing a series about why we should remove James Harris and who some possible replacements should be.

Nothing like a little contrast!

-C

Big Cat Country!:: The Official Home of the Unofficial Blog of the Jacksonville Jaguars!

by River City Rage on Nov 18, 2008 2:30 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

haha... fantastic... we should communicate more often ;)

I’ll shoot you an email in the next few days and we can set up a schedule, work on a title and do one of our patented “VS” opinion articles. I love it!

-Collin

by silencecs on Nov 18, 2008 2:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

For once Chris is on my side of an issue?

"I smoke. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your f***in' mouth."-Bill Hicks

by FSBlueApocalypse on Nov 18, 2008 4:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

keeping Shack Harris a recipe for success

What a joke. This guy has blown every first round pick this team has had in the 6 yrs of this regime. The guys on the O-line were getting old anyway they should have been drafting big guys in the first round for eventual replacements anyway. Wide receivers are a dime a dozen. He wasted 3 picks on Williams, Jones and Lewis who you could do better than in later rounds. Last year they may as well as had no draft and Leftwich was a joke of a quarterback with the slowest release I have ever seen on a pro QB

by jagsrealist on Nov 18, 2008 2:33 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Granted Leftwich and Williams have been total busts

But I’m still high on Marcedes. Reggie Nelson though, that one “Tackle” attempt on Justin Gage

"I smoke. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your f***in' mouth."-Bill Hicks

by FSBlueApocalypse on Nov 18, 2008 4:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Keep Shack Harris???

I have to disagree. Too much to go into in one little comment but do you all remember on draft day 2008 when Shack said something along the lines of, “Our roster is so strong we believe it would be too hard for draft picks to make the team.”

He said that to explain why we traded away so many draft picks. What a joke. Do we still believe our roster was that strong? I don’t think so.

by jimbrophoto on Nov 18, 2008 3:00 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Shack Harris

I simply don’t think we’re getting enough out of our 1st round picks, and that’s a problem that needs to be addressed

by reems28 on Nov 18, 2008 3:07 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I can tell I'm in the minority... All I ask is that you approach my articles with an open mind and see if I can convince you the err of your ways

-Collin

by silencecs on Nov 18, 2008 4:22 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

LOL

“These utter disasters are not the fault of James "Shack” Harris, they are fate and part of football"I totally disagree with this. In my one and only post in this blog I called for Shacks head several weeks ago. I even posted the draft picks of the shack harris era. The failure of this bafoon to draft on the offensive and defensive line, along with over paying project players like they are above average. This team needs to promote Gene Smith to GM and keep JDR from making personell decisions and draft smart with the picks you have. The Jerry Porter signing will haunt this team for the next six years. Another thing this team has needed since JDR got here is aGOOD CORNERBACK I am sorry but Brian Williams would not play on the outside for any other team except the Lions or Bengals. This team has drafted and signed poorly for many years but we have all, including myself, drank the coolaid. If this team doesn’t make a play for Haynesworth or Peppers(if they are free agents) then they are morons.

and I will not approach your articles with an open mind because you are totally and utterly wrong.

one more thing, if we had drafter O-Line in the last few drafts, MJD would lead the league in rushing.

by kyjagsfan on Nov 18, 2008 4:25 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

"If we had drafter O line in the last few drafts..." sorry bud, but the injuries have depleted the O-line, not bad drafting.

Uche Nwari is the one bright spot out of this mess and is a shining example of finding gems late in the draft (5th round), and I know you’re not angry AT me, just at how the season’s gone, but lighten up dude. I don’t get paid and I don’t feel like being berated either. If you don’t have an open mind, then why ever expose yourself to any conversation at all.
injuries derailing draft picks/free agents this year
Scott Starks -IR
Jerry Porter – hammy
Reggie Williams – knee surgery
Mike Walker – Knee surgery
Dennis Northcutt – Back spasms (Thank God we had him last season though.)
Vince Manuwai – IR

Don’t forget he’s also responsible for our dominant LB corp.
If we had those players healthy, don’t you think we’d be alot better than 4-6 now?

by silencecs on Nov 18, 2008 6:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Who drafted MJD by the way?

by silencecs on Nov 18, 2008 7:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

what a bust that guy is

by SoCalStites on Nov 18, 2008 7:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

If Shack Harris is so bad

And our drafting and free agency pick ups have been so terrible for these last few years than why was this team so successful last season. No one was complaining about bad team building last year. This team was made up of solid players and injuries tore it up and we discovered that the weakness was depth.

by SoCalStites on Nov 18, 2008 6:40 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I've always had some reservations with Shack Harris, espically with Free Agents

1. Mike Peterson-until the last few weeks, homerun
2. Hugh Douglas-That drama was one of the best reasons to watch the HBO Special
3. Tony Pashos-Good last year, this year has an over/under of 3 holding calls a game
4. Brian Williams AND Dreyton Florerence: How much money do we have wasting away in the secondary?
5. Jerry Porter: Injury or not, there was no way in h3ll as for as I’m concerned we should have given him that kind of money
6. Reggie Hayward: I’ll give Shack a pass here as he looked to be a dominant force until the injury bug bit hard.

As for the Draft, Shack has hit some home runs but also made some critical failures. I mean, imagine a scenario where we have Terrell Suggs lining up at linebacker and Ben Roethlisberger under center? Or even just having him as a back up?

"I smoke. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your f***in' mouth."-Bill Hicks

by FSBlueApocalypse on Nov 18, 2008 6:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Amen - very good post

especially with the Porter call. He has NEVER in his entore career proven to be a #1 and to pay him that kind of money was insane. The Jags had to address that position and there simply wasn’t much on the market. Porter was the “hail mary” pass at the position. Williamson was worth the gamble for the price (6th round pick). He IS a bust as a former 1st round pick (7th overall pick).

As for this year’s draft – I beleive that losing 9 guys (Stroud / McCray + 7 picks) and only getting 2 was very bad math especially when you simply consider the talent level that was available. It was another move of desperation at a position that had to be addressed.

No matter how you look at it and for whatever the reason, you have to conclude that the past offseason was a disaster. Maybe some guys will pan out in the future, but my beleif is that price paid simply wasn’t worth it, especially when you factor in the impact on the next offseason (FA $ and fewer draft picks to work with).

by OGN on Nov 19, 2008 7:13 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The biggest regret was

A lot of teams cashed in very well in the draft. A lot of teams after us made out well in not only the first round but the second round and the third round. Even if Derrick Harvey does pan out, it was not a good deal.

We have a talent evaluation problem, not a coaching problem.

by Tkopa on Nov 19, 2008 8:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: "Even if Derrick Harvey does pan out, it was not a good deal"

You can’t flat out say that even if Harvey pans out, it’s not a good deal. What if he becomes the next Reggie White, or even better?

And If he does, and he helps the jags win the super bowl with 7 sacks (a glorious dream), I don’t think you’ll here anyone say, “Yeah…I know that Harvey-guy single-handedly won the super bowl for the jags…but do you know how many picks they gave up to get that guy!?…somebody oughtta fire that coach! Morons!”

Also, don’t forget that we got another player, Groves, from those 7 picks. Other than those untimely penalties, he’s played pretty good for the amount of playing time he’s had. His numbers are almost the same as Harvey’s (2 fewer tackles and a FF instead of an INT), in less playing time.

I think both Harvey and Groves will pan out. Whether we’ll look back at it as a good deal or not remains to be seen. I think what’s more important is how we look back at this draft. I think Thomas Williams and Chauncey Washington could be good players. And though undrafted, Brian Witherspoon’s already been a success, and he’ll get better.

By the way, I’m feeling a big TD return from ‘spoon coming this week (knock on wood), I think he’ll be looking to make up for that ball going off his foot. He’s due! And speaking of due…when’s Freddie gonna get in the end zone?! Almost more disappointing than the season as a whole has been watching my favorite player go to the side line when they get in the red zone. I understand why, and I love MJD, but it hurts to not see Fred get in the end zone.

Sorry, booze is making me rant and ramble.

by Nebraska Jag on Nov 22, 2008 2:36 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs