JDR

Reading Zoltan's post and all the responses I realize how conflicted I am by the issue of Jack Del Rio as our head coach. There are those who believe in him, and those who want him fired tomorrow ... including my buddy's very adamant wife, who I've been tailgating with for 15 years.

I've always thought he was a good mixture of patience and toughness, and never struggled with having a long-time former player -- a "player's coach" -- as the leader of an NFL team. Three or four years ago I had a drink at a Jags game with a former member of the team who told me that the only group that partied more than the players was the coaches; it's hard to hear that and not question the overall commitment and maturity of the staff. But that was three of four years ago. I suspect it's a different environment now.

Last night on the Pittsburgh-Denver game, ESPN put up a graphic of the Steelers' recent first round draft picks. Check this out:

                                           Pittsburgh                           Jacksonville

2003                                  Troy Polamalo                     Byron Leftwich

2004                                  Ben Roethlisburger           Reggie Williams

2005                                  Heath Miller                         Matt Jones

2006                                  Santonio Holmes               Marcedes Lewis

2007                                  Lawrence Timmons          Reggie Nelson

2008                                  R. Mendenhall                    Derrick Nelson

JDR is not going anywhere, not with his current contract and the current ticket environment, so the discussion is moot. But it's a discussion we will continue to have anyway. I guess what bothers me most in regard to the coaching is the inconsistency; we are the Jaguars for crying out load, not the Bipolar Bears. Some years we are good on the road and weak at home. Some years we play well against good teams and play down to weaker opponents. This year we play solidly one week and horrendously the next. I blame that on coaching.

But in my view we should cut Jack some slack, give him a chance to continue to mature as a coach and see what he can do with a decent roster. Vic says it all the time: we don't have the players. If we want to hammer JDR for player personnel issues, fine. But let's give Gene a year or two more and see what JDR can do with what he gets. For some strange reason, I think he can get it done.