Quick Bytes: The daily digest of everything you need to know about the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Ugh. Yeah, your humble narrator is still down with what is probably the bubonic plague. At least it feels like it. Still, there's no excuse for an ill writer such as myself to leave his post high and dry.
We've got something very exciting happening right now at SB Nation. Yes, it's time for the OFFICIAL SB NATION MOCK DRAFT. Last year I selected Cornerback Leon Hall with the 17th pick, Defensive End Tim Crowder with my second, and Safety Saby Pisitelli with the third. Not a bad slate of first day picks if you ask me.
Anyhow, starting tomorrow the SB Nation football bloggers will be doing a full mock draft of the first few rounds. Three picks a day will be posted on our draft site Mocking the Draft, hosted by Matt Miller of New Era Scouting. Yes, we've got a real live scout and draftnik who will be grading and analyzing our picks! We're also working with our college blogs to get as much information about these prospects as possible.
It'll be like having 40 or so writers and 40 different perspectives breaking down all the big names. Though, doing the math makes me realize that at three teams per day, we won't be selecting until next tuesday. Harumph. Well, looking at the bright side, we'll have a pretty good idea about who's left on the old draft board on Monday, so plenty of time to address either need (position specific selection) or value (best player available).
On to the stories...
: The New York Times has a very nice article about Jerry Porter and his experence (albeit brief) with free agency. The best part about the article is how flattering it is toward the Jaguars:
Part of the Jaguars' game plan that night was to take away receiver Randy Moss, whose dazzling performance helped drive the Patriots to a batch of offensive records and a perfect regular season. Moss disappeared in that game, but the Jaguars' plan was an unspoken nod to how every Patriots opponent had to account for Moss, and to the style of play that overtook the league last season. In the year of the pass, seven quarterbacks threw for more than 4,000 yards last season -- more than ever before.
Good Job NYT!
: EDIT I just found out that the Tattoo is actually "LEO", as in Leonardo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Matt and some of his friends each got a different one. The Tattoo is NOT 420, but in fact LEO. This is sort of Message Board fodder, but is it true that Matt Jones has a "420" Tattoo Might Matt Jones have a little more in common with Ricky Williams than we thought? If you're not sure of what "420" means, follow this link
: Jaguars.com's Vic Ketchman released his Value Board and noted that Ohio State's Vernon Gholston was his number one player. Not Chris Long, not McFadden, but Gholston. Some of you who've chatted with me via AIM or Email might recall me saying that I thought Ghoulston was better than Chris Long. It's nice to not be the only one. No slight to Chris Long though, he'll be fantastic as well.
: The fine folks at Football Outsiders recently posted their Four Downs with the AFC South. They mock our wide receivers and hope we solve our pass rush. Aaron Schatz (the founder of FO) and I spent a decent amount of time together at the Combine, he tells me that his initial calculations for the 2008 season have the Jaguars on top. This, of course, is before free agency and the draft, so there's a lot that could change. I trust FO's math more than ESPN's mouth.
: The League is considering changing Playoff Seeding at the Owners Meeting this week. What would happen is that wild card teams with a better record than a division winner would get a home game. Imagine if this rule were in effect, we'd have played New England at home in 2005, and the Pittsburgh Steelers at home last January. Now, I'll be frank. I don't want this rule to change. I'm old school in the Divisional sense. I like the fact that it's not good enough to win a bunch of games to get a home playoff game, you've got to win your division. The road to a Jacksonville Jaguars Super Bowl comes by winning the AFC South. Getting a Wild Card home game is nice, but the real battle will be on the road, probably in Indianapolis. Best way to avoid that is to win the division. It annoys me greatly that the Jaguars are always mentioned as the team that would benefit the most from this change because it makes the Colts seem like an insurmountable barrier in our division. We can and we must beat them and win our division, it's as simple as that. I'll have more on the owners meeting tomorrow.
There you go, have a Happy Monday Morning, I'll be back later today with a look at the multitude of issues the Owners are discussing at their yearly meeting.
-Chris