Josh Scobee's 9-9 performance in the 2010 preseason has Jaguar fans further excited about the special teams, but I'm not quite there yet. Did he give me any reason to doubt him in the last month? Absolutely not. Why, then, have I tempered my expectations for his performance in the regular season?
Perhaps it was his 10-10 performance in the preseason in 2009. Or the 6-7 performance in 2008 that featured only one miss from 51 yards. Simply put, the preseason has never been a problem for Scobee. Maintaining consistency in the regular season has.
64% over the course of a regular season is bad. Only Jason Elam did worse last year at 63%. Sure he had misses from 63, 55, 53, 58 and 57 yards out, but his other 5 came from 43, 46, 49, 40 and 21. Scobee finished 4-9 from 40-49 yards and 4-9 from 50+ yards in 2009. Those ranked 33rd and 19th in the NFL, respectively.
Make the excuses you will, but Scobee's performance was clearly less than elite in 2009. His spotless 2010 preseason has some fans excited, but not me. Well not yet at least. The talent is clearly there, it's consistency that has been the issue.