Before Jacksonville Jaguars new head coach Mike Mularkey even interviewed for the Jaguars position, he had Bob Bratkowski go over tape of Jaguars rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert. At the time, Bratkowski was the Atlanta Falcons quarterbacks coach but it sounds like it was clear he was going to wind up wherever Mularkey did. Bratkowski spoke to the Jacksonville media on Friday morning and talked a little bit about the Jaguars rookie quarterback.
"This whole process is not going to take weeks and days and months," Bratkowski told the media. "It may be a year. It may be a year and a half. There will be progress, but getting to the level I'm sure he wants to be is going to take time and it's going to take a lot of hard work on his part." Some of the things Gabbert will have to work on is his pocket presence and his footwork. Often, Gabbert will feel phantom pressure and look at the rush instead of keeping his eyes down the field. Bratkowski thinks all of that is coachable however.
"I think it can be coached," Bratkowski said. "I think you have to work on it. You have to drill it. A quarterback has to be able to trust what the line up front is doing and what the backs are doing. If he gets to that level, you can work with the techniques of him pushing up in the pocket." Part of the problem with drilling that pocket presence however, is it's nearly impossible to replicate a real pass rush in practice. The quarterback knows they can't be hit.
"It's really a sixth sense as well. There are going to be times when it breaks down and there's a flash of color and he has to get out of there. It's a sixth sense, but it comes with experience," Bratkowski said. "We can work on it and we'll get some things done."