Still Think You Shouldn’t Have Drafted Him?

I have to admit I do love it when New York sports fans and the media at large overreact about something. It can be a good thing or what they perceive as a bad thing. More recently when the New York Giants drafted Duke QB Daniel Jones with their first pick in the NFL Draft, the fans went nuts with furious anger. The media questioned the pick relentlessly with Ohio State QB Dwayne Haskins available and thought of being a better prospect. Now that Jones is the quarterback and his first start under his belt, what will the reaction be? Judging by the outcome of his performance I’d say they should be eating a little bit of crow with their overreaction to his selection. Before you try to argue with me about it only being one game, I will agree with you. And it was against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, this goes to show you that no one knows what a player will do when he hasn’t played a single game yet. You can question the pick, but to say that it’s the worst selection in franchise history is a bit farfetched. If he does this in the next two games which are at home against Washington and Minnesota, then you might have to get your utensils ready.

Believe In The Stache

I watched Jacksonville Jaguars rookie QB Gardner Minshew when he was playing for Washington State last year. While he didn’t have that wow factor you would see out of a first round selection, he was a solid quarterback who could make the necessary throws and could read a defense well. I thought that him being selected in the sixth round in this last draft was a bit low, but I’m not a pro scout. During the Jaguars first game, their starting quarterback Nick Foles left with an apparent shoulder which turned out to be a broken collarbone. In stepped Minshew who finished the game with an incredible stat line of 22 completions on 25 attempts. Yes he did throw an interception against the Kansas City Chiefs, but also had two touchdown passes in Jacksonville’s eventual loss. You might think that it was a fluke. You’d be wrong because he almost led the Jaguars to a win against the Houston Texans with a 69% completion percentage with another touchdown pass. This last week the Jaguars finally won a game against Tennessee and Minshew threw two touchdown passes in the victory. Oh and by the way he’s only thrown the one interception. This goes to show you that not every quarterback is considered a ‘can’t miss’ prospect or a ‘boom’ or ‘bust’ player. You’re either good or you’re not. I’d put Minshew in the good category and that bodes well for the Jaguars season.

What’s The Problem?

If I had to pinpoint the problem it starts with the offensive line. What have they done to shore it up since Joe Thomas’ retirement in 2017? Not much of anything and it’s showing with a franchise quarterback not having a lot of time to make a pass and when he does have time, he seems to panic thinking that it’s too good to be true that no one is bearing down on him. The play calling has come into question now after the Sunday night game that should have been a win. Four plays at the opponents 5-yard line with less than a minute to go and they are all in the shotgun? You have a great running back in Nick Chubb and didn’t try to run it once? For all their questions right now it is not time to panic. It wasn’t after their first game, which was a disaster against Tennessee. If Cleveland goes to Baltimore in their next game and have a perfect performance, the doubters will stay silent. The elephant in the room has been their offensive line and this needs to be remedied quickly if they want to even clinch a playoff spot.