Jacksonville Jaguars: Time for Gus Bradley to go?

The Jacksonville Jaguars were beaten 51-17 on Sunday afternoon by Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

Through three weeks, it is clear that the defending Super Bowl Champions are the best team in the league. It is also clear that the Patriots are going to win some more lopsided games like this.

However, from the Jaguars perspective, a loss by 34 points is inexcusable. Keep in mind it was 51-10 with a few minutes to go before Blake Bortles padded his stats in garbage time and connected with Clay Harbor on a six yard touchdown pass to make it 17.

The 51 points were the most conceded in the Jaguars history.

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The punter for the Patriots, Ryan Allen, had the day off to enjoy the nice autumn, Massachusetts day. Brady completed 33-42 passes for 358 yards and two touchdowns and led the Patriots for scores on all of their drives.

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The Jaguars came into the game hobbled by injuries. Jonathan Cyprien, Luke Joeckel, Sen’Derrick Marks, Julius Thomas, Rashad Greene, Denard Robinson and Andre Branch were all out, and Brandon Linder and Marqise Lee played but were hampered by injuries as well.

In addition, safeties Josh Evans and Sergio Brown both left the game with knocks. As a result, the Jaguars had undrafted cornerback Nick Marshall, who last season was playing quarterback at Auburn, holding down one cornerback spot. Peyton Thompson, who was also undrafted out of college in 2012 and cut six times in his two seasons, was playing safety.

Can injuries be used as an excuse here? Sure. With significant injuries such as those, any team is likely to feel the affects.

Everyone had the Jaguars losing this game. However, it was reasonable to expect a competitive game for a quarter or two, but the team didn’t muster anything, and left everyone disappointed.

The team is now in year three of head coach Gus Bradley‘s regime, and after compiling a 8-26 record coming into week three, everyone was looking forward to seeing how this team would stack up against the league’s best. The Jaguars were just off an exhilarating win against the Miami Dolphins last week, so there was a bit of excitement heading into Sunday.

The matchup with the defending champions would also help Jacksonville get an idea of where they are, and where they are headed.

Then the 51-17 drubbing happened and the team still resembles a lot of what we have seen from when Gus Bradley initially took over.

Gus Bradley, now 8-27, took a lot of the blame for Sunday’s loss according to John Oesher of Jaguars.com. “I think it starts with me,” Bradley said. “I told the team, ‘There are some decisions I made that we can look at it.’ I’ll learn from them. I didn’t help us. I put is in a couple of tough positions.”

The criticism of Bradley is that he has been making those same questionable decisions for the last three years, and he keeps on replicating them.

General manager David Caldwell has provided Bradley with talent, but so far it looks like the players aren’t being developed and are poorly coached. The Jaguars are in need of someone who can get the most out of their players, and that was a huge difference between Bradley and his opposition on Sunday, Bill Belichick.

The city thought that the blowouts were a thing of the past. Bradley’s constant positivity and enthusiasm is growing old in a town that is starving for wins.

The team constantly seems underprepared, outmatched, out-coached. It’s year three and the Jaguars are still light years away from the likes of the Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks, and New England Patriots.

I am not saying to fire the coach after week three, but if we see more of the same throughout the rest of the season, he needs to be let go.

Am I overreacting on this Monday? Perhaps, but I have grown tired of watching the same Jaguars team for the last few years. There is still plenty of football left to be played and I am willing to see how Gus Bradley and company respond heading into a divisional matchup against the Colts in week four.

Time for improvement, close, competitive games, and wins Gus! Your seat is getting warmer and warmer.

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