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A gray hoodie covering his head, his lower lip curled under his upper lip, Jalen Ramsey tried to stay calm while he was addressing the media in front of his locker after the Houston Texan's home defeat against the Jacksonville Jaguars 20-7 Sunday. .
But Ramsey is too honest for his own good, too passionate about gaining a rock-stained life in the middle of a nightmare. So when asked why the Jaguars – who had played in the CAF championship game last season – are now 3-4 after their third consecutive defeat, the source of the Jaguars' troubles can still be deciphered, despite All-Pro cornerback is doing his best to become a good teammate.
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Have you been surprised by the change of quarterback?"data-reactid =" 18 ">Have you been surprised by the change of quarterback?
"It's not my call – I have nothing to do with what's going on there," Ramsey said. "The coach is taking care of it as he sees fit. We have to ride with that.
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "What changes has the team made since last week? "data-reactid =" 20 ">What changes has the team made since last week?
"You have to ask the coach. I do not know. I felt the same for me.
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Did the team insist in practice?"data-reactid =" 22 ">Did the team insist in practice?
"They tried to be tougher with us in practice. The result does not matter. "
<p class = "canvas-atom text-canvas Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "on demand, "Feel the frustration in the locker room?"Ramsey could not take it anymore. "Data-reactid =" 24 "> When requested, "Feel the frustration in the locker room?"Ramsey could not stand it anymore.
Jalen Ramsey could not stop the touchdown of Houston's DeAndre Hopkins in his third straight loss to Jacksonville. (Getty Images)
"What do you think, man?" Said Ramsey, smiling and wide-eyed. "You all walk here, you all see how it goes here, you all see how we vibrate with each other, you all see how we live for coaches, you all see how it goes.
"It's no secret, what's going on here right now. Nobody is going to say it because we can not, but it's not a secret, it's not a secret and it's not the case right now. "
Bless Ramsey for his honesty. We know the Jaguars right now because their offense at 22nd rank stinks.
The responsibility for this, of course, lies (mainly) on the quarterback. There are more people to blame – and we'll come back to this later – but in a league that has never been so friendly to smugglers, Blake Bortles has answered the question of what Tyler Cherubini – the backup Cap Rooney 's original "Any Given Sunday" Willie Beamon confiscated his work – it looks like he' s starting three games in a row.
The Jaguars offensive was so bad that it effectively sabotaged the spirit of a potentially generational defense, whose roots began with Bortles' miserable match against the Chiefs two weeks ago and were marked by the embarrassing performance of any team. -7 eruption in Dallas a week ago.
And the post-match media reports seemed to reflect a frustrated team at the edge of a lost season. Daniel Popper of The Athletic said the team briefly opened the locker room long enough for defenseman Yannick Ngakoue to be retained by captain Calais Campbell. There were a lot of other screams, so that players like Ramsey – while being careful not to reveal too much – did not even try to hide their problems.
"Frustration is part of the game. We are emotional people and it's an emotional game," Campbell said.
Even head coach Doug Marrone has explicitly admitted that he will have to manage a frustrated team this week as she prepares to face the Philadelphia Eagles in London.
"Do you think I'm not frustrated? We are all frustrated, "said Marrone. "It's very easy to see, do you know what I'm saying? We must stop spinning the ball so that we can then create turnovers. "
<p class = "web-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "After finishing fifth of the digit margin A year ago at More than 10, the Jaguars are now sitting in last place with minus 12 through seven to seven. The defense shares some of the blame, after being ranked second in the turnarounds created with 33, a year ago, she is now tied for 28th with five. "data-reactid =" 54 "> After finishing fifth in terms of business margin a year ago at over-10, the Jaguars are now in last place with a score of -12 seven games after placing second in sales with 33 a year ago, it's now a four-way tie for 28th with five.
Since he's beaten the Patriots, Blake Bortles has got a QB score of 74.8 and the Jaguars are 1-4. (Getty Images)
The main reason the defense struggled to explain itself was due to the tribute that the quarterback Jaguars' unexpected game had on their psyche in general. This is what tends to happen when the defense has to do all the heavy work over and over, as it has done since last season.
At the time, the teams were able to get by with that. Not anymore. We are in 2018 and in the NFL, happy for the passes – where the average quarterbacks consistently perform more than 300 yards and where the big quarter regularly complete 70% of their passes – if a team does not have gunslinger under the center, it will be underutilized more often than not.
Now, to be honest, it is clear that the Jaguars – a dominant team in the race – miss offensive midfielder Leonard Fournette, who has missed the last three games (all losses) following a thigh injury. But Fournette is not lacking as much as having a fundamental quarterback, and no one would have vanquished if the Jaguars' front-office had selected Deshaun Watson in fourth overall in 2017 (Patrick's selection). Kansas City's Mahomes in 10th place was a surprise to many).
Appropriately, the Jaguars lost Sunday against Watson – the player they should have taken -. He was just ok, completing 12 of his 24 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown, but considering that he's recovering from a lung injury, the Texans are going to take that performance in a "W. " He was still better than Bortles, who completed just six of his 12 passes for 61 yards before being raised in the third quarter for Cody Kessler after his second lost fumble.
Kessler, a third-round pick of the Cleveland Browns in 2016, has an intelligence and an average arm. He completed 21 of his 30 passes for 156 yards, a touchdown and Bortles' interception in relief, but that was not enough to win. His insertion was the type of movement that the coach makes when he feels he is about to lose his team, but the truth is that the Jaguars' front-office has no blame.
Instead of letting 26-year-old Bortles play his fifth-year option in 2018 – we all know the contract year is undefeated, by the way – and then franchise it if it met expectations, the Jaguars decided to double player whose regularity and mechanics have been a problem since he was taken No. 3 in total in 2014, and sign him a three-year extension, $ 54 million in February.
Now, they are essentially stuck with him. According to Over The Cap, the Jaguars already spend $ 7 million in the red for 2019, and if they release it after the season, they will create a meager reserve of $ 4.5 million (while trying 16, $ 5 million of dead space).
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "This decision is not the worst aspect of this question miscalculation for the Jaguars, giving them even the benefit of the doubt for the extension of Bortles.His figures were not terrible last year – he completed 60% of his passes with 21 touchdowns and 13 interceptions – and led them to the door of a Super Bowl, but there was absolutely no reason for the Jaguars to forward the quarterback in the 2018 draft. It's a huge mistake because they could have protected themselves against Bortles' regression in 2018 because nothing data-reactid = "86"> This decision is not the worst part of this miscalculation for the Jaguars, even giving them the benefit of the doubt for the extension of Bortles. His figures were accurate. last year – he completed 60% of his passes with 21 touchdowns and 13 interceptions – and he led them to the threshold of a Super Bowl position, but the Jaguar had no reason to return a quarter in 2018 It was a huge mistake because they could have protected against a Bortles regression in 2018 because nothing brings the best of a quarterback as competition.
Even Hall of Fame member Troy Aikman had to compete with Steve Walsh for the first job in Dallas, and I saw how this type of competition could move the current incumbent forward in 2017, while Alex Smith silently took the decision of the leaders to choose Mahomes. personally and had a career year before he was treated in Washington.
The Jaguars had the opportunity to copy this model into this year's project, as the Louisville star, Lamar Jackson – a dual threat dynamo – was still available at Selection # 29. Jackson has his share of problems, especially with regards to pocket efficiency, but there is no doubt that his general talent as a runner and playmaker. He would have either lit a fire under Bortles, or, if he had been forced to the action, give the ground-oriented Jaguar a creative and fictional threat that could keep teams honest throughout his learning.
Instead, the Jaguars selected Florida's talented defensive tackle Taven Bryan (who has eight tackles this year), which allowed the Ravens – who had a shaky incumbent as Joe Flacco – to choose Jackson in 32nd place.
And you would not know, the Ravens are 4-3 and Flacco – who has completed 62.1% of his passes while he's got nine touchdowns and four interceptions – is about to know his best season since 2014.
None of this is more important for the Jaguars, who find themselves in the midst of a controversy over the quarterback. Marrone said that after the match, the entry-level job was open, which is probably a good way to start healing with a frustrated defense.
At this point, the fact that Marrone settles in Bortles or Kessler does not matter; what matters are the results, especially with the next opponent, the Eagles, reigning champions of the Super Bowl, who enter their confrontation Sunday with the international series with a record of 3-4 and therefore a despair similar to that Jaguars.
"The obvious thing is to win – we just have to win, man," said linebacker Myles Jack. "It's the biggest thing."
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