Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Kahn hasn't seen much in the way of on-field success during his four year tenure with the franchise. He's seen incredible development for the organization within the city of Jacksonville and across the pond in London, where the Jags are currently getting set to square off with the stumbling Buffalo Bills, but the product on the field still hasn't improved enough to the point where Khan or fans in Jacksonville and abroad can say that better days are soon ahead. Still, despite the issues which continue to plague the team, Khan and the rest of the franchise's decision-makers won't be pursuing any structural changes to the makeup of the roster or the coaching staff it seems. While rumors have swirled that head coach Gus Bradley could be in trouble if the current slide continues, Alex Marvez of Fox Sports reports that Bradley and the rest of the coaching staff remain safe.
Per Marvez, Khan continues to preach a patient approach, especially in light of the major roster rebuild Bradley was asked to undertake and the key injuries the team has sustained already this season, most notably to April's first-round pick, Dante Fowler. With a focus on analytics Khan and the Jacksonville front office have gone to work reshaping a roster that hasn't sniffed the postseason in seven seasons. And while the current iteration of the team has suffered five losses through six weeks of the 2015 NFL season, Khan is adamant that there is reason for optimism.
"I think if you look at metrics, Blake is a second-year quarterback and I think he's doing much better, quite frankly. I think there is a lot of work to do, and Gus and Dave Caldwell have done a lot of heavy lifting. We're to the stage now where we'll be seeing some of the results," Khan said from London this week, via Conor Orr of NFL.com.
"I'm very, very optimistic and believe in what they are doing. It's frustrating and maddening at times, but if you know football, regrettably it's the right thing to do."
It's a regrettable reality not only for Khan, but for Jaguars fans who haven't enjoyed a winning season since 2007 when David Garrad and Quinn Gary combined to helm the Jack Del Rio-led Jags to a playoff berth and wild card victory.
And while Bortles has played extremely well this season - he's sixth in the league in total yards (1,630) and fifth in touchdown passes (13) - alongside explosive young wideouts like Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns, there are still obvious issues which likely require yet another offseason of attention before the Jaguars can really be considered a team on the rise. Bortles' uptick in play has the Jaguars up to 16th in the NFL in yards per game and Bradley's defense, even without Fowler, is 19th in yards allowed. These are promising numbers for a Jacksonville team that finished 2014 31st on offense and 26th on defense.
Even more impressive, the Jaguars have seen a team-wide improvement despite an almost complete lack of impact from their biggest offseason additions, Fowler and free agent tight end and touchdown machine Julius Thomas. And while the running game hasn't been up to snuff - TJ Yeldon's biggest output of the year was the 105-yards he racked up on 22 carries against Indianapolis - and the defense certainly remains a work in progress - even if Fowler hadn't been hurt it's unlikely he'd have cured all that ails the Jags - other free agents like Sergio Brown, Davon House, Dan Skuta and Jared Odrick have played important roles for the clearly improved team this season.
In the end, the Jaguars are a mostly young team whose players simply haven't figured out yet how to win consistently in the NFL. The franchise has been beaten down for so long that it will take time just to change the pervasively negative culture that always seems to settle in around the league's perennial losers.
Khan knows that changing that takes time and that a knee-jerk change at the top of his team would only set the franchise back again. Bradley is not immune to criticism - plenty of moves haven't worked out during his tenure and his 8-30 record as head coach is beyond atrocious - but it seems more to do with the abysmal team he was handed and less to do with his capabilities as a franchise leader.
The Jaguars though, are not as bad as 1-6 - their heartbreaking loss to the Colts in overtime, self-inflicted though it was, seemed to stick with them the next week against the Buccaneers - and by the time they took the field against the Texans, the team simply looked, for lack of a better word, defeated.
Unfortunately, this week's game against the Bills will be another tough matchup, especially with the team reeling and forced to travel thousands of miles and Rex Ryan's group operating with their backs up against the wall in an AFC East that already seems nearly out of reach.
But still, fifth-straight loss or no, Bradley seems safe. And really, while it may be the regrettable choice, it's still the right thing to do.
