No passion during game, or afterward
By MIKE FREEMAN, Florida Times-Union columnist
Is it too much to ask for a little effort, fellas? I mean, it is only the season on the line and all.
Was there a Christmas party you guys had to attend? Too much eggnog? Not enough presents? Talk to me. Tell me why you played one of the worst games in franchise history, at a time when you needed to play one of your best. Explain why a Houston team that came looking for blood, punked you out in your own backyard.
Never in Jack Del Rio's most twisted dreams would he have imagined his team laying this kind of rotten egg stinker with so much at stake. Scientists are patrolling distant parts of the solar system for signs of life, but after this 21-0 embarrassment they need to turn those sensors onto Alltel Stadium and search for a pulse. When a mediocre Domanick Davis looks like Jim Brown, it is time for the team to seek therapy.
This was the same Jaguars squad that just last week beat Green Bay in the Antarctic? Did the spirit of Christmas Knucklehead take over the bodies of the coaches and players? It is not that the Jaguars can't handle prosperity. It is that they treat it like it's a radioactive hot potato.
The good news is that no one saw this abomination because the game was blacked out on local television, and just nine people were in the stands.
"The best thing for me to do is go lock myself in a room," said linebacker Mike Peterson. "That's how discouraging it is. Go home, lock myself in a room, stay away from anybody."
In the locker room afterward, I expected to see outrage. Chairs thrown and curses levied and reporters tossed out on their behinds. What I saw was calm. This is a professional group, to their credit, but every now and then doesn't Del Rio or someone else need to have one of those classic Bill Parcells tirades, where Gatorade canisters and egos get smashed against the wall? Someone, sometimes, needs to get medieval on somebody.
Where was the anger? Where was the disgust?
"I plead the fifth," replied defensive lineman Marcus Stroud, when asked why players weren't visibly upset.
Players say that at halftime, when the Jaguars trailed by two touchdowns, the locker room was calm. After the game, again, calmness. Del Rio told the players that this was no time to panic.
Actually, panic time started after Davis broke out for 44 yards in the second quarter.
If it wasn't time to panic why was Stroud, the emotional leader of the team, marching up and down the Jaguars sideline, screaming, "This is our playoff game. Right here.''
Meanwhile, on the Houston bench, one of the Texans players, linebacker Jason Babin, was yelled at by one of the Houston coaches so profusely for blowing an assignment I thought the coach's head was going to explode.
The game was meaningless for them but the Texans coaching staff fought with the kind of passion and viciousness you expected the Jaguars coaches to possess.
"There are people in this locker room that are very angry," said safety Deon Grant. "Everything we have at stake and we play like that? But we will take care of things in house, not in public."
Unfortunately, it may be too late for that, or even for an old fashioned hissy fit from the coach.
mike.freemanjacksonville.com, (904) 359-4377
What? No accusations of a choke hold on Stroud by a player a foot shorter and a good 70 lbs lighter? :lol
This is revenge for last year's late season game.
By MIKE FREEMAN, Florida Times-Union columnist
Is it too much to ask for a little effort, fellas? I mean, it is only the season on the line and all.
Was there a Christmas party you guys had to attend? Too much eggnog? Not enough presents? Talk to me. Tell me why you played one of the worst games in franchise history, at a time when you needed to play one of your best. Explain why a Houston team that came looking for blood, punked you out in your own backyard.
Never in Jack Del Rio's most twisted dreams would he have imagined his team laying this kind of rotten egg stinker with so much at stake. Scientists are patrolling distant parts of the solar system for signs of life, but after this 21-0 embarrassment they need to turn those sensors onto Alltel Stadium and search for a pulse. When a mediocre Domanick Davis looks like Jim Brown, it is time for the team to seek therapy.
This was the same Jaguars squad that just last week beat Green Bay in the Antarctic? Did the spirit of Christmas Knucklehead take over the bodies of the coaches and players? It is not that the Jaguars can't handle prosperity. It is that they treat it like it's a radioactive hot potato.
The good news is that no one saw this abomination because the game was blacked out on local television, and just nine people were in the stands.
"The best thing for me to do is go lock myself in a room," said linebacker Mike Peterson. "That's how discouraging it is. Go home, lock myself in a room, stay away from anybody."
In the locker room afterward, I expected to see outrage. Chairs thrown and curses levied and reporters tossed out on their behinds. What I saw was calm. This is a professional group, to their credit, but every now and then doesn't Del Rio or someone else need to have one of those classic Bill Parcells tirades, where Gatorade canisters and egos get smashed against the wall? Someone, sometimes, needs to get medieval on somebody.
Where was the anger? Where was the disgust?
"I plead the fifth," replied defensive lineman Marcus Stroud, when asked why players weren't visibly upset.
Players say that at halftime, when the Jaguars trailed by two touchdowns, the locker room was calm. After the game, again, calmness. Del Rio told the players that this was no time to panic.
Actually, panic time started after Davis broke out for 44 yards in the second quarter.
If it wasn't time to panic why was Stroud, the emotional leader of the team, marching up and down the Jaguars sideline, screaming, "This is our playoff game. Right here.''
Meanwhile, on the Houston bench, one of the Texans players, linebacker Jason Babin, was yelled at by one of the Houston coaches so profusely for blowing an assignment I thought the coach's head was going to explode.
The game was meaningless for them but the Texans coaching staff fought with the kind of passion and viciousness you expected the Jaguars coaches to possess.
"There are people in this locker room that are very angry," said safety Deon Grant. "Everything we have at stake and we play like that? But we will take care of things in house, not in public."
Unfortunately, it may be too late for that, or even for an old fashioned hissy fit from the coach.
mike.freemanjacksonville.com, (904) 359-4377
What? No accusations of a choke hold on Stroud by a player a foot shorter and a good 70 lbs lighter? :lol
This is revenge for last year's late season game.
