Jaguars Gab

NBC Sports reports that despite it not happening today, Torry Holt and Tra Thomas are both still going to be released:

Updating a previous item, Jaguars beat writer Michael C. Wright reports that the team will not make any roster moves on Monday. The Florida Times Union reported Saturday that WR Torry Holt and OT Tra Thomas were informed they’d be released this week, but it appears the moves will have to wait until at least Tuesday. The cuts are still fully expected.

The Jags will be making plenty of moves this offseason to look to get back to the postseason, and two moves that are on the way according to the Florida Times-Union is the release of WR Torry Holt and OT Tra Thomas:

Wide receiver Torry Holt and offensive tackle Tra Thomas, two veteran free agents who were signed last year, won’t be returning to the Jaguars next season. The Jaguars can’t make the moves official until next week because players can’t be waived before Monday, but the players were given advance notice because they both hope to continue their careers, and the Jaguars want to give them time to find new teams. Holt, 33, was the Jaguars’ third-leading receiver with 51 catches for 722 yards this season while Thomas started three games, saw part-time duty in the two games and didn’t play in the last seven.

Jack Del Rio doesn’t seem shy about opening up about his quarterback – David Garrard, as he admits his QB is not an ‘elite QB.’

In a series of candid remarks, Jacksonville Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio made it clear how he feels about quarterback David Garrard. His overriding message during an ESPN television appearance: Garrard is good, certainly not great. When asked if Garrard is a Super Bowl caliber quarterback by host Jim Rome, Del Rio replied: “Well, that’s a good question. I would say a quarterback like David Garrard can be that with a great supporting cast. You know, I don’t know. “When you look at teams that have won multiple championships, I think they’ve had elite quarterbacks Peyton Manning type guys, Joe Montana type guys. The elite quarterback? He’s not that. I do think David’s a good football player.” It’s an honest comment, but it raises the question about how Garrard’s confidence and his teammates’ confidence will be affected in a quarterback whose play has been solid to average for the most part.

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1. Where was the first Super Bowl Played between the Packers and Chiefs?

2. Who scored the first touchdown in Super Bowl history?

3. Who is the leading lifetime rusher in Super Bowl history?

4. What team has won the most Super Bowls with 6?

5. Who is the youngest head coach to have ever won a Super Bowl?

6. What wide out caught the game winning TD with less than a minute to go in Super Bowl XXIII?

7. What kicker missed the game-winning field goal in the final seconds of Super Bowl XXV?

8. Where was Super Bowl XX held?

9. Name the four current Franchises that have never been to a Super Bowl

10. Who was the MVP of Super Bowl XVI?

11. What was odd about the first points scored in Super Bowl IX?

12. Where was last years Super Bowl (XLIII) held?

13. Name the four coaches to have lost four Super Bowls

14. What Falcon took back a kickoff for a touchdown in Super Bowl XXXIII?

15. What Colt kicker hit the game-winning kick in Super Bowl V vs Dallas?

16. Who was the MVP of Super Bowl XIV?

17. How many touchdowns did Steve Young throw in Super Bowl XXIX?

18. Who was the coach of the Colts when they lost to the Jets in SB III?

19. Who sang the National Anthem at last years Super Bowl (XLIII)?

20. What WR came up a yard short of the game-tying TD on the final play of Super Bowl XXXIV?

The Florida Times-Union reports that the 3-4 experiment in Jacksonville is over, and the team will go back to an ‘attack’ 4-3 defense in 2010:

Forget last season’s experiment with the 3-4 defense as the Jaguars are now going to line up in a base defense with three linebackers and four linemen, and specifically be an “attack 4-3 defense.” That is the way general manager Gene Smith describes what the defense will look like after a meeting of the minds with coach Jack Del Rio on what kind of team the Jaguars are going to be in 2010. “We are going to keep the 4-3 as our base defensive package and will be more of an attacking 4-3 with tighter coverage going into next year,” Smith said. Last season, the Jaguars switched to a 3-4 defense after they lost defensive end Reggie Hayward to a season-ending leg injury in the opener but that defense didn’t fit their personnel well, and they eventually switched back to the 4-3 scheme. Smith said the Jaguars will “have more of a penetrating front, hard-charging with more of a one-gap philosophy. We want to get to the edges attacking. Clearly we have to get better up front.”

The Jaguars made a move in their coaching ranks today, as they have fired defensive line coach Ted Monachino and replaced him with Joe Cullen. Monachino, who had been with the team the last four seasons, essentially became the scapegoat for a defense that ranked last in the NFL in sacks. The Jaguars finished with a franchise-low 14 sacks in 2009 and got picked apart by experienced quarterbacks.

Cullen takes over a line that includes former first-round draft pick Derrick Harvey(notes) and second-rounder Quentin Groves, both of whom struggled in their first two seasons.

Cullen coached at Idaho State last season after spending the previous three years with the Detroit Lions. His NFL tenure was marred by two arrests in a week in 2006.

Cullen was charged with indecent and obscene conduct after going through a fast-food restaurant’s drive-through lane naked. He was charged with DUI a week later. He was suspended for a game and fined $20,000 by the league.

Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver, who vowed last year to avoid players with questionable character and off-field problems, backed the hiring after communicating with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Goodell said Cullen, a recovering alcoholic who has been sober for three and a half years, has done enough to deserve a second chance.

“Joe paid a heavy price, and rightly so,” Goodell wrote in a letter to Weaver. “But to his credit, throughout this process he has always accepted responsibility and has willingly embraced the result as an opportunity to become a better person and role model. Not only has he fully complied with the obligations that were imposed on him, but he has undertaken several others on his own.”

Big Cat Country reports that with the Colts going to the Super Bowl, it means that David Garrard will play in the Pro Bowl next Sunday:

With the Colts win over the Jets today, Jaguars QB David Garrard will be one of the AFC’s quarterbacks in this Sundays Pro Bowl. Despite starting off as a 7th alternate, things just bounced the right way for David. However, this is a perfect example of why the Pro Bowl isn’t exactly all the NFL hype machine makes it out to be.

USA Today says that owner Wayne Weaver says QB David Garrard needs to work harder and get better in 2010:

Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver suggested that quarterback David Garrard needs to work harder. “First of all let me say this, I think that David Garrard can win for us. And I think we have to do some things differently there in terms of preparation, in terms of getting … I tell a story about Peyton Manning when (Indianapolis) drafted Pierre Garcon and Peyton Manning drove three hours twice a week because this kid couldn’t come to the OTAs and train because of his graduating class. He drove three hours twice a week to throw to this kid, to teach him how to be a pro, how to work. We need to do more of that here. David just needs to do more of that with our young receivers. We’ve got some good receivers. You’ve got a (Mike) Sims-Walker, you’ve got a Mike Thomas who’s a playmaker, an ascending player, you’ve got a Jarett Dillard who got hurt this year, you’ve got a Mercedes Lewis. We’ve got some guys that can do it now. We need to work with those guys with David and make sure that they have so much confidence on a couple routes for each one of those players. Depending on down and distance, I have the confidence that player is going to be where he’s supposed to be and I’m going to get the ball and I’m going to get the first down and move the chains. Those are the kinds of accountability things that we’re talking about here.” After two losing seasons, Garrard’s future is up in the air and the team is likely to draft a quarterback in April and groom him for the future.

Now that USC is without a coach, there’s been a lot of rumors about possible NFL coaches that may have an interest or be the target of the college program. There was talk early on about Titans coach Jeff Fisher, but that has cooled, and over the last 24 hours, another NFL name has popped up.

That name is Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio, who reportedly got an offer from the school last night. Del Rio, whose Jags ended the season with a four-game losing streak and missed the playoffs going 7-9, would still be owed $15 mil if he was let go by owner Wayne Weaver.

Del Rio said that the report is “a figment of other people’s imaginations.” The Los Angeles Daily News reports Del Rio, who starred at USC as a linebacker, hasn’t accepted the job yet because of his contract with the Jaguars.

“That’s all speculation and hype,” Del Rio told WJXT-TV as he arrived for work Tuesday morning. “I’m getting ready to go in, we’re working on our offseason plan right now. Met with my coaching staff yesterday, (general manager) Gene Smith yesterday, gonna meet with Mr. Weaver later. Got our player evaluations taking place tomorrow. It’s business as usual in terms of going through our offseason, making plans for building this team stronger going forward.”

Weaver declined to speculate on Del Rio’s future.

“Look, you know I’m not going to get into those things,” he said. “Jack Del Rio is our coach right now.”