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Jaguars Bye Week Comes At A Good Time For Blaine Gabbert

The Jaguars are off to an abysmal 2-6 start, but the bye week comes at just the right time as their schedule softens up in the second half of the season.

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The Jacksonville Jaguars are sitting at 2-6 after the first half of the season and have a bye week this week. The bye week couldn't have come at a better time for a team that just can't seem to put two and two together, at least offensively. The Jaguars defense has actually played really well, so the bye week comes at a good time to give them a breather. After the first 8 weeks of the season, the defense ranks in the Top 10 against both the run and the pass.

The Jaguars offense however, has been abysmal. Rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert started out looking manageable in his first three starts to looking worse and worse in his final three starts.

2011 Season Comp % Yards TD's INT's
First 3 Games 47% 556 3 2
Last 3 Games 41% 299 2 2

 

After Gabbert's third start against the Cincinnati Bengals, where I thought he actually played quite well, his play took a real nose dive. Going against the top three ranked defenses in a row certainly didn't help, but Gabbert became more and more gun-shy in the pocket and his footwork and accuracy just went to crap. The bye week comes at a good time for the kid to reset his brain and get things together for a second half of the season that's not as daunting.

He has clear footwork and mechanical issues that can be worked out with proper coaching, but that's not something that can be fixed during the season. Jaguars offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter should take his time during the bye week and try to tailor the offense to something that will make Gabbert more comfortable. Some more short quick passes, passes to the backs out of the backfield, and even though he's been dropping passes more focus to tight end Marcedes Lewis.

For more on the Jacksonville Jaguars, visit SB Nation's Jaguars blog Big Cat Country.

Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.