Hi kids and welcome to my weekly edition of Jaguars’ football recap.  Unfortunately this is not going to be a positive column.  After watching last night’s game against Tampa I really have to question the team’s current leadership.  To use one of Dr. Phil’s trite phrases, what are they thinking?

Last season before I was decommissioned from my heart attack I joked around about the Jaguars being the Cardiac Cats because they seemed to pull off winning during the last few seconds of the game.  I chucked it off to being Byron Leftwich’s inexperience on the field.  I have officially changed that opinion 100%.  The first half of that game was a total embarrassment. 

The first two plays of the game were great, but the third play in we get sloppy.  After that it just gets worse.  Leftwich gets sacked more than three times in the first half (honestly I lost count after four) and we keep kicking the ball back to the Bucs?  What kind of crap is this?  The only positive thing I have to say is our defense did their job and prevented Tampa from scoring more then 11 points.  However, I could tell the defense was getting physically exhausted having to go out there after every third play.  Where was the offense?

What amused me was I had been listening to the pre-game show where they had commented Byron Leftwich firmly stated he was indeed still the leader of the Jaguars.  Okay well Mr. Leftwich if this is true then why are you performing so poorly on the field?  I know people would argue and say this is pre-season, he’s had a bad week, etc but that is such hogwash. 

Personally I think our child prodigy is suffering from what I like to call Peyton Manning syndrome.  Coach Jack Del Rio, in his haste to impress the home crowd, made a rash decision in making this rookie fresh out of college a starter and gave him a swelled head.  It takes at least three or four seasons for a rookie to make a smooth transition between college and the NFL so they can handle the pressure of a starting position in a mature, responsible fashion.  Oh of course there are exceptions to this, but more often than not if you give a young guy like Leftwich a starting position you’ll end up with an arrogant, cocky upstart that has no respect from the other players.  In short, you end up with Peyton Manning.

Granted everyone has a bad week; look at David Garrard last week against Carolina.  Then again, Carolina has mowed over everyone they’ve played in pre-season.  However, I still believe with all my heart that David Garrard should be the starter for this season.  He richly deserves the opportunity and frankly he’s wasting away as a backup.  I believe the hometown fans should demand that Coach Del Rio make this change before we are condemned to another mediocre season.

By chance if anyone connected with the Jaguars happens to read this:  I would challenge you to refute my comments.  Please, by all means explain to me and the rest of the readers why we have to settle for Leftwich as our starter?  I want someone to explain it to all of us.  I don’t care who it is… another fan, a member of the team, an assistant coach, David Garrard, or even Byron Leftwich himself!  I would love to hear from the man who calls himself our team’s leader!  I would even take comments from Jack Del Rio, a man I watched play for my beloved New Orleans Saints growing up as a child.  I promise to publish whatever comments I get COMPLETELY UNEDITED.  My email address is malone_marlene@clearwire.net  I live in Jacksonville so I will even meet you face to face.  If you don’t want to address me directly you can leave your comments on the forums on this website.