The Jags' Starting QB? Nevermind

Blaine Gabbert.

Who?

While scanning through the sports section, I noticed a short excerpt about the Jacksonville Jaguar quarterback competition. As an avid sports fan, despite the fact that I have no affinity towards the Jaguars, I felt inclined to read this article. Apparently, after much deliberation, Blaine Gabbert won the quarterback battle in Jacksonville, defeating Chad Henne of all people.

Is this even newsworthy? Should we even be discussing this?

Aside from ...

• Jacksonville Floridians,
• Missouri Tiger alums who thought Gabbert had more to show than he did in the Show Me state,
• Michigan Wolverines who still care, and
• Swedes who wonder how in the world their version of the pronoun for her -- that's right: henne -- wound up becoming anyone's surname ...

That's a very narrow set of demographics.

This news is honestly not even news at all.

Yes, I fully understand the hypocrisy here. Of all people, I've decided to focus this article solely on Blaine Gabbert. Maybe I'm given him undeserving publicity, but I still feel the need to point out this nonsensical information.

Let me simplify this for you.

Blaine Gabbert is a bust.

After two years in Jacksonville, he has shown no signs of improvement. As an outsider, I've seen him play, and frankly, it's like watching a train wreck with the train somehow managing to keep pressing forward. Even one of his former assistant coaches questioned his ability to lead and his attitude.

Gabbert too often seems to look scared under pressure. He might have the Tony Romo syndrome. As a Cowboy, it kills me to compare the two because Romo is so far ahead of Gabbert when it comes to the intangibles a successful quarterback must possess but unfortunately, they both share that same quality.

If that isn't damning with faint praise, I don't know what is.

Gabbert, like Romo, seems to be 'way too indecisive to be prosperous. He spends too much time taking the underneath routes instead of looking downfield. His short dump-offs to Maurice Jones-Drew are effective somtimes, but they are 'way too frequent and there aren't enough sometimes in the big picture for them to be successful. In order to be effective, a quarterback must possess an array of passes. Gabbert displays none of this.

I remember when Mark Brunell was running the show at Jacksonville. Those teams were competitive. This version certainly isn't, and I really don't see any signs of progress. There is a veritable plethora of quarterbacks out there, Coach Bradley. Your team can't and won't win with Gabbert behind center. He lacks the Brady effect. He lacks the Rodgers effect. He lacks the Brees effect. You can't teach him what they are certainly blessed with.

Many people can't live up to the hype. Gabbert certainly had a lot of it coming out of Missouri, but he's shown himself to be a substandard quarterback at best. He's been lucky enough to play for two years, and now, with this, his third season, approaching, he's been named the starter for Week 1.

Don't be suprised if there's a quarterback change at some point this season.

If there is, I won't certainly be writing about it.

Coach Bradley, your delusions amaze me. I advise you to heed the old bromide about those about failing to learn from history being doomed to repeating it.

Keep a close eye on Gabbert because, before you know it, he'll disappear as fast as you can say Akili Smith.