First shoe drops in Jacksonville: Jaguars fire offensive coordinator Greg Olson
On Thursday night, after an embarrassing loss to the Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan said head coach Gus Bradley would not be fired.
But apparently someone had to take the fall for the Jaguars’ performance – Bradley fired offensive coordinator Greg Olson on Saturday.
Bradley told reporters on Friday he didn’t anticipate changes to his coaching staff, but something clearly changed and Olson got the pink slip.
The Jaguars promoted 36-year old quarterbacks coach Nathaniel Hackett to coordinator. Hackett helmed the Buffalo Bills’ offense in 2013-14 under coach Doug Marrone, who is the assistant head coach and offensive line coach in Jacksonville.
In a statement to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Olson said, “Tough day…but regression offensively was the reason…couldn’t find an identity in the run game which significantly hurts Blake’s strengths as a QB…. Made great strides last year but didn’t follow up on the expectations… Would be easy to look for excuses and it hurts, but part of the responsibility of being an OC…”
While it seems Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles’ improvement has been stagnant since being drafted third overall in 2014, coaching changes can’t be helping: Hackett is the third play-caller Bortles has worked with, in only his third NFL season.
The Jaguars are currently 24th in the NFL in scoring, and 25th in total offensive yards (31st in rushing).
