In Friday's 27-3 loss to the Dolphins, Gabbert was 5 of 10 for a whopping 19 yards and an interception. During Tuesday's practice, Gabbert was 4 of 10, and the overall ineffectiveness of the Jaguars' offense caused veteran tight end Marcedes Lewis to call an impromptu meeting.
“We’ve been building and getting better since April and we came out today and didn’t get better, plain and simple,” Lewis said, via the Jacksonville.com's Ryan O'Halloran. “That wasn’t good enough. That’s not acceptable. In years past, it may have been acceptable and we may have come into the locker room without even mentioning what happened. But mediocrity can’t be accepted.
“Sometimes you can be sluggish and get your second wind during a practice and then complete passes and stay on your blocks. But for one reason or another, that didn’t happen. We just have to really pay attention to the details, take constructive criticism and continue to get better,” he continued. “We can’t regress; we don’t have time to regress.”
Gus Bradley, in his first year as Jacksonville's coach, still isn't sure what he has in Gabbert, whom he named the starter against the Dolphins. In fact, it's reasonable to think that backup Chad Henne will get some first-team looks, and could even win the job outright at some point in the coming days and weeks.
"I think that [Gabbert's] really shown a lot of poise," Bradley said last week. "I think he handles situations that have been presented to him in practice. [Gabbert and Henne] both have done some really good things, both have made some really good progress. Now, are they there yet? No, and I hope they would both answer it the same way. We just felt like with Blaine, with what he's done the last couple days in practice and how he's responded, we decided to give him the nod."
Bradley hasn't named a starter for the Jags' second preseason game, but if Gabbert doesn't improve, not only will he be holding a clipboard for Henne, he'll likely be somewhere other than Jacksonville in 2014.
