A candid Wayne Weaver has relieved Jacksonville Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio of his defensive play-calling duties. Mel Tucker will run the show now as defensive coordinator. "I challenged Jack to, now that Mel Tucker is going to assume the role of the defensive coordinator and call the plays, I’m not an Xs and Os guy but I say I think our blitzes are very vanilla," Weaver said. "Let’s see if we can’t disguise them better. We’ve got to find a way to put more pressure on the quarterback.†Although Del Rio wasn't fired, he undoubtedly will be if he doesn't make the playoffs next year, according to the Jaguars' owner. "I had to reflect and say, am I better off to blow this thing up and start over again with the coaching staff?" Weaver said in remarks distributed by the team. "I spent most of the day with the players, the leadership of our players, and then the other part of the day I spent with Jack in terms of the things that we have to do to get better. But honestly when I reflect back on what we’ve accomplished, I think we’re growing a strong culture. I think we’re stronger by keeping this group together, I’m saying ‘this group’ our coaches together under Jack’s leadership, and continue to build what Gene and our personnel department are doing. "And I think when you look at it and you say we’re two years into this, I think it would be insanity, and you’ve heard me say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. I don’t think we’re doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I think what I just said shows that we’ve made huge strides, that we’re making progress, that we are building the culture of holding people accountable for what we are doing.†Weaver wants Del Rio to concentrate on running the entire team, not overseeing the defense. “I asked Jack to do some things differently this year," Weaver said. "I believe very strongly that it’s hard for a head coach to be a coordinator and call the plays. I’ve asked Jack to step back on that and take charge of game day the way a head coach has to do. Now, you can say in some cases other head coaches call plays; well, it’s a big responsibility. I think we’ll be better, I think Jack will be better. He will have a better overall view of making sure that he’s on top of the game during the game. I’ve been critical of our football team of not making adjustments during the game and I think this will certainly help that. It’ll give Jack a chance to be more aware of everything that’s going on on the field. “I have given Jack a number of challenges. I’ve said look, because we’ve made some progress, and I do really believe that we’ve had some growth over the last year, I do believe that we’ve set a series of challenges and goals to hold people accountable. I said to you last year that I talked about our conditioning and strength program; I will tell you it’s the best ever. I said that we had to challenge our players." Weaver wants to see improvement from quarterback David Garrard, too. "Some of you thought I called out David but I did not call out David; I said David needs to do things better," Weaver said. "David needs to spend more time in the film room. I told the story of Peyton Manning and Pierre Garcon. Well, David has risen to the challenge. There are 11 quarterbacks that have a higher rating than David in the National Football League; nine of them are in the playoffs. "David has the third-best quarterback passing rating in fourth quarter leaders, I beg your pardon, second behind (Ben) Roethlisberger. So David has taken the challenge to heart and he’s really made huge progress. Do we expect more from David? Yes. We think we’ll get more, we think that David is going to continue to grow." Source: National Football Post
