The Jaguars fired offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The Jaguars are 28th in points scored this season and they believe the offensive play calling is at least partially to blame.
The Jaguars dropped to 3-8 on Sunday with their loss to the Bills. Leonard Fournette averaged 5.3 yards and gave the Jags two of their three scores, but it wasn’t enough to pull out the win. The loss pushed them from extremely unlikely to make the playoffs to mathematical elimination and that led to the firing of their OC.
Some would argue that Hackett has not been given the right personnel in Jacksonville, starting with quarterback Blake Bortles. Bortles completed just 12-of-23 passes for 127 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. After the game, head coach Doug Marrone said that he did not consider making a QB change, but the club did feel the need to shake up the staff.
“We would like to thank Nathaniel for his hard work and dedication to the Jaguars organization, and we wish him and his family the best moving forward,” Marrone said in a statement. “These are always tough decisions, but as the head coach, I have to do what I think is best for this football team.”
Hackett joined the Jaguars as their quarterbacks coach in 2015 and took over as offensive coordinator midway through the 2016 season. The Jaguars finished sixth in total offense and first in rushing offense last year, but have been unable to reprise that performance in 2018.
Hackett served under Marrone at Syracuse University and with the Bills, so it’s not clear whether this was a decision made by Marrone or by the higher-ups with the Jaguars. In either case, the pressure is on in Jacksonville, and Marrone is far from safe this offseason.
Its not his fault they extended Bortles
Also not his fault the O line,TE’s and RB’s have been devastated by injuries.
Which also is not the QB’s fault.
But when you have Super Bowl expectations…..start 3-1 and the proceed to lose 8 in a row,someone’s head is gonna roll.
Should have fired Fournette, his out burst yesterday cost them the game.
Nate did a great job. There is tremendous sadness over this rash and precipitous decision.
Hackett was crippled by having a QB who they have no confidence in. I didn’t see them yesterday but the week before the Jags kept settling for field goals while building a lead and then got way, way too conservative with their play calling. It didn’t look like they were trying to kill the clock; it looked more like they were afraid to let Bortles throw a pass that went further than 5 yards. You can’t run an offense that way and expect to win.