Blaine Gabbert has had a rough start to his NFL career. He's currently working with his fourth head coach and third offensive coordinator. That type of instability stunted Alex Smith's career early on, and it may be having a similar effect on Gabbert's career.
That instability hasn't stopped anonymous critics from slamming the Jaguars' "franchise" (I use that term incredibly loosely in this case) quarterback.
Now, Gabbert is speaking up a bit about what he thinks about anonymous criticism.
"It pissed me off quite a bit, just because you learn to trust your coaches because you spend so much time with them. That’s starting now. April 2 through whenever your last game is, you’re with them countless hours every day, six or seven days a week," Gabbert told John Oehser of Jaguars.com. "You learn to value their opinion, trust it. It’s a close-knit grip. When you have an anonymous source saying something that couldn’t be further from the truth, it pisses me off. Like I always said, ‘Put your name on it.’"
Aside from an old Herm Edwards saying of, "Put your name on it," Gabbert makes something of a valid point. There's no doubt that Gabbert was responsible for some of the Jaguars' struggles on offense. In 2012, he continued to take too many sacks, and he sometimes felt pressure that wasn't actually there.
That being said, criticism from ex-coaches that were canned because the team they coached failed to perform shouldn't be surprising. Those coaches are upset, and they're not happy about losing their jobs. Criticism from anonymous sources is expected and also irrelevant. The only thing Gabbert needs to worry about is getting better at his craft, because if he doesn't, he won't be the Jaguars' "franchise" quarterback much longer.
