JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Maybe it’s Doug Marrone’s Bronx roots or the fact that he’s a former offensive lineman and offensive line coach, generally the most no-nonsense people on a football team.
Maybe it could be that he dealt with the New York media for 10 years when he was coaching at Syracuse, the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills.
Whatever the reason, Marrone has little time for sugar-coating and softening a message. Since he was hired as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ head coach on Jan. 9, he has been brutally honest about the state of the franchise, the improvements that must be made and the amount of work required finally produce a winning record.
And his players love it.
“I think the way coach Marrone is doing things is exactly what we need,” linebacker Paul Posluszny said. “When we need improvement and we need work and it’s not good enough, we need to be told that. Our standards need to be higher for ourselves and this organization, so if we’re not doing things in an acceptable manner he’s just going to flat out tell us.”
Marrone’s predecessor Gus Bradley developed a reputation as a players' coach. He didn’t ignore poor play, mistakes or a lack of preparation, but he was ultra-positive in the way he dealt with those things. He didn’t criticize players publicly -- the closest he came was saying someone performed solidly -- and rarely ripped players in front of the team.
That was Bradley’s style, and it worked for him, even if it didn’t necessarily result in a lot of victories -- just 14 from 2013 until getting fired after Week 15 last season.
That’s not Marrone. Since he was hired he has publicly:
Agreed with new executive vice president of football ops Tom Coughlin about the team needing to be tougher.
Called out the offensive line by saying during a forum with season ticket holders that some of the criticism over the unit’s poor play over the past several years is deserved.
Taken the ping-pong table out of the locker room.
At the end of the first week of organized team activities last month, Marrone countered the offseason momentum the Jaguars had gained after another highly-praised free agency signing and draft class.
“I am just being honest,” Marrone said. “We are a team that won three football games [last season]. I would be lying to you guys if I came up here and said everything is great. Listen, this is where we are. Listen, we only won three football games. We have a lot to prove. We have a lot of work to put in on the field. We have to do those things and put that work in.
“I am not the type of person that is going to sit up here and sell some BS. I am not going to do that. Are there certain things that are going on out there that are good? Absolutely, there are. I am talking about overall, as a whole, we have a long way to go and we have to continue to keep our nose to the ground and keep working.”
The players have embraced Marrone’s candidness. Even the offensive linemen.
“Listen, we don’t want to get sugar-coated,” center Brandon Linder said. “Just tell it how it is and we will figure out how we need to get better. That’s the main message.
“Yeah, this business, this profession you got to be honest and there’s no pitter-pattering around. Let’s figure out how to win, how to execute as a line and go from there.”
Marrone isn’t praising the players much in OTAs. He’s not even trying to be cautiously optimistic. While the time on the field is valuable, especially for the new players, it isn’t a barometer for how the team will perform in 2017, he said.
“I know you guys look out there and you think that is practice. I don’t,” Marrone said. “I don’t call it practice. I really don’t, because I don’t know [how the team is] from the physical standpoint. I don’t know if we can tackle. I don’t know if we can hold onto a ball when we get hit. I don’t know how we are going to react when it is a live rush and the guy can hit the quarterback and how the quarterbacks are going to react.”
Posluszny said he hopes his teammates appreciate Marrone’s bluntness because maybe that will provide a reality check, which is something the franchise -- which hasn’t had a winning season or made the playoffs since 2007 -- really needs right now.
“As a team, that’s what you want,” Posluszny said. “You want a guy brutally honest, because then we can learn immediately or we’re going to be working for somebody else. So to have that aspect of it, to have that type of intensity, that’s what’s going to get us great results.”