1. That during the 1996 season Kelly had suffered a serious hamstring injury that cost him three games and left him largely immobile even after his return.
Agreed, but that wasn't his fault
2. That, partially as a result of his injury, Kelly took many more hits than he had before, leading to comments about his "statuesque" qualities.
Agreed and again that happens to the best of them.
3. That Kelly committed several costly turnovers in his final games (including an ill-advised shovel pass in the playoff against Jax) which raised questions about his judgment.
Read my post about the personel he had. Hell even Billy Brooks was gone (bad move). He had two new WR's he had to get comfortable with.
4. That Kelly had feuded openly with the coaching staff over their desire to move away from the K-Gun, a system for which the team no longer had the personnel.
Give him one more year. Get a REAL slot WR in FA and he would have been fine. BUT in all fairness to the Coaches, the KGun time had passed. In fairness to Kelly we had stevestojan for an OC.and finally...
You would have had a hard time finding anyone who would have argued in favor of a three-year extension for JK after 1996, and most people agreed it was time to go. Alas, most people also though that Todd Collins would make it as a pro QB. Most people were mistaken. That was, however, as in most such cases, due not to lack on intelligence or ill will, but due to the simple fact that most people, even multimillionaire club owners, cannot predict the future.
bottom line that thinking has cost us for the last 9 seasons (97-04).