Gus’ Midnight Mailbag: Jaguars vs Raiders Week 16 recap

Welcome to the Week 16 edition of the Midnight Mailbag! I’ll be asking for your lingering questions after each Jaguars game on 1010XL’s Facebook and X/Twitter pages, with the submission deadline set for 11:59 p.m. the same day.

Here were your questions following Jacksonville’s 14-19 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.

From Ennio Garcia — Is baalke fired yet 😳 🤔

No, not yet. I think it’s safe to say he will either be fired on Monday, Jan. 6 (along with the full coaching staff) or not at all. Gotta wait two more weeks.

From @ajjax53 — Why isn’t SK saying anything?

Khan isn’t the kind of guy who speaks out of turn, or in this case, the kind of guy who speaks without having to. If Baalke is retained, he will certainly have questions to answer, but I assume he’ll speak to local media next month regardless since Doug Pederson seems to be on the outs as head coach. If Khan were to say anything now, it’ll probably be a bland statement that doesn’t actually say much at all. Again- gotta wait two more weeks.

From myself — What’s this week’s best Brian Thomas Jr. stat?

Via Jaguars PR: “WR Brian Thomas Jr. recorded a career-high 132 yards and one touchdown on nine receptions. He surpassed 1,000 receiving yards on the season in [yesterday’s] game (1,088), becoming the only rookie in franchise history and the 25th rookie receiver in NFL history to reach the milestone. Furthermore, Thomas Jr. became one of six rookies since 2000 to reach 1,000-plus receiving yards and nine-plus receiving touchdowns (nine). The others were wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr., Kelvin Benjamin, Ja’Marr Chase, Mike Evans and Michael Thomas.” BT is very much the silver lining of this disastrous season.