JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars are 0-5 and have lost 20 straight games. At some point, the streak has to end, right? It would only be fitting for the Jaguars’ first home win in over a year to come in the game that is the farthest away from Jacksonville (4,272 miles).
The Jaguars have played more games in London than any other team in the NFL, but they don’t have much to show for it. The Jaguars have a 3-4 record in games in London. Despite the experience of the franchise, the majority of the Jaguars roster will be playing in their first London game.
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Will this break of the norm be enough to have the Jaguars shake off the losing habit and get win? Only if they can do these four factors.
Communication is key
Communication is important in every part of life, but it is also important on the football field. The player that wears the green dot on the field is responsible for relaying the call to the rest of the players. Myles Jack has worn the green dot at times in his career, but he plays better without it.
Last week against the Titans, Damien Wilson and Rayshawn Jenkins both wore the dot and were in charge of communication. Jack did not make the trip to London with the team so Wilson and Jenkins will be responsible for the calls again this week. Last week, there were some communication mishaps and the entire defense needs to make sure they are on the same page.
Touchdown Trevor
Through five games, Trevor Lawrence has made consistent progress each week. Lawrence has gotten the turnovers under control. The next step for Lawrence is for him to take over a game. His teammates know he is capable of it linebacker.
Damien Wilson, who played with Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City, said with a quarterback like Lawrence, “you just feel like you are never out of a game and with Trevor, you start to get that sense a little bit.”
Lawrence will need to have that coming-out party of sorts. Jaguars offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said that Lawrence has a “full trump card to do whatever he needs to do.”
The next step in his evolution is for the rookie to take full control and captain the ship to a win. That is a lot of pressure to put on a rookie, but Lawrence isn’t an average rookie.
Turnovers
Turnovers sometimes can feel like they are based on the luck of the draw and the Jaguars have not been the lucky this year. Shaquill Griffin has been a guy who has been on the wrong side of the bounce more times this season than any other play on the roster.
Griffin said after the Week 2 game against the Broncos where he also had a dropped interception that, “I think the ball is mad at me. I’m going to go grab a football and take it over, lay with it, talk to it, pray with it, figure out something because something isn’t right.”
Clearly, Griffin needs to keep talking with the football because the ball still seems to be mad at him.
Defensive coordinator Joe Cullen said, “That is a gamechanger. He knows we know it and is going to get it this week.”
Griffin is a leader on this team and a splash play from him would help to up the confidence of every player on the field.
Believe
The most important factor of these four is the team has to believe they can win. Dan Arnold said the confidence is all they are missing because they have the talent.
“I think the biggest thing is just getting that first win, just to build that confidence and be like, ‘OK, we can do this thing,’” he said.
“And you walk into games saying, ‘Oh, are we going to win this one?’ Instead, you’re walking into the game saying, ‘We’re going to get this win, and it’s going to happen.”
I can pull out hundreds of motivational quotes about believing in yourself but I think Urban Meyer put it very well earlier this week.
“The two components of winning are work ethic and belief. And if you have a group that works hard but doesn’t believe, you just have a bunch of hardworking guys. If you have a group that believes but doesn’t work hard, you have a bunch of people just wishing,” Meyer said.
There is no question that this team works hard. But until it truly believes it can win, it will be tough win games. For some of the young players that have spent the majority of their NFL careers in Jacksonville losing more games than they have ever lost in their entire life, it is easy to understand why their confidence is shaken.
K’Lavon Chaisson, a second-year player who has only won one game in his NFL career said, “I won state in high school, I won in college, I’m undefeated, and now, I’m not winning as much as I’m used to winning. It’s hurting me, I can’t go home every day and just kind of take it like a normal person.”
This is a team that needs that one game, that one win, that one Sunday where everything seems to go their way and the flood gates could open.