TAMPA, Fla. – Tampa Bay has won three straight games and Jacksonville has lost three in a row.
Like the Buccaneers, though, the Jaguars control their own destiny as the teams seek division titles and playoff berths.
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The Bucs (7-7) sit atop the NFC South, tied with the New Orleans Saints. The reeling Jaguars (8-6) have fallen into a first-place tie with Houston and Indianapolis in the AFC South, but hold divisional tiebreaker advantages and can control their fate with a strong finish.
“There is no room for errors at this point,” Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield said. “We talked about doing the little things right. You don’t have to do anything too special if you do the little things right. You can’t have those simple stupid mistakes that cost teams games.”
After a 3-1 start to the season, the Bucs lost four straight — six of seven overall — before rebounding to climb back into a position to win a third straight NFC South title.
After hosting Jacksonville on Sunday, they’ll finish the regular season with division matchups against the Saints at home and Carolina on the road.
“You’ve got to focus on what you can control," said Mayfield, who’s coming off throwing for 381 yards and four touchdowns without an interception in last week’s 34-20 road win over Green Bay.
“The media is going to go how you play,” Mayfield added. "It’s going to be result based. You can’t listen to that. You can’t let that dictate how you prepare or how you play,”
The sixth-year pro, who’s with his fourth team in less than two years, posted a perfect passer rating of 158.3.
“We’ve won three in a row now. But we have to handle it how we need to, be professionals about it. This singular game mentality can’t change,” Mayfield said. “The approach that we’ve had the last few weeks needs to be the same. That will get us to the place we want to go.”
A month ago, the Jaguars were in the running for the No. 1 playoff seed in the AFC. Consecutive losses to Cincinnati, Cleveland and Baltimore not only dropped them into a tie with the Texans and Colts, but another stumble down the stretch could undermine their postseason hopes.
Jacksonville’s situation is precarious, too, because of the uncertain status of quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who’s in the NFL’s concussion protocol and could miss a game for the first time in his three-year career on Sunday.
The Jaguars are hoping the No. 1 overall pick from the 2021 draft will clear the protocol by the time the team leaves for Tampa on Saturday. If Lawrence is out, backup C.J. Beathard would make his first start since the 2020 season, when he was with the San Francisco 49ers.
“It’s figuring out how to win a game right now. Everybody has to pay attention to their job and just do whatever they’re asked to do, coaches and players,” Jacksonville coach Doug Pederson said.
“I don’t know if you ever want to feel desperate. I think you’ve got to feel a sense of urgency, you’ve got to feel your back is against the wall a little bit,” Pederson added. “It’s just time to go play. I don’t think you ever want to feel desperate because then you do things out of character.”
UNDERMANNED JAGS
The Jaguars will be without two of their top three receivers. Christian Kirk (groin) and Zay Jones (hamstring/knee) will miss the game, leaving fellow wideout Calvin Ridley and tight end Evan Engram to pick up the slack against the Buccaneers. Rookie Parker Washington, Agnew and Tim Jones also should get more playing time.
Ridley has nine games with fewer than 55 yards receiving this season, including a five-catch, 39-yard effort last week against Baltimore. Engram was held to four catches for 28 yards against the Ravens.
“We got to pick it up right now,” Ridley said.
RECORD WATCH
Jaguars linebacker Josh Allen needs one sack to tie the single-season franchise record set by Calais Campbell (14 ½) in 2017.
Allen, in the final year of his rookie contract, has a career-high 13 ½ sacks but has failed to record even half of one in Jacksonville’s last two games.
He has 41 sacks in five seasons and ranks second in team history behind Tony Brackens (55).
MAYFIELD'S IMPACT
The Bucs rave about the job Mayfield has done, taking over at quarterback following the retirement of Tom Brady. He has thrown for 3,315 yards, 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions with his fourth team since entering the league as the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2018.
“He’s done a lot for us this year," coach Todd Bowles said. "You can’t imagine the things you don’t see on the field that he’s done for us, from a team standpoint, from a mentality standpoint, from a bringing-guys-together and bringing-guys-along standpoint — not to mention how well he’s been playing of late
Bowles added that the 28-year-old Mayfield has come in and simply tried to be himself — not replace Brady.
“He just put his head down and he worked and he won the team over, which is what was great about it,” Bowles said. “He’s doing things his way and we’re doing things our way. It’s not as pretty as when Tom was here, but we’re scrappy and we’re pulling them out and we’re getting things done.”
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AP Pro Football Writer Mark Long contributed from Jacksonville.
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