JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It hasn’t looked good for the Jaguars. There’s no denying that.
But are the Jaguars on the brink of a collapse entering a Monday Night Football clash with the Bills (2-0)? Not quite. If there’s been anything positive in their forgettable start, it’s that the Jaguars say that they can put a finger on the issues and work at correcting them.
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Head coach Doug Pederson has stressed that the coaching staff has worked to diagnose the recurring issues, especially on offense, and try and get them smoothed out. He’s not planning on any offensive changes right now. But those calls for change will certainly be amplified if the Jaguars continue to limp around on offense. They’ve put up games of 17 and 13 points to start the season, wasting good showings by the defense in the process.
“As coaches we put hopefully the best game plans together that we can, but it comes down to execution and we’ve got a coach and teach, and they have to go play. So, I can appreciate what they’re saying,” Pederson said. “Then it tells me that it means something to them, and they understand we could easily be 2-0. But we’re not and we’ve got to fix some things and obviously the players are a big part of that, and they know that. They’ve seen it, we’ve shown it to them, and this is a good opportunity for them.”
The next opportunity comes Monday at Buffalo, a team the Jaguars have won four of the last seven meetings against, including last year in London and a 9-6 game here in 2021 under Urban Meyer. All seven of those meetings since 2013 have been decided by a touchdown or less.
It’s a prime-time opportunity for the Jaguars to get back on the winning track and snap the offense out of its funk. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence is mired in the worst start of his career and said after an 18-13 loss to Cleveland that “we suck right now.” That’s not what the Jaguars or fans or even owner Shad Khan expected after a productive offseason.
Lawrence’s blunt assessment after Week 2 was the most openly critical he’s been in Jacksonville. Pederson said he was glad that Lawrence was fiery and showed emotion after the loss, and players said that his words carry immense weight.
“How do we move forward? How do we get better from it instead of just being pissed off about the result? How do we use it to actually learn from it and get better? So, I think we had some great conversations,” Lawrence said. “The team’s done a great job. We’re together. We’re tight. I think that’s the biggest thing that you can’t lose, and we haven’t lost that at all.”
Added receiver Christian Kirk: “You want to see that emotion because that means he cares, and he wants us to be great. I think we all do. I think if you’re not frustrated at this point then you don’t care enough. I know the guys that we have in this locker room the frustration comes from a good place because we know how good of a team we can be. Definitely when it comes from [No.] 16 guys rally around that.”
That woeful start has threatened to torpedo the franchise’s 30th season before October. Pederson said this week that the Jaguars have stressed communication and execution in practice as they try and halt their slide. Another aspect that Pederson has drilled in is not allowing that start to tear things apart internally.
“That’s been one of the big messages this week is just coming together as a team,” Kirk said. “I think on Sunday, some of the film that we put out there, guys weren’t playing together and playing for one another and that’s on us as leaders to be able to help facilitate that, help reiterate that to a lot of the young guys as well, that we’re at our best when we play for one another.”
Center Mitch Morse, who signed with the Jaguars as a free agent after spending his career in Buffalo said that there’s been no panic or blame during the start.
“There’s no strife in this building. There’s no tension. There’s a sense of urgency, absolutely a sense of urgency,” Morse said. “But we have a mature team and we’re not going to point fingers and when you do is when things start going poorly.”
Some of the issues that Pederson has brought up center around fundamentals that shouldn’t be happening now. Jacksonville has missed crucial blocks in the first two weeks, be it by receivers or offensive linemen, that have been huge. The team has had to burn multiple timeouts by not getting the play call in the huddle quick enough. Those are fixable mistakes, and ones that the Jaguars hope are cleaned up in time for prime time.
“Yeah, I think it’s good for our team. Obviously, it’s a great opportunity to go on the road. As you mentioned, it’s really a great atmosphere for football,” Pederson said. “It’s a Monday night game. The fans are going to be juiced up and ready to go. It’ll be good for us. It’s a benchmark. It’s a measuring stick game right now. It’s great for our players to be in these atmospheres. We need to be in these situations more and this is a great opportunity for them.”