JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For four quarters the Jacksonville Jaguars went blow for blow with a perennial playoff team in the Green Bay Packers. With less than two minutes left the Jaguars offense was on the field with a chance to win the game. The final score of 27-23 says the Jaguars did more than just hold their own, but according to the players a loss is still a loss.
“I don’t even want to talk about moral victories,” said Jaguars safety Jonathan Cyprien. “We’re into winning football games and changing this culture. We’re not looking at the past. Moral victories isn’t good enough.”
On the Jaguars final offensive drive, Allen Robinson got his hands on a potential game winning touchdown catch. It would’ve been an extraordinary grab and it’s a play that Robinson has made before. If we learned anything about the Jaguars in week one it’s that they’ve improved. The next step in the process is simple. Winning.
“I think this team has been over moral victories,” said Robinson who had six catches for 72-yards against Green Bay. “We put in a lot throughout this week and we put a lot into camp going into this game, but we’ve got many weeks left so we’ve got to bounce back.”
The difference in the game was the fact that Aaron Rodgers plays quarterback for the Packers. When the Jaguars were able to apply pressure, Rodgers calmly stepped up in the pocket or side stepped a defender. As a team the Jaguars held Green Bay under 300 total yards of offense and that’s something they can build on.
“We’ll most definitely take some positive things out of this game,” said Jaguars cornerback Davon House. “We did some great things in there. We did a good job of controlling Aaron. I think he only had 200 yards passing or something like that, which is good. I think we did a good job of stuffing the run. On the other hand, we need to improve on our penalties. We had way too many and they hurt us in key situations.”
Close losses are nothing new for the Jaguars. Last season they were 5-6 in games decided by seven points or less. If this team is going to get to where they think they should be, these are the types of games that they have to figure out how to win.
“I’m not used to losing and I’m never going to get used to losing,” said Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey after his first NFL game. “We have to correct the things we need to correct and start now coming out on top instead of just barely losing games.”