Doug Pederson: 'I Believe 4 Weeks is Plenty of Time' For Jaguars to Gain Momentum

The Jaguars have lost two games in the last eight days, but Doug Pederson has faith his team can turn it around over the next month.

How quickly things change in the NFL. 

Nine days ago, the Jaguars were on top of the world. They were 8-3 and set to make their return to Monday Night Football vs. Cincinnati Bengals squad led by a backup quarterback, giving them a legitimate chance to make a fighting case for the AFC's No. 1 seed.

Fast forward to today, and the Jaguars are 0-2 in that span, losing to the Bengals in overtime and then to the Cleveland Browns and Joe Flacco on Sunday. Back-to-back mistake-filled losses against backup quarterbacks have the Jaguars now fighting to keep pace with the rest of the AFC.

Worst of all, though, is the fact that a month before the playoffs begin, the Jaguars are playing their worst football of the season.

The offense is struggling to protect Trevor Lawrence and is fresh off a four-turnover game. The defense is allowing explosive plays at a backbreaking rate, allowing 65 points and several wide-open touchdowns over the last two weeks.

But, for now, don't count Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson as a believer that the team is circling the drain with four games left.

“I believe four weeks is plenty of time. We’ve been able to do that, we’ve shown it in about the mid-season point of our season. We were playing pretty good football right in there," Pederson said on Monday. 

"We actually had, quite honestly these last couple of weeks, other than yesterday, I felt like our passing game was kind of on track. It was improving. Obviously, the injury to Christian [Kirk] affects that a little bit. The things when you look at the tape, it’s all the self-inflicted stuff. It’s negative runs or incomplete passes early in the down, it’s pre-snap penalties that put you in first and 15’s, route details, just fundamental things that we can control. Really, the same thing on defense. Just not staying disciplined in the gaps, missing tackles on the perimeter, all things that are within our control that we’ve got to get back to doing. You get those corrected and you put a little bit of attention to detail on those, I think you will be back to playing good football and competing.”

Self-inflicted mistakes have been the story of the Jaguars' season, on both sides of the ball. A five-game winning streak in the middle of the season helped mask some of the Jaguars' mistakes, but they have crept up at a high rate over the last two weeks.

Perhaps the biggest example is the Jaguars' pre-snap penalty problem on offense. The Jaguars committed five pre-snap penalties vs. the Browns on Sunday and have committed 13 over the last three games. 

"Quite honestly, they show up in practice during the week. That’s where it starts. I’m a big believer that you’re going to play like you practice. When you don’t have the crisp practice during the week, sometimes those things can creep into a game," Pederson said. 

"It gets magnified in a ballgame, everything matters. It’s something that is a point of emphasis offensively. We pride ourselves with the silent count, being able to use that because yesterday we did draw a couple of defensive offside penalties which was great. I think one that was missed late in the game on the touchdown pass which was okay. Those are things that are concerning and alarming, because those are things that are holding the offense back right now.”

If the Jaguars are going to regain their mojo before the playoffs begin, it starts and ends with the self-inflicted mistakes. The next month will tell us how correctable they are.