Former Colts HC Tony Dungy Says Jaguars’ Doug Pederson Has His Vote for Coach of the Year

The former Colts head coach offered high praise for Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson on Wednesday.

There are few coaches in 2022 who have done the job Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson has done.

And while a 9-8 record may make it hard for Pederson to earn Coach of the Year votes over other divisional winners and worst-to-first coaches, there is at least one voter who is going to make an argument for Pederson: former Indianapolis Colts Tony Dungy.

"I have a vote on the AP awards and I've voted for Doug for coach of the year because I think what he has done," Dungy told Brian Sexton on Jaguars Drive Time on Wednesday. 

"I knew he would do well. And I knew he would transfuse energy into this franchise and get them going. But I thought it would be a couple of years to really get it. And it clicked that after about eight weeks, it's amazing," Dungy said. 

Dungy likely won't be alone after the miraculous turnaround the Jaguars showed in their first season under Pederson. 

The Jaguars increased their win total by six wins (from three to nine) this season, tying Detroit for the largest improvement in wins in 2022. Jacksonville’s six-win increase was the highest by any team with a new head coach

After two years with the worst record in the NFL, Pederson has taken a Jaguars team that went 4-29 in the previous two seasons to 9-8 and a divisional title this season, helping them rebound from a 2-6 start to the season and guiding Trevor Lawrence to a successful sophomore season.

"I just think his mindset. Obviously, the game plan that we have throughout the week is really good. Just the way we sync everything up, but then just his aggressive nature. He kind of always keeps that in the front of his mind, when to take shots, and when to not, too," Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said this week when asked what makes Pederson a good play-caller to him.

"I think he has a really good discretion on those things. I think that’s one of the things he does really well, is calling things at the right time. That’s a huge part of the game obviously. It could be a great play, but if you call it at the wrong time, wrong coverage, wrong part of the field, you can kind of waste it, and I think he does a really good job with that. That’s one thing, then just mixing it up. We have a lot of different things in our arsenal we can do. I think we’ve been able to kind of keep defense on their heels with all the different looks we can present.”

The job with the Jaguars and Pederson is far from over this season. After knocking off the Titans to win the AFC South last year, the Jaguars and Pederson will host the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card round this weekend -- somewhere Dungy says the Jaguars always believed they would be.

"We had the Hall of Fame Game for NBC, we're broadcasting and I was down on the field before the game, just kind of watching and taking notes. And Josh Allen came up to me, and he said, we are going to be on your show. We're going to be on Sunday night football by the end of the year. We're a good team. People don't know it, but I promise you, we're gonna be there," Dungy said. 

"And we talked about that and he was right. He said he could feel the energy. He thought coach Pederson was the right person for them. He just and I felt that from everybody there. Guys were so excited that it was genuine, and they've done it." 

 


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John Shipley
JOHN SHIPLEY

John Shipley has been covering the Jacksonville Jaguars as a beat reporter and publisher of Jaguar Report since 2019. Previously, he covered UCF's undefeated season as a beat reporter for NSM.Today, covered high school prep sports in Central Florida, and covered local sports and news for the Palatka Daily News. Follow John Shipley on Twitter at @_john_shipley.