Is the Jaguars' Biggest Weakness Obvious?

The Jacksonville Jaguars have had many issues this season. None have been bigger than their inability to close out games.

Dec 22, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars running back Travis Etienne Jr. (1) is tackled by Las Vegas Raiders safety Thomas Harper (34) and cornerback Decamerion Richardson (25) during the fourth quarter at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images / Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

Nine of the Jacksonville Jaguars' 12 losses this season have come by seven points or less, including their last two losses. No team likes to lose, as losses of any kind a difficult to accept, especially 12 of them in a season.

However, losing so many games by such a small margin is undoubtedly a tough pill to swallow. The story of the Jaguars' season will be one of missed opportunities and self inflicted wounds leading to numerous close losses.

The Jaguars have beaten themselves this season, just as much as opposing teams have. In nearly all of their 12 losses, the Jaguars had a legitimate chance to win until a mistake or mistakes, of their own doing caused them to unravel.

It happened again Sunday against a Las Vegas Raiders team that entered Sunday as arguably the worst team in the National Football League, on a 10-game losing streak. The Jaguars found a way to lose to the Raiders, something that only two other teams had done this season.

Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson acknowledged that the close losses may have started to take a toll on the players mentality during close matchups.

"I'm sure there's some of that,” Pederson said. “I'm sure, again, you're human, and things haven't gone our way this season. And disappointing as that is, you're going to feel that emotion. It's just something that, I think, everybody handles it a little bit differently. But it's that mental toughness we talk about, having that. And just trying to flush a negative play. Trying your best you can to move on from bad plays, mistakes, whatever it is. Trying to move on to the next play."

Jaguars quarterback Mac Jones noted that the team is going through the natural learning curve that comes with playing so many young players due to injury.

“Yeah, I have to look at the film, honestly," Jones said. "And I've been in a lot of games like this, and it's unfortunate, but I thought the defense did a good job today. [OL] Cole [Van Lanen] obviously stepped in there at tackle again, and we got a lot of young guys out there playing so it's going to be a learning curve. And obviously, I got off to a slow start. So how can I get off to a quicker start, like we did the week before, and score some more points? If we can get to 30 points, 21 points, then the game's a different story."

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