Jaguars on the Brink, Does Coach Have the Answer?

The Jacksonville Jaguars have to win on Sunday. Head coach Doug Pederson thinks the solution is simple.

Oct 16, 2024; Watford, United Kingdom; Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Pederson during practice at The Grove. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Jacksonville Jaguars cannot lose on Sunday against the New England Patriots. They have the far better roster, more time spent in London to adjust, and they are facing a banged-up team led by an inexperienced head coach and rookie quarterback.

A loss would also mean falling to 1-6. The Jaguars are already mathematically out of the playoff race at 1-5. Another loss would just about end any hope for the season. Especially if it's to this Patriots team in this situation.

Head coach Doug Pederson laid out the keys to victory on Friday when he spoke to the media. It was simple.

"One, we need to eliminate the mistakes, right? There's enough coaching mistakes, player mistakes, we're in this together," Pederson said. "So just eliminate that. I think the biggest thing is just relax and play, have fun, get back to enjoying football and being with your teammates. It's been obviously a great eight, nine, 10 days out here from a bonding experience with the team. So, if we just do that, execute, focus on our jobs, and  play hard, it gives us a chance."

What Pederson said is nothing new. They have been preaching it all season in Duval. It has been espoused as much as the implementation of an up-tempo offense and more efficient play-calling.

The Jaguars need to sustain longer drives. That has been a key failure of this offense. They are also failing to score points in general, too. Offensive coordinator Press Taylor touched on that when he talked to the press Thursday. Taylor said it was about limiting the self-inflicted mistakes.

"Those are the things that you kind of got to get out of the way. Now, there's some drives that – it's football," he said. "You're going to get stopped. They're going to have a better call than you. What's the situation? What do your bad plays look like? Your bad plays can’t end in turnovers, can’t end in negatives. If the defense kind of wins the down and we settle for a two-yard gain on second-and-long, so be it. We'll continue to play down-to-down, but we can't let that get us down. It's just continuing to play the game throughout the game. Like we said earlier, just being consistent down-to-down."

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