Jaguars Training Camp: Doug Pederson’s Hall Of Fame Game Analysis

Despite a lackluster outcome for the Jags, there are plenty of takeaways from last week’s showdown.

NFL game action is back. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Las Vegas Raiders started off the preseason in Canton, Ohio, with the Raiders emerging victorious in dominant fashion to the tune of a 27-11 final score.

Despite a less than ideal outcome for the Jaguars, it is important to note that the preseason serves as an opportunity for players to work their way into game shape and for fringe guys to show they have what it takes to contribute at the highest level. Most importantly, it serves as a blueprint for team improvement and provides the Jags with important game film to analyze.

Head coach Doug Pederson emphasized the importance of using film from the Hall of Fame game to pinpoint areas of improvement and continue to get better every week.

“It’s never as good as you think; it’s never as bad as you think,” Pederson said. “There were some good individual efforts out there during the game. I think there are still a lot of things we’ve got to clean up. 

"It really comes down to fundamentals. We spent the first two weeks of camp really installing offense and defense, so there was a lot of, from a mental standpoint, a lot that we threw at these guys. Now that we’re kind of in the meat and potatoes of training camp, things will kind of slow down from an installation standpoint and we can go back and fine tune and detail some of the assignments, some of the details that need to be, and some of the mistakes we made in the game and build to this next one.”

The box score never tells the entire narrative of a losing teams performance. Travon Walker immediately burst onto the scene and showed the world why the Jaguars made him the number one overall pick, consistently giving the Raiders offensive line fits and getting to the quarterback at will.

“He did some nice things,” Pederson said. “Unfortunately first play got the penalty, but after further review, right? I thought he played well, played hard. He could probably work on his get-off a little bit more. Overall played well, settled in, not too big for him, and everything you expected out of your first pick.”

On the offensive side, second year tackle Walker Little continues to fight for a starting position. Pederson is encouraged by the effort of the 2021 second round pick displayed in game action and the drive he has towards getting better.

“I thought he played well,” Pederson said on Saturday. “He settled in right away. His run blocking, pass protection, I thought he was focused and dialed in. He really had a good first half, really good to see. He’s sort of in that battle with JT over there on the right side (OL Jawaan Taylor). He did everything he could do to put his best foot forward the other night.”

As the Jaguars prepare for their second preseason matchup Friday night against the Browns, the team will be focusing on shoring up mistakes and getting better as a unit. The NFL season is a marathon, not a sprint and constant improvement is the only thing the organization can ask out of its players.

“You just want to see constant improvement every day, every week,” Pederson said. 

"The installation as far as putting in the information is tapering off now, so we can fine tune assignments, alignments, the details of routes, the run game, the fits for the offensive line, things like that. That’s what we’ve got to see. That’s where the constant improvement needs to start showing up here in these next several weeks before the regular season.”