Sunday's Loss Perfectly Sums Up Doug Pederson, Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars are 3-11 with eight of their 11 games coming by seven points or less. Their near win over the New York Jets was the perfect example of the Jaguars' woes.

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson looks on after an interception sealed the game for the New York Jets during the fourth quarter Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The Jets held off the Jaguars 32-25. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Jacksonville Jaguars have not only lost games this season, but they have also seemingly found new, more heartbreaking ways of losing football games. Eight of the Jaguars' 11 losses this season were by seven points or less, and one of the other three losses was the worst loss in franchise history.

Doug Pederson's Jaguars have become synonymous with losing. More specifically, close losses have become the calling card of Pederson's team this season.

Sunday's loss to Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets showed everything this Jaguars team has to offer, for better or worse.

The Jaguars played well enough to get the lead, even with numerous backups. They even lost and regained the lead. They showed more fight than they had shown in any game this season.

After battling the entire game, turnovers and poor defensive play reared their ugly heads again, as the Jaguars lost another game by seven points or less.

While the Jaguars' blowout loss to the Detroit Lions stung, at least the Lions are significantly better than the Jaguars. However, the Jaguars keep losing close games to teams that are not much better than they are, even without quarterback Trevor Lawrence; that is worse than a blowout loss on the road against one of the best teams in the National Football League.

Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson explains how the close losses have impacted the team.

“That’s the tough part sometimes of what we do as coaches, myself, to try to sometimes figure out the ‘why’s?’ Players ask us ‘why’ all the time on certain things," Pederson said. "For me, it’s to find out the ‘why’s.’ Why are we still making some of the same mistakes? It’s got to work two ways, right? The coaches have to obviously explain the information and teach the information in a way that the player can understand and then the player has to digest it and ask questions back. That’s what I’ve encouraged the players to do more of. 

“If you don’t know something, just ask. That’s why we go out and practice. Questions come up all the time and make sure you get the answers that you need going into the game, so you can just play free. Your mind’s free, and you’re just seeing things. You’re reacting to what you see. Look, mistakes are going to happen. They’re going to happen, but we’ve got to do our part too to minimize and really try to eliminate some of the mistakes we’re making.”

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