What Momentum Means to Doug Pederson and the Jaguars

Amidst a playoff push, the Jaguars are utilizing their definition of the word to fight for a spot in the big dance.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of momentum is the impetus and driving force gained by the development of a process or course of events. 

For the Jacksonville Jaguars, this has been the primary factor for their late-season push.

Once a team considered to be a far-fetched playoff hopeful, the Jaguars have turned things around thanks to the development within their system (the process), leading to wins in five out of their last seven games (the course of events). 

Momentum has catapulted the team to this position, as has the belief instilled by head coach Doug Pederson that the only focus on the football field is factors that are within your control.

“Momentum is a funny thing,” Pederson said. “It’s a funny word. Momentum can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. You think of a football game, just any football game and how it’s the ebb and flow of the game, and the crowd gets into it. The crowd’s reaction sort of creates this sort of aura that there’s momentum in the football game. I just think it’s about taking care of business, just focusing in on your job and doing what you can control and playing together as a football team, and if that creates excitement and enthusiasm in the stadium, then maybe that’s what momentum is. 

Winners of their last three games, the Jaguars have won four of their last five and five of their last seven to put themselves in a position to enter next week's showdown with the Tennessee Titans as the favorite. 

"It’s just about understanding your job, understanding your role, taking care of the football, creating takeaways, don’t let your quarterback get hit, try to hit their quarterback, all those things can kind of play into the momentum game just a little bit," Pederson said. 

"I know this time of year you want to play your best football. We’ve talked a lot about that. You want to peak at the right time, and you want to keep getting better. That’s what teams here at the end of the season are all doing, and we want to be one of those.”

For a young team still learning how to win football games, the late-season momentum is a welcomed sign of their ongoing development. Amidst significant strides, many young Jaguars have a chance to sniff their first playoff action if all the cards fall into place. Pederson made clear that for the team to reach that point they must continue to play with urgency in important situations, riding their momentum into the playoff spotlight.

“Sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know, and that can be a good thing,” Pederson said. “At the same time, I think our sense of urgency has to ramp up each week, the attention to detail, focus, things that we talk about every single week get magnified as you get closer to the postseason. 

"These next two games for us are just that. They’re meaningful football games. They have postseason implications, and we have a young football team that we’re still trying to teach how to win games, how to keep putting ourselves year in and year out. You want to be in the conversation. You want to be one of those teams at the end of the year in that conversation for the postseason.”