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Michael DiRocco, ESPN Staff WriterOct 13, 2024, 03:36 PM ET
- Michael DiRocco is an NFL reporter at ESPN. DiRocco covers the Jacksonville Jaguars. He previously covered the University of Florida for over a decade for ESPN.com and Florida Times-Union. DiRocco graduated from Jacksonville University and is a multiple APSE award winner. You can follow DiRocco on Twitter at @ESPNdirocco.
After another embarrassing loss filled with the same chronic issues that have affected the Jacksonville Jaguars all season, coach Doug Pederson believes a culture change is needed.
If it doesn’t happen, he said, a season that is almost already lost could spiral out of control.
“We play a 17-game schedule, so we’ve got a few more games left,” Pederson said on the Jaguars’ postgame show after their 35-16 loss to the Chicago Bears at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. “Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. We’ve got to change. I say we, it’s all of us — coaches, players, everybody. We’ve got to change right now that culture.
“Otherwise, it just gets out of control. We’re on a slippery slope, or right on the cusp of that slope. At some point we’ve got to [say] enough is enough, and you’ve got to have enough pride and figure out a way.”
It may be even closer to the edge than Pederson realizes, because safety Andre Cisco told Jacksonville television station WJAX-TV in the locker room after the game that defensive players quit in the second half of the game. He didn’t exclude himself from that, either.
“It was really bad,” Cisco said, after Pederson made his culture comment and conducted his normal postgame news conference. “I just … I feel like it was … how should I say this … a lot of quit. Last line of defense in a situation like that you could feel when we’re playing as one and when we’re not. It felt very early in the game, maybe at halftime, that we weren’t playing as one. Guys got to understand, when you’re out there, you’re really playing for your brother. You’re putting guys in vulnerable positions whether that’s physically or just from a career aspect.
“… Sunday, when it counts, we understand that’s the hardest part, but there’s no excuse for lack of effort. That’s literally the least you can do, is come out and give effort. I’m saying that to myself, too.”
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Earlier, Pederson said he was pleased with the players’ effort.
“I feel like the guys are — they don’t quit,” Pederson said. “They keep fighting. We’ve got to figure out how to just get out of our way and just play football. I say that and it sounds easy, but it’s tough. It’s a tough game to play and we didn’t expect to be here in this spot and now we’ve got to find a way to get out of it.”
The Jaguars haven’t been able to get out of their own way all season. The defense, which was without two starters (cornerback Tyson Campbell and linebacker Foyesade Oluokun), gave up four touchdown passes to Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. Instead of going after the rookie, the Jaguars blitzed only six times and pressured Williams 10 times on his 32 dropbacks.
There were three penalties on one drive in the third quarter that wiped out a third-down sack (12 men on the field) and a third-down incompletion (holding by cornerback Ronald Darby).
Add in four potential touchdown passes dropped by receivers Gabe Davis (two), Christian Kirk and Brian Thomas Jr., an interception by Trevor Lawrence, and a fumble by tight end Evan Engram, and you have the same kind of controllable mistakes that plagued the Jaguars during their 0-4 start.
Now they’re in a position where Pederson is calling next Sunday’s game against New England at Wembley Stadium a must-win.
“I would say so,” Pederson said. “I would say everything here on out, quite frankly, [is a must-win]. If we want to get back to playing the type of football we know we can play, you’re going to have to win a lot of games moving forward. So I would say that, yeah, these games moving forward are just that.”
The Jaguars are 1-5 after the loss to the Bears, and their chances of making the playoffs — which owner Shad Khan said before the season was his expectation — are low, as only four teams have rebounded from a 1-5 start to make the playoffs in the Super Bowl era, per ESPN Research.
Pederson served as the offensive coordinator for one of those four teams — the 2015 Chiefs.
Khan on Saturday told The Florida Times-Union that he still believes in Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke. After Sunday’s loss, Pederson was asked if he still had Khan’s support.
“I do,” Pederson said. “I was just with him, and I do.”
Lawrence said he still believes in and supports Pederson.
“That’s our head coach and we’re a team,” Lawrence said. “This is tough. Losing is hard … but it has nothing to do with that relationship [and] how we feel about Coach. We’re a group. We’re staying together and we know brighter days are ahead. We just have to keep working.”
