Doug Marrone On How the Jaguars Can Begin 'Taking Games'

Jacksonville Jaguars Head Coach Doug Marrone doesn't feel the Jags have given games away but they also haven't been "taking any games" in route to a 1-4 start. How can that change? Marrone offers his thoughts.

The Jacksonville Jaguars were given ample opportunities against the Houston Texans.

There was the Sidney Jones IV interception that gave the offense the ball at midfield with a chance for a field goal before halftime. There was the Sidney Jones tipped ball to a Jarrod Wilson interception that the offense took and moved into the endzone, only to fumble the ball away. 

WELCOME BACK JARROD WILSON!

📺: cbs | #DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/kufi7zrQAW

— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) October 11, 2020

There was the incredible return by Keelan Cole on special teams, only to have penalties and floundering cause the drive to stall before crossing mid-field. Time and time again, the carrot was there…and the Jaguars swatted it away.

“I think we’re not giving games away, but we’re also not going out and taking any games,” Head Coach Doug Marrone explained to reporters on Monday, following the 30-14 loss.

"I think that we’re playing hard and when the opportunities come up to make something happen, we didn’t do that. I’m just basically talking about last week. Yesterday, we had a couple opportunities, and we didn’t take advantage of it and you need to do that.”

For that matter they were given opportunities to take a lead and a win against the Tennessee Titans and the Cincinnati Bengals as well. There were standout isolated plays and strong individual performances. But each week, the Jags have created an opportunity only to squander the chance.

One could argue the loss on Thursday night football to the Miami Dolphins was the only game the Jaguars have played poorly in every single phase of the game.

In each of the other respective games the plays, like those made by Jones on Sunday, presented an opening that couldn’t be capitalized off of on the other side of the ball.

“I thought yesterday, Sidney [Jones IV] made a lot of good plays. He had an interception and he almost had another one. He defended four or five passes. I think those are things which you’re looking for to get yourself off the field, creating turnovers. We created two, I thought they were two really good plays. Great hustle play by Jarrod Wilson coming over, great play by Sidney to do that.

“I think those are things you have to do and do it consistently. I think we’ve shown we can do it at times, but we haven’t put it all together because you look at those turnovers and you look at what we did offensively after those turnovers and we didn’t really come up with anything.”

While Sunday the offense was unable to take advantage of the the field position off turnovers, the pendulum has swung the other way just as often. Minshew, on Sunday, threw for 300 yards for the third time this season, completing 31 of 49 passes for 301 yards, a 94.0 passer rating and two touchdowns. Minshew’s 31 completions marked the fourth consecutive game he’s completed at least 25 passes, which extended his franchise record, and his 10 touchdowns through five games are tied for the most through Week 5 in Jaguars history.

The receivers unit, led by DJ Chark and Keelan Cole, have been money more often than not and the redzone efficiency sat at 80% coming in to Sunday’s game.

DEEP to @FlightConley

51-yard pass to Conley from @GardnerMinshew5
📺: CBS | #DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/nhOS2dsidu

— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) October 11, 2020

Rookie running back James Robinson finished with 70 scrimmage yards (48 rushing, 22 receiving), marking his fifth consecutive game with at least 50 scrimmage yards. Robinson, who has been the Jaguars’ leading rusher in all five games, joins former Browns running back Kevin Mack (1985) as the only undrafted players in NFL history to total at least 500 scrimmage yards through five career games.

On days the offense has been clicking, the defense (like versus the Bengals in the second half) or special teams (like versus the Titans) have faltered. The key is, of course, putting all three phases together. That’s the most basic rule of winning in football, yes, and Marrone has seen the pieces in each game. Now the key is bringing it together to “take the game.”

“You can’t let that stuff go and I think that playing for the full four quarters, I think last week, the other day, the score is the score, but it was a lot tighter than that and it was close, and we had an opportunity to get ahead. We weren’t about to do that and that’s what my focus is on now, that I think we’re doing enough not to, like I said before, give the game away, but we’re not doing anything to get the game in our favor.”

How do they do it? Accept that some times things will go wrong. What’s important is in those moments, to do things right.

“I talked to the coaches today and we have the players coming back in tomorrow. We want to make sure that, ‘Hey, is it the right technique? What was going through your mind? What are you thinking?’ When you do the right technique, you’re going to get beat sometimes. You haven’t played enough unless you’ve gotten beat, but if we’re going to get beat, let’s do it that way.

“Let’s not do it where ‘I didn’t put my hands on this guy’ or ‘I didn’t hit the right landmark’ or ‘I ran this route too short,’ things of that nature. So, what I see now is a lot of effort, a lot of guys are playing extremely hard. I think it’s a combination of us doing a good job coaching and getting them to believe or have confidence in it and being able to do it, and then, situationally, taking advantage of opportunities.”