Nick Foles: 'We are trying to figure out how to win as a team'
Through 10 games, the Jacksonville Jaguars are 4-6 and in the cellar of the AFC South. They are among the bottom teams in the entire AFC.
On top of that, they are coming off of two straight deflating losses vs. division opponents where they got routed and hardly even competed. In the last two weeks, losses to the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts, the Jaguars have been outscored by a staggering 59-16 figure.
There is no denying the Jaguars are struggling and going through a rough patch of football. Starting quarterback Nick Foles is aware of where the team is, even though he has only started two games this season. To him, the Jaguars are still in the process of learning how to be a winning football team.
"Each game is a new entity. I mean yeah, definitely getting more comfortable being out there, that is the big thing, but we are trying to figure out how to win as a team," Foles said during his Wednesday press conference at TIAA Bank Field. "To win in football, the teams I have been on, you have to win as a team and we have the guys in the locker room, we have the coaches here to do that."
Foles has missed most of the 2019 season thus far due to a clavicle injury he sustained in Week 1, but his first start back for the Jaguars was a poor showing for the passer Jacksonville paid $88 million in the offseason. He finished the game 33-of-47 passing for 296 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw an interception, along with several other errant underthrows.
As Foles tries to put forth better performances, he is also trying to help the Jaguars build a culture. Considering it is week 12 in the season it may be a bit late for that, but it is where Foles sees the team right now.
"We are going through our journey right now. Everyone wants you just to arrive at the end goal but that is not how this thing works," Foles said. "Like, we are in that tough time. This is really where you get tested and this is where you can either go this way or that way, which one do you want to choose. And it is really just positivity or negativity."
"That is where we are at right now. This is where your culture is built, this is where you establish so many things; in these trials," Foles continued. "We are figuring who we are as a culture. This is one of those things hopefully when we are at the end of the journey, we look back and are like 'alright, it was all worth it to go through those trials, those tough times.'"
Foles was not trying to be a sunshine pumper by any means, noting that the Jaguars have lost as a team and have to improve as a team. Everyone had a part in Sunday's loss, including himself, he said. Now, the Jaguars need to learn where to go from there.
"Everyone had their hand in it. If there’s a way for a team to lose a game, we did it as a team," Foles said. "Everyone had a hand in it and that’s something that we understand, and we take ownership of, and that’s why we’re right back here analyzing film, looking to where we can improve and coming out there today and working towards that.”
