Self-Inflicted Mistakes Continue To Doom Jaguars
In a game decided by only six points, missed opportunities reigned supreme once again. They played a pivotal role in turning a winnable performance into another that simply got away from the Jaguars.
Finishing strong in close contests has been a primary issue plaguing the Jaguars on this losing skid. With such a young roster, head coach Doug Pederson made clear that this issue isn’t a quick fix and one that the team has to continue chopping away at.
“We just have to keep working,” Pederson said. “You got to keep showing them. “It’s not for a lack of conversation and talking to them about it and stuff like that. I still want them to play hard and aggressive and all of that. I don’t want to take any of that away from them at all, but you get in the heat of battle sometimes, man, you just have to be cooler heads and understand your role.”
Untimely penalties were another issue that cost the Jaguars yesterday afternoon. On one particular play in the third quarter, a potential momentum-changing interception in Jaguars territory was negated by a roughing the passer penalty that saw linebacker Foye Oluokun tackle too high, initiating helmet-to-helmet contact with Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. For the Jaguars, these back-breaking penalties are what is holding back progress.
“Yeah, that one too is unacceptable there,” Pederson said. “We got the turnover. We got the interception, and we had the roughing the passer. Again, these are plays that are keeping us back. We just can’t do that. We can’t do that as players. Obviously, as coaches, we have to be smart too in decisions we make. It goes hand-in-hand. Those are big plays. I know we kept them to a field goal there, but it definitely changes things.”
A Travis Etienne fumble inside the red zone added to the self-inflicted chaos. Looking back at the overall performance, mistakes on both sides of the ball led to yet another undesired outcome. Sitting at 2-5, the Jacksonville Jaguars are not sitting in a prime position to remain competitive. Despite what the record says, the Jags remain unafraid of the possibility that they are falling out of the ability to stay in contention.
“No, no,” Pederson said. “I mean, we have to look at everything big picture right now, but you know, we can’t obviously, lose too many more right? That’s just the big picture view. But this team has got – first of all, we have to learn not to beat ourselves and just worry about us. I think if we do that and focus internally on what we do, the process that we do, then I think everything else kind of takes care of itself.”
