Why the Jaguars’ Confidence Is Growing After Comeback Victory Against the Raiders
With a 3-6 record at the halfway point of the 2022 season, it would be easy for the seeds of doubt to be planted for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and for the players to lose confidence in their ability to make a second-half run. That’s not what this team is about.
After a commanding 27-20 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders in which the Jaguars outscored them 17-0 in the second half after being down by 17 early, that high level of confidence among the players is now soaring into orbit. For safety Andrew Wingard, that 17-point deficit confirmed that the team would find a way to come back and win the game.
“I’ll be honest, when we were down 17-0, I knew we were winning the game,” Wingard said on Monday. “The weeks before, we were up, and it was kind of like, ehhh. Playing from behind, I think, is easier than playing from ahead in this league, I really do, because every player, every coach in this league has pride in performance, and you know when you go down, it’s ‘Okay, we’re going to give them our best shot now.’
"We knew, I kind of knew, and I always try to keep everyone up on the sideline because there’s going to be ebbs and flows. It’s like you can’t ride a roller coaster of emotion. You’ve got to stay level-headed, and that’s just what I try to convey to everybody, and it obviously paid off.”
With nine weeks down and nine more to go, the season has closed one half of its chapter and is embarking on the other. For veteran wideout Marvin Jones Jr., this second-half stretch feels like an entirely new season and one that the Jaguars players intend to capitalize on.
“It’s important because we have to get on a run,” Jones Jr. said. “I think we all know that, and we know what type of team we are in that locker room, we know who we have, we know what we can do. I think we’ve shown that, and obviously, getting that game and getting over that hump, it’s a new season. That’s how we all put it. We had the nine games and started a new nine games, and that’s how we’re rocking. It’s good to have that and for us to push forward.”
Heading into a tough Week 10 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Jaguars are looking to turn a losing skid into a much-needed winning streak. Head coach Doug Pederson made clear that to continue this triumph, looking at the second half like a new season has to be the mindset.
“Yeah,” Pederson said. “We started, if you break the season up into quarters, we were 2-2 in the first, then we sputtered to 0-4 in the next, and now you’re sitting here at 1-0 at the beginning of the third quarter. You just kind of have to approach it that way and attack your season that way.
"Great opponent this week, the Chiefs are one of the best teams in not only the NFL but in the AFC. We’ve just got to have a great week of preparation and not worry about what we’ve done but focus on what we can do.”
Photo: Alex Shepherd
