Jaguars Fall to 3rd Place in AFC South After Sloppy Loss vs. Texans

Two weeks ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars were sitting pretty at the top of the AFC South. Two weeks ago, the Jaguars were riding an emotional high.

Now, the Jaguars are just half a game out of last place and in the first multi-game losing streak of the Doug Pederson era.

After Sunday's embarrassing 13-6 loss at the hands of the Houston Texans, the Jaguars are now in third place in the AFC South -- one game behind the Tennessee Titans, half a game behind the 2-2-1 Colts, and half a game in front of the 1-3-1 Texans. In a week where every AFC South team but the Jaguars won, Jacksonville saw just how quickly momentum can slip away.

"You just go back to work," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said after Sunday's home loss.

"You entrust these guys with a lot. We ask a lot of them. You just keep working. You keep putting them in these situations, and they're going to learn. We're all going to learn together, and we'll be stronger and better for it."

The Jaguars have seen the last two weeks bring their season back down to earth in a big way. After two blowout wins vs. the Colts and Chargers, the Jaguars have now lost back-to-back games and have seen quarterback Trevor Lawrence turn the ball over seven times in just eight quarters.

Through the last two weeks, the Jaguars have just two offensive touchdowns -- the same number of red-zone interceptions Lawrence has thrown in the backbreaking losses. After Lawrence showed dramatic improvement over the season's first three weeks, the last two have been steps back.

Lawrence finished the day 25-of-47 (53.2%) for 286 yards and two interceptions, giving him a quarterback rating of 54. In the past two games, Lawrence has turned it over seven times after one turnover in the first three. And the Jaguars have fallen in the standings as a result.

"I keep telling the guys that a game usually comes down to three to five plays. You just never know which ones are going to be those plays," Pederson said.

"Trevor's interception late, that penalty late in the game like that, I mean, those are hard to overcome. Again, they're all valuable lessons for us as a staff to teach and correct. A lot like the week before, Tyson [Campbell] running into the kicker in Philly. Those are all moments where we can't take things upon ourselves. We just have to go do our jobs."

"It was a rough day offensively. [I'm] just frustrated obviously. It's frustrating to watch the tape," Lawrence said after the game. "Like I always say, I like to watch the tape before I say too much. But really, I'd say I had a few plays out there that I want back, missed a few, that one play in the red zone. Obviously, [it was] just a bad decision, put us in a bad spot, and then just didn't capitalize.

"As a unit, we didn't take advantage of the opportunities that we had and really played into what they wanted us to do, make those mistakes and get in third and long and get us to punt it or a couple of times turn it over on downs. [We] just didn't play our style of football, didn't play well. This one stings, and everybody feels it in there, as you should. It's a division game. It's a game where we feel confident and thought we had a good plan and just didn't execute it. We have to be better."

The Jaguars' Week 6 road trip to Indianapolis already looked like a big game. Now, it looks like a must-win.

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