‘You Can Still Be Creative This Time of Year’: Why Doug Pederson Still Has Surprises To Offer

With a full season's worth of film for opponents to dissect, new innovations are necessary.

It is hard to forget the play that won the Jacksonville Jaguars the game in a dramatic 31-30 win over the Los Angeles Chargers last week. 

On 4th-and-one trailing by two points with under a minute and a half remaining, the Jaguars lined up in an unorthodox formation. 

With three lined up in the backfield in what many presumed to be extra blockers for a quarterback sneak, the Jaguars instead handed it off to Travis Etienne, taking advantage of the green grass on the outside for a significant gain. 

Offensive Coordinator Press Taylor stressed the importance of confidence going into the call and the aspect of selling a different play to the opposing defense.

"We were very confident in how they were lined up. They were in a base six-one front which is something they had done across the season, so it was specifically put in to attack that front. We liked the idea that it sold the sneak and the push element that’s been so common," Taylor said this week. 

"Trevor converted a sneak on a two-point play earlier. All signs just fell to that being something we believed in. For it to make it on the call sheet, we believe in it. As we’ve gone in the last month or so, every time we’ve put a play in, we all say, ‘Are you comfortable with this for the season then?’ If we’re throwing it to that guy, or sometimes it takes determination of what makes the call sheet because as the stakes get higher, we want to make sure we have the right people doing the right thing.”

The best plays are the ones that no one sees coming. For the Jaguars this play in particular made the difference between being home on the couch and the position they currently find themselves in, getting ready to play in the AFC Divisional Round. Creativity is necessary for survival. Head coach Doug Pederson made clear that both the players and coaches strongly believe in the creative aspect.

“I think you can still be creative this time of year,” Pederson said. “Guys like having creativity. They don’t want the same sort of mundane things, which are good, you’ve got to have them, but at the same time, you still want something fresh and unique and different, because again, we’re playing a team we played two months ago, so we want to have some things that are fresh and new. They’re going to have stuff that’s new and some wrinkles in there as well.”

Additionally, Pederson made clear that the coaching staff prioritizes adding plays late in the season and are always looking for new innovations.

“Press (Taylor) is the offensive coordinator, and he bounces things off of me, and they talk, and there’s so much information out there, we can get plays from anywhere, not just off our system,” Pederson said. “We’re always looking, we see things. My brother will send me stuff, cousin will send you stuff, an uncle will send you stuff, your mom will send you stuff. It’s just amazing what comes through. You have to make sure that it works for you before you put it in your game plan.”

These plays can come from a variety of different sources, with Twitter standing out as one of the hubs for conversation and the sharing of ideas. For Pederson and the Jaguars coaching staff, social media is a nifty tool utilized to further expand upon game day preparation.

"You do get a lot of stuff off of Twitter,” Pederson said. “People send you those videos and stuff off of Twitter and YouTube and things like that. A lot of it is just like fan video that might have saw something in a training camp practice. All that stuff gets posted nowadays. That’s the thing about it, everybody has a microphone and a camera. That’s usually the most creative place we find stuff.”