Doug Pederson continues to state he’s the right man for the job in Jacksonville, even as the Jaguars limp to a share of the NFL’s worst record at 1-5.
The Jaguars are in the midst of a two-game residency in London and Pederson admitted he’s concerned with team morale following a 19-point loss to the Bears at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“These guys bust their tails during the week and I don’t want them to feel, even though we haven’t won [many games] yet, I don’t want them to feel sort of mentally defeated, if that makes sense, because that’s where the slippery slope comes in,” Pederson said Monday. “If you feel like you’re going into a game where you don’t have a chance, then you’re not going to have a chance. You’re not going to give yourself an opportunity to win that game.”
The New England Patriots (1-5) arrive in London this week as Jacksonville’s next opponent.
Since last December, the Jaguars have lost 10 of their past 12 games. Pederson and quarterback Trevor Lawrence separately shared the opinion that Jacksonville is “close” to putting a complete game together. However, Jacksonville’s net touchdown differential of minus-9 is worse than 30 NFL teams and better than only the Carolina Panthers (-13).
In three seasons with the Jaguars, Pederson is 19-20 in the regular season.
Players had Monday off after travel delays related to Hurricane Milton caused a later-than-expected arrival in London last week. It was also a cooling-down period of sorts following postgame comments from safety Andrew Sisco to WJAX-TV in the losing locker room on Sunday that defensive players quit in the second half against the Bears.
“Obviously it’s his observation, but I don’t think it was necessarily meant to harm anything or point a finger at anybody or anything like that,” Pederson said. “I think sometimes when you get in a game like yesterday, that sometimes is the feeling.”
The Tennessee Titans (1-4), Cleveland Browns (1-5), Patriots (1-5), Panthers (1-5) and Los Angeles Rams (1-4) are the NFL’s one-win teams through six weeks of the regular season.
Cleveland knocked off the Jaguars 18-13 in Week 12. Jacksonville’s only win was 37-34 over the Indianapolis Colts.
“We’ve just got to make sure these guys stay mentally [positive], stay positive with each other, stay positive during the week,” Pederson said. “Bottom line is just go out and have fun and play and it’s a great game to coach and a great game to play. But winning obviously helps that.”
Fighting his way back to a third consecutive 9-8 regular-season record won’t be easy for Pederson.
There is no bye week awaiting the Jaguars when they return to the United States for Week 8. They’ll play the Green Bay Packers (4-2), a Sunday night game at Philadelphia (3-2) on Nov. 3, undefeated Minnesota (5-0) on Nov. 10 and visit the Detroit Lions (4-1) on Nov. 17 before Jacksonville’s bye in Week 12. On the other side is AFC South-leading Houston (5-1) on Dec. 1.
