Jaguars happy heading into bye week, but real test looms
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PITTSBURGH — The Jacksonville Jaguars are feeling pretty good heading into their bye week.
They just wrapped a 5-0 October with Sunday’s 20-10 victory at the Pittsburgh Steelers. With their seventh-consecutive road win, they are now tied with four other teams for the second-best record in the NFL at 6-2.
“It feels great where we’re at,” said quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who has posted a quarterback rating of 91 or better in every game this month. “We also understand that we haven’t won anything yet.
“We’re 6-2. It’s a great spot to be in. We’ve been on a great run, but we’ve got to keep carrying that momentum when we come back.”
In October of 2022, the team went 0-5, but after that they won seven of nine games, won the AFC South division and then won a playoff game before losing in Kansas City in the divisional round. Since that winless October the Jaguars are 13-4 in the regular season, and only the Chiefs, 49ers and Eagles have a better winning percentage over that span.
The 2023 season hinges on them continuing the run post-bye week, beginning with the Nov. 12 game against the 49ers. Then, after back-to-back divisional games against Tennessee Titans (Nov. 19) and Houston Texans (Nov. 26), the Jaguars have a critical three-game stretch that will go a long way toward determining their potential playoff seeding: at home against Cincinnati on Monday Night Football (Dec. 4), on the road at Cleveland (Dec. 10), and at home against Baltimore on Sunday Night Football (Dec. 17).
Those are four potential AFC playoff teams. It seems unimaginable to say after back-to-back losses to the Chiefs and Texans in Weeks 2 and 3, but the Jaguars are very much in the hunt for the No. 1 seed in the AFC — they are currently tied for the top with the Chiefs, Dolphins and Ravens.
Which is right where coach Doug Pederson expected they’d be.
“Looking at our schedule and looking at the season and how things started out — you know, it was a little rough — but to be here at 6-2, I expected that,” Pederson said. “The guys expected that. I think that’s the confidence that the guys have in their ability. We just stick to our process.”
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But he’s also aware that there’s work to be done, especially on offense. The Jaguars haven’t been as explosive as expected. The Jaguars’ rushing (900), passing (1,831) and total yards (2,731) rank between 13th-16th in the NFL. Pederson’s preseason goal was to average seven more points per game from their 2022 average (23.8), but through eight games they’re averaging 24.1 points per game.
Injuries have had an impact, with receiver Zay Jones (knee) missing five games and left guard Walker Little (knee) missing two. Jones’ absence leaves the Jaguars without a speed receiver on the other side of Calvin Ridley to stretch the defense, and while offensive coordinator Press Taylor said they’ve been able to piece together some of things he did with other players, he said Jones was “somebody we miss.”
But to everyone’s surprise, the defense has helped carry the team this season. They’ve forced a league-high 18 turnovers, cornerback Darious Williams is tied for the NFL lead with eight pass breakups and linebacker Josh Allen ranks second with nine sacks. The Jaguars are fourth in the NFL in rush defense (79.3 yards per game) and 10th in scoring defense (19.5 points per game).
“We emphasize stopping the run,” defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell said. “We want to make offenses one-dimensional and take away the run game and make them throw the ball. That’s what our focus is and we commit to doing that. Our guys have bought into it, so they’re doing a good job of it.”
The Jaguars’ 6-2 start is their best since the 1999 season, when the Jaguars went 14-2 and advanced to the AFC Championship Game. The six victories have come in five cities, on two continents, and three time zones — and three of those came in the span of 19 days.
All of which means nothing once the second half of the season starts, Lawrence said.
“We’re not the best team in the league. We’ve still got more out there for us,” he said. “It’d be great if this decided playoffs and all that right now, but it doesn’t. So we know we got nine games left and we also know last year we were 3-7 going into the bye and we made the playoffs.
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“It honestly means nothing. It means that we’ve had a great start of the season. We’re in a really good position going forward, but we got a lot of big games ahead of us after this bye and a lot of really good teams, too. So we’re just getting started and we know what’s in front of us so we can’t look too far ahead and think we’ve done anything.”
Tight end Evan Engram said he doesn’t believe anyone in the locker room is doing that. They’re pleased with what they’ve done after a 1-2 start and are ready for the break, but there’s still work to do.
“We’re definitely still hungry and we can’t get complacent,” said Engram, who leads the Jaguars and is tied for 10th in the NFL with 51 receptions. “That’s the root of evil in this game. It’s complacency. The leaders on this team, the leaders in our locker room, we’re not going to let that happen and continue. We’re going to try to keep this thing going.
“… This thing is not over. We’ve got a lot to go earn. We have to go earn the rest of the season.”