The Jacksonville Jaguars are a mess.
They fell to 0-4 on Sunday with a 24-20 loss to the Houston Texans. That loss arrived on the heels of a 47-10 blowout to the Buffalo Bills on Monday where the Jaguars failed to score in the first half. Sunday’s loss featured an offense that failed to score in its final four possessions in a game that Jacksonville could have won.
After the game, head coach Doug Pederson was asked in his news conference whether he was considering taking back play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Press Taylor. His answer added up to an emphatic no.
“For what?” Pederson said. “I thought he called a great game. As coaches, we can’t make the plays. It’s a two-way street. You guys can sit here and point the finger all you want, and that’s fine. Point it right at me. I can take it. Whatever you want to ask me, say, whatever, write, go ahead.”
Pederson shifted accountability to himself at the end of his answer while inviting reporters to point their fingers “right at me.” But for a moment, Pederson very clearly pointed to the source of Jacksonville’s offensive woes as the players who have to “make the plays.”
The Jaguars took a 20-17 lead in the third quarter against Houston and faced multiple chances to close out the game on offense. But their final four possessions featured two punts and a turnover on downs at Houston’s 1-yard line after they failed to convert on fourth-and-goal. A quarterback draw by Lawrence failed to fool the Houston defense and finished short of the goal line.
The Texans ultimately took the lead for good with a touchdown on their final possession, and the clock ran out of the Jaguars after they took the ball back over on offense with just 12 seconds remaining.
Lawrence, a former can’t-miss prospect the Jaguars selected first overall in the 2021 draft, finished Sunday’s game completing 18 of 33 passes for 169 yards (5.1 yards per attempt) with two touchdowns. The Jaguars were outgained on offense by the Texans, 435 yards to 313. They converted four of 12 third-down attempts and failed on their only fourth-down effort.
Lawrence spoke about Jacksonville’s offensive struggles in his news conference.
“Offensively the last few possessions, we didn’t do enough,” Lawrence said. Kept putting our defense back on the field. Credit to our defense. The second half, they came out and played really well and gave us the ball back to us a lot. We have to capitalize. When we have the game in our hands, we have to go win it. I felt like we obviously didn’t do that today.”
He also credited the coaching staff for having a good game plan in place.
“Overall, I thought our plan was good,” Lawrence said. … “I thought as far as scheme and stuff that we did, it was really good.”
So what does Pederson think specifically about Lawrence’s play.
“I’ve got to look at the tape,” Pederson said. “I couldn’t tell you off-hand right now.”