Doug Pederson still has confidence in Jaguars

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Life without Trevor Lawrence started with a win for the Jaguars, a small positive in a season of lows for the franchise.

Jacksonville needed something positive, anything positive, after the news of Lawrence going on injured reserve last week doled out another helping of bad news.

The Jaguars scratched and clawed their way back to beat the Titans 10-6 on Sunday. It ended a five-game losing streak and gave Doug Pederson and the coaching staff some sort of positives to cling to. Seven of Jacksonville’s 10 losses have been by six points or less, so finally finding a way to finish a game was welcome news, even if it did knock the team out of the No. 1 overall draft spot. Mac Jones won his first start with the Jaguars and that’s something to build on for the Bolles School product.

“You get asked a lot about your team and where we are and our record and this and that. But I mean, you guys see it when you watch the game, our guys, they fight to the end,” Pederson said. “They don’t quit, they battle. Yesterday we were able to make the plays right at the end of the game. Defense stepped up huge at the end too really.”

Sure, it came against the equally as bad Titans, who were officially eliminated from the playoffs with Sunday’s loss, but it was a small step forward for the Jones-led offense.

Jacksonville trailed Tennessee 6-0 in the fourth quarter after a listless showing most of the day. Jones threw interceptions on two of the first three drives. The Jaguars punted three other times.

But when the Jaguars needed it, Jones led a seven-minute drive that ended with a Cam Little field goal. He marched the Jaguars right back down the field on the next possession with Tank Bigsby capping it with an 8-yard touchdown. The defense buttoned up, too, with the Jaguars stopping Tennessee on downs twice in the final six minutes. The Jaguars had a huge stop before half, too, denying the Titans on a fourth-down pass into the end zone.

Jacksonville has had the worst defense in the league, but it made plays against the Titans and struggling second-year quarterback Will Levis.

“Yeah. I mean, winning in this league is hard. This season has been tough. A win is a win, and we needed one badly,” said tight end Evan Engram. “Just proud of the guys, proud of how we finished yesterday and left there with a win.”

Jacksonville’s season is all about pride at this point, but it has a very winnable closing stretch and several milestones within reach. Receiver Brian Thomas Jr. is 15 yards away from breaking Justin Blackmon’s rookie receiving record (865). Edge Josh Hines-Allen is three sacks away from tying Tony Brackens’ franchise mark of 55. Hines-Allen sacked Levis on the final play of the first half to notch his seventh of the season.

It’s not farfetched to think that the Jaguars can stack a few more wins and escape the bottom feeder realm that they’ve been in most of the season. The Jaguars entered the week holding the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, but dropped to fifth after the win.

The Jaguars host the Jets on Sunday, travel to the Raiders in Week 16, host the Titans on Dec. 29 and then close at Indianapolis on Jan. 5. They’ll probably be favored in at least two of those games and it’s not unrealistic to think that Jacksonville can close the season on a five-game winning streak. A hot close and the possibility of six or seven wins may even give owner Shad Khan pause when considering changes in the offseason.

“I think it gave the guys a lot of confidence,” Pederson said. “It will give them a lot of confidence moving forward. But I’ve been pleased, obviously, with the effort, with the attitude of the guys and it’s been really good.”