Sunday, October 13th, 2024

Pederson ‘still has backing of ownership’

Craig Llewellyn

Editor

Pederson ‘still has backing of ownership’

Craig Llewellyn NFL

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson remains confident of holding on to his job despite slumping to a fifth defeat in six games so far in 2024.

After a lengthy run of defeats to end the 2023 campaign derailed a potential playoff appearance, Pederson and the Jaguars have failed to live up to expectations — especially those of team owner Shad Khan — this term, with only a surprise win over the in-form Indianapolis Colts to show in the plus column through six weeks. With postseason participation falling into single digit percentages with five defeats on the docket, there are some who believe Pederson deserves to set a precedent and be fired between London games, with the Jaguars remaining in the UK for their regular ‘home’ fixture, against the New England Patriots at Wembley, next Sunday. The New York Jets continued a somewhat unpleasant tradition by firing Robert Saleh on their return from London last week, joining Joe Philbin (Miami Dolphins) and Dennis Allen (Oakland Raiders) after losing an International Series game in the UK.

Pederson was unable to prevent the Jaguars capitulating to a resurgent Chicago Bears team at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the second of the three London Games scheduled this season, with rookie quarterback Caleb Williams throwing for four touchdowns — a feat only previously achieved in London by Tom Brady (Patriots) and Blake Bortles (Jaguars) — in a 35-16 victory. The head coach, however, was brief and to the point when asked whether he retained the support of Jaguars owner Khan.

“I do,” Pederson insisted. “I was just with him [in the locker room], and I do.”

While staying in London may make it difficult for Khan to do anything but stick with Pederson for another week, the head coach believes that remaining on the road could be a benefit for his beleaguered team.

“I think it’s huge for us to be here as a football team, to be around each other, support each other, keep encouraging each other,” hen explained. “There’s nowhere for us to go, you know? We’re at the hotel, and we see each other every day. We have to support each other and keep picking each other up.

“I feel for the players and the coaches. We work too hard to be in this position. I feel like the guys, they don’t quit. They keep fighting. We have to figure out how to just get out of our [own] way and just play football. I say that, and it sounds easy, but it’s tough. It’s a tough game to play. We didn’t expect to be here in this [1-5] spot but, hey, now we have to find a way to get out of it.”

Asked what the Jaguars needed to do to salvage their season, and whether next Sunday’s game against the Patriots was a ‘must-win’, Pederson pointed to eliminating the mistakes the bedevilled his team against Chicago.

“Those are penalties that really hurt,” he noted, “Right now, those are things that are plaguing us. It’s the mistakes and then being able to overcome the mistake. Those are things that we have to obviously take a look at and correct.

“Again, taking nothing away from the players. They’re playing hard. They’re putting everything out on the field. We’ll keep talking. We’ll just keep showing them [what they did wrong]. But we also had the 12 men on the field, and there was a substitution change, and I put that on us as coaches. So, everybody has a piece of this — it’s not just coaching, not just players. It’s all of us, and that’s where [getting right] has to start.”

Quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who had a decent game in London despite throwing an interception, also insisted that there was no quitting on Pederson within the locker room.

“That’s our head coach, and we’re a team,” he claimed. “This is tough. Losing is hard, so it has nothing to do with that relationship, how we feel about Coach. There’s no thought of that on my mind.

“We’re a group. We’re staying together. We know brighter days are ahead. We just have to keep working, and we have to keep putting our best foot forward. You know, we just have to stick together as a team. We have to play more complementary — we’re not playing good team football right now — so whatever the answer to that is we have to find it quick.”

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