Quick thoughts: On to Week 2

JACKSONVILLE – Senior writer John Oehser, senior correspondent Brian Sexton and digital reporter/host Ashlyn Sullivan offer quick thoughts on the Jaguars as they prepare to play the Indianapolis Colts at TIAA Bank Field Sunday at 1 p.m. in a 2022 Week 2 game …

1. A chance to be in the chase. We haven’t discussed big games much in “Quick Thoughts” in recent seasons, but make no mistake: Sunday’s game against the Colts has a least a hint of a big-game feel for the Jaguars. They could have – and perhaps should have – won against Washington Sunday in the regular-season opener and were two missed red-zone opportunities and a fourth-quarter stop from doing just that. With the Colts and Houston Texans both 0-0-1 and the Tennessee Titans 0-1, the AFC South through Week 1 looks like the everyone’s-a-contender division many observers predicted before the season. The Jaguars were close in Week 1. They’re playing a team they have beaten at home seven consecutive seasons in Week 2. This is a far more important game for the Jaguars than Week 1, and a victory would put the Jaguars’ young season in an entirely different perspective.

2. “Fixable” means fixable. The Jaguars are 0-1 instead of 1-0 mostly because of what Head Coach Doug Pederson considered “fixable” mistakes. A few makeable red-zone plays were missed. A few critical momentum-changing penalties. A few missed assignments at the wrong time. The Jaguars’ 22 points in Week 1 could have been more had they not penalized themselves into multiple difficult down-and-distance situations. And the 22 points should have been in the 30s had quarterback Trevor Lawrence made a couple of makeable first-half red-zone completions. There was a lot of talk of cleaning up these areas as Week 1 turned into Week 2. How clean these areas get could go far in determining the Jaguars’ chances of taking control of the division Sunday.

1. Pederson is taking the…