New Jaguars defensive lineman Arik Armstead welcomed his teammate, edge rusher Josh Allen, onto his “Third and Long” podcast Wednesday for over an hour, to discuss Jacksonville’s food scene, Allen’s football upbringing and time with the Jaguars, and among other topics relating to the team, what led to its collapse during the 2023 season.
The latter conversation was prompted by Armstrong asking Allen for his expectations for Jacksonville in 2024, leading the edge rusher to rekindle what was anticipated of the Jaguars last year.
After a run to the AFC Divisional Round in 2022-23, Jacksonville’s first playoff trip since 2017-18, the Jaguars began the 2023 season with an 8-3 record, at one point ripping off five victories in a row, only to finish 9-8 and miss out on postseason action.
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“The expectation starts with how we handle our day-to-day. I think it starts there because, you know, for us, after [head coach] Doug’s [Pederson] first year, we set a very high expectation for us … that we thought we would just maintain,” Allen suggested.
“But then we hit a little bit of adversity and we kind of hit a wall. We didn’t know how to get out of that wall.”
The wall was in the form of four consecutive December losses. The impact was similar to that of a ton of bricks.
Allen pointed toward the team’s offseason free agency signings of veterans like Armstead, safety Darnell Savage and center Mitch Morse as examples of the Jaguars’ effort to bolster their roster with players equipped to handle adversity.
Each contributor has multiple seasons’ worth of playoff experience, with Armstead having played in two Super Bowls. Aside from winning it all, they’ve been to and done what the Jaguars aspire to accomplish.
But it will take more than new, yet seasoned faces to get the Jaguars to where they want to be. Some aspects of the approach remain to be determined.
“To be honest with you, brother, these are things that we, as a leadership group, need to still figure out,” Allen acknowledged.
Allen admitted that he was removed from his typical leadership responsibilities last season as he was without team captain status, unlike the three campaigns prior. He notably did not attend Jacksonville’s voluntary offseason team activities last year amid speculation about his contract status.
He’s since signed a five-year, $141.3 million extension with the club, in April. Whether he regains his former captainship role…
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