JACKSONVILLE – The want-to and fight remain.
The Jaguars have shown them in recent weeks. Doug Pederson has seen them – and the Jaguars’ head coach doesn’t expect to see anything different as a disappointing 2024 regular season comes to an end.
One game remains – and so does the will.
“They’re still engaged; they’re still focused,” Pederson said as the Jaguars (4-12) prepared to play the Indianapolis Colts (7-9) at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind., Sunday.
The Jaguars, eliminated from the AFC South contention with five games remaining, have won two of four games since – beating the 3-13 Tennessee Titans at home (20-13) and on the road (10-6) and losing to the New York Jets (32-25) and Las Vegas Raiders (19-14).
That stretch continued a stretch of “one-score” games for the Jaguars, who are 3-9 in such games this season.
“The hardest thing probably is just keeping them in it mentally, each week,” Pederson said. “It would be easy for them to kind of check out. From that standpoint, it’s hard. It was tough just to maintain the focus and the drive and each week be competitive and still give ourselves opportunities to win games.
“On top of that, just the nine of 12 being one-score losses … it’s something we’ve got to work on. We have to focus and push through that barrier. Once you do, you learn how to win and then you’ll be better for it.”
Pederson on Friday said he was “a little concerned” about a lack of focus Sunday in a fifth consecutive game with no playoff ramifications.
“There might be a little bit of that, but it’s probably expected,” Pederson said, adding that he is entering the game with mixed emotions – partly because of “how disappointed we are as a team, the things that have kept us from probably winning more games.”
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