Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence admitted last week that he and his team have struggled to start the season.
On Monday, it was coach Doug Pederson’s turn to speak out.
“It’s really shocking,” said Pederson after the Jaguars lost 47-10 to Buffalo, which left them with an 0-3 record. “I’m very disappointed. You hate to say it, but the reality is this is who we are right now. We’re not a very good football team. And we’ve got to get it fixed.”
Their flight home also had issues. The Jaguars’ plane was delayed because of mechanical problems, the team announced.
The Jaguars’ offense has scored only 40 points and has struggled to stay on the field. Meanwhile, Jacksonville’s defense has been weak, allowing the Bills to score touchdowns on each of their five possessions in the first half alone, gaining 288 yards and converting 6 of 8 third downs and both fourth downs.
This is the first time in his eight years as head coach, including his time in Philadelphia, that Pederson has started a season 0-3. At the same time, Lawrence has lost eight straight starts dating back to last season, with his last victory being a 24-21 win against Houston on November 26.
The Jaguars were doing well at that point, improving to 8-3 before ending the season at 9-8 and missing the playoffs.
Not continuing from last year’s progress has raised doubts about Lawrence’s confidence and Pederson’s leadership.
“Disappointment would be an understatement,” Lawrence said after a week in which he called for honest talks about the mistakes the Jaguars were making.
“It’s just one of those times when we don’t have any momentum,” Lawrence said. “It seems like everyone takes their turn in making a bad play at the wrong time, including myself.”
The Jaguars started the season by blowing 14-0 and 17-7 leads in a 20-17 loss to Miami. Last week, a slow offense couldn’t recover from a 13-3 halftime deficit in an 18-13 loss to Cleveland.
On Monday, instead of turning things around, the Jaguars fell apart, trailing 34-3 at halftime — their biggest deficit ever at that point.
Lawrence completed 21 of 38 passes for 178 yards and threw a touchdown to tight end Brenton Strange on the opening drive of the second half.
His first interception of the season came when he threw a pass over the head of receiver Brian Thomas Jr., which was picked off by Buffalo’s Damar Hamlin. This led to Buffalo scoring again five plays later on Josh Allen’s 27-yard touchdown pass to Khalil Shakir.
After finishing the first half with 10 of 22 for 59 yards, Lawrence said there is plenty of blame to share, but he feels most of it is on him.
“I’ve got to play really well for us to win,” said Lawrence, who signed a $275 million contract extension in June, making him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL.
“That’s the NFL. The quarterback has to play well every week to give us a shot to win. I don’t feel like I’ve done that consistently enough. So I put that on myself.”
The defense didn’t help either. “I need everybody to coach and play better. Let’s leave it at that,” Pederson said.
The Jaguars will play their next two games against AFC South division rivals, starting Sunday at Houston.
“We need to move on and we need to flush it,” Lawrence said.
“We felt like we had an opportunity in a prime-time game, Monday night, to show who we are,” he added. “That’s not who we are. We know that. But it looked like we are. We’ve got to fix it. It’s on us.”
