Jaguars eliminated with loss in Trevor Lawrence’s return،
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Josh Allen said the worst collapse in franchise history happened because everyone was waiting for this particular moment to happen. They must now spend the next seven months waiting for their next chance.
The Jaguars have won five in a row to close out the 2022 regular season and win the AFC South. This season, they stumbled to a 1-5 record — capped by Sunday's 28-20 loss to the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium — and missed the playoffs after an 8-3 start gave them 98% chance of making the playoffs.
“I feel like last year we had a spark and we lit [it] and we just followed that and rode that wave,” Allen said. “And then this year we were looking forward too much hoping it was going to happen and it never happened.
“…We have the guys. We have the talent. We have the confidence. We have the locker room. We have the guys that can go out there and put their bodies on the field and line up for each other .But when it's time to light that fire, we need to turn it up a little.
The problem, head coach Doug Pederson said, is that while they were waiting for that spark, they were playing sloppy football. In losses to Cincinnati, Cleveland, Baltimore and Tampa, the Jaguars turned the ball over 12 times and during their 1-5, they converted just 52.4 percent of their red zone drives into touchdowns. Plus too many missed tackles, penalties and four missed field goals, he said.
As a result, instead of preparing to face Cleveland in a wild-card game at EverBank Field next weekend, they're looking ahead to an offseason full of questions.
“I'm frustrated, I'm disappointed, I'm angry [and] angry [at the way the season ended]”, Pederson said. “My heart hurts for the players and coaches involved. They worked hard. But today's game was kind of our season, in a nutshell. The errors, the penalties, the turnovers, the missed tackles, these are all the things that hurt us at the end. »
One of the big questions will concern quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who returned to the field Sunday after missing last week's game against Carolina with a right AC joint sprain. Lawrence threw for 280 yards and two touchdowns against the Titans, but he also threw two interceptions.
It was the fourth time in his last eight games that Lawrence threw multiple interceptions (he had only seven multiple interception games in his first 42). He now has 15 games with multiple turnovers since entering the NFL in 2021, which is the most of any player in that span, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
“I feel like I didn't do everything I could have done today to help us win and I didn't feel like I played my best,” said Lawrence said. “So it hurts, but at the end of the day, it’s what you put on the field.”
Lawrence suffered knee, ankle and shoulder injuries as well as a concussion. Receiver Christian Kirk has missed the last five games with a core muscle injury. Receiver Zay Jones has been dealing with knee and hamstring injuries all season. Left tackle Cam Robinson missed the first four games of the season due to a PED suspension and four more late in the season due to a knee injury.
Safety Andre Cisco and cornerback Tyson Campbell also missed games with hamstring, shoulder and quad injuries.
None of that, Lawrence said, is an excuse for what the Jaguars have put on the field since winning at Houston on Nov. 6. Win one of those four games they lost and Sunday's game against the Titans might be meaningless — which is why Sunday's abrupt end to the season is so devastating, he said.
“For whatever reason, we just haven't played as well as a team as the season has gone on,” Lawrence said. “When we needed to be at our best, we weren't. And last year it was the opposite. When we needed to be at our best and absolutely had to be, we were and we found a way to win up to the division. [playoff loss in Kansas City]. You just have to bring that every week and there was a disconnect somewhere and obviously we weren't able to put that on the field in the second half of the season like we needed to give ourselves a chance to make the playoffs playoffs and go there. race.”
Although the Jaguars (9-8) failed to make the playoffs, they finished with a winning record for the second straight season for the first time since 2004-05. It's at least progress that the franchise hasn't shown in nearly two decades. But they had a chance to win back-to-back division titles for just the second time in franchise history and make the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time since winning four in a row 1996 to 1999. they failed – and Pederson took ultimate responsibility for the collapse.
“The way we ended our season is disappointing,” he said. “Obviously, it's definitely not enough. Things start with me, and I need to make sure that I hold myself accountable and do everything I can to help our football team win, on and off the football field. But it's just not good enough.”
