"Getting these guys to believe" - Doug Pederson explains how he motivated Jaguars to turn season around
The Jacksonville Jaguars have been one of the best teams in football within the past month and could make a deep playoff run.
After the start of the 2-6 season, many people wrote off the Jaguars and didn't think they would have any business in the playoffs. They turned their season around, winning four straight games to end the season and winning the AFC South division in a play-in game against division rival, the Tennessee Titans.
The Jags win the AFC South 👏
Josh Allen gets the scoop and score as the Jacksonville Jaguars win their 5th in a row 20-16 over Tennessee to advance to the postseason. #NFL #DUUUVAL https://t.co/92zdBTVMsZ
First-year head coach Doug Pederson was asked by the media this week what has been done to turn this season around. He pointed to giving the team confidence in themselves as a key component to their success.
Pederson said:
“I’ll have time to probably reflect when the season is over, in the past 11-12 months. For me, it was just about getting these guys to believe that they can be a good football team. I had some experience in Philly with that, with a team coming off a 7-9 record the year before. Getting them to believe that they’re a good football team and playing well, it’s kind of the same thing.
"We just got to believe in each other, and it wasn’t going to be a quick fix. It’s just a steady progression, and just getting better each week. Focus on your job, my job to help motivate that and lead them down this path. Keep the team together when things didn’t look great. Let’s say the month of October here. Once this year is over, I'm definitely going to look back and reflect and see exactly what we’ve been able to accomplish.”
Doug Pederson says close early-season losses put Jaguars in the position they're in now
Pederson was also asked if there was a turning point earlier on in the season during the Jaguars' losing streak with a bunch of close losses. Pederson pointed to every one of those games as being the reason for being in the position that they are in now.
Pederson said:
“Yeah, for me it was that those games were close games. There were one-score games there. Just still putting it out in front of the team, like hey, you’re a good football team. We just have to eliminate X, Y and Z, and if we do that, we can win these games. We can finish. We need to finish better. All those games, really, have kind of given us the opportunity to where we’re at now. We’ve learned from that. We’ve been able to finish. We’ve been able to learn from those mistakes. Just continue to play and figure out a way to win.”
Pederson led the Jaguars to their first playoff berth since the 2017 season. He led the Jaguars from worst to first in the division as they finished 3-14 last season, holding the number-one overall pick.
Jacksonville will host the Chargers this Saturday in Trevor Lawrence's and Justin Herbert's first career playoff game.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit Doug Pederson and H/T Sportskeeda.