Jaguars owner Shad Khan doesn't mince words on team's 2023 collapse, expects to win now - "It's organizational failure"
The Jacksonville Jaguars had a remarkable turnaround in the 2022-23 season when they went from 3-7 to AFC South champions after their bye week. Then they went as far as the Divisional Round, sending the excitement for them to astronomical levels.
And in the 2023-24 season, they looked even better, at one point being 8-3. But then in a scenario eerily reminiscent of the 2022-23 Tennessee Titans, the Jaguars lost five of their next six games, causing them to miss the playoffs.
Speaking Wednesday at a recent presser announcing $1.4-billion renovations to EverBank Stadium, owner Shad Khan refused to blame it on injuries:
“We had some of those injuries, but I think it’s organizational failure that it happened. All of these players I talked to, it’s like how could this happen? What happened?
“For me, it’s really a cause for self-reflection and then something good to come out of it because we just can’t have that this year.”
To that effect, general manager Trent Baalke has been busy, extending first-overall picks Trevor Lawrence and Josh Allen for five years and nine figures each. He has also nabbed multiple free agents, including wideout Gabe Davis, and traded for former New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones.
Khan expects these moves to return the team to the top of the AFC South:
“The expectation should be up, too. For us, winning now is the expectation.”
Shad Kahn addresses Jaguars' coaching situation
Meanwhile, today's Jaguars are ostensibly an offensive-minded team led by former quarterback Doug Pederson and offensive coordinator Press Taylor. Both of them shared playcalling duties in 2022, before the latter received them for 2023.
But the team's 1-5 collapse from 8-3 occurred when that happened, so Khan is reversing course:
“Doug, he’s empowered. I’m going to let him decide.”
Interestingly enough the two know each other well from their time at the Philadelphia Eagles. As CBS's Cody Benjamin explained in a feature, the Jaguars' offensive decline had parallels to how their later Eagles tenure played out:
"Pederson's relationship with Taylor was reportedly at the crux of his abrupt split from the Philadelphia Eagles years ago; once revered for his offense, Pederson's unit grew stale in 2019-2020, and his insistence on making Taylor a coordinator contributed to the Eagles' decision to move on."
Between the stints, Pederson went on hiatus, while Taylor became an offensive assistant at the divisional rival Indianapolis Colts.