JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars are in the final stretch of another lost season, set to play without their franchise quarterback and just trying to finish strong.
If it feels like an all-too-familiar script in Jacksonville that’s because it is well-worn territory for the struggling franchise. Year No. 30 was supposed to be different. Owner Shad Khan said it would be and that playoffs were the expectation. Instead, the Jaguars (2-10) are relegated to playing for whatever pride that they have left as an offseason reset looms.
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Jacksonville heads to rival Tennessee (3-9) on Sunday for a game that’s more about draft status than anything else. The Titans still have the faintest of playoff hopes left, so they’ve got something to play for. The Jaguars and head coach Doug Pederson are just trying to finish strong in what has no doubt been in the conversation as one of the most disappointing seasons in Khan’s 13 seasons as the owner. Jacksonville is just 3-15 since it started 8-3 last year.
“Obviously, disappointing,” Pederson said. “It’s not what I expected, it’s not what the players expected, the team. A lot of high expectations obviously coming out of preseason, where we were as a team. It’s not where we wanted to be.”
Sunday marks the first of five games where Lawrence won’t be available. The Jaguars put him on injured reserve this week, a result of the issues with his left shoulder and not the concussion suffered in Sunday’s loss to the Texans.
“Listen, where we are in our season, the chance for him to get healthy right now as he looks into the offseason and next season as well, getting healthy. Obviously, the injury on Sunday doesn’t help, right? But it’s just, I think, the right decision right now to go ahead and just shut him down and let him get fully healed,” Pederson said.
“Clear the protocol first, obviously, and then tackle the other injury later on. That’s our main focus right now is to make sure he’s 100% and getting healthy and getting himself ready for the offseason.”
Lawrence missed two games with the injury that he suffered during a loss to the Eagles. He returned to play against the Texans but suffered a concussion while sliding in the second quarter. Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair made illegal contact with Lawrence’s head and neck area causing his head to slam into the ground. The concussion was Lawrence’s second in less than a year. The decision to shut Lawrence down came after the Jaguars were officially eliminated from the playoff race following the Broncos’ win on Monday night.
Mac Jones will make his third start of the season and the Jaguars hope he can play like he did against the Texans rather than in his first two starts. The Jaguars had 13 combined points in losses to the Lions and Vikings in Jones’ starts. Against Houston in relief Jones was 20 of 32 for 235 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Jacksonville had expectations to scrub away the residue from last season’s 1-5 finish and get back in the postseason. When Travis Etienne lost a fumble going into the end zone in Week 1 against Miami that led to a Dolphins comeback victory, it felt like the continuation of 2023. Jacksonville started 0-4 and hasn’t been able to shake its myriad problems. Lawrence had the worst four-game start of his career but stabilized after that.
As Lawrence got more consistent, the team started breaking down in what felt like rapid-fire waves.
Free agent signings like Devin Duvernay, Gabe Davis and Arik Armstead haven’t panned out. Receiver Christian Kirk broke his collarbone against the Packers and went on IR. Davis suffered a season-ending knee injury against the Lions. Tight end Evan Engram missed four games with a hamstring injury. Cornerback Tyson Campbell was on IR with a hamstring issue and has been dealing with a quad injury this week. Foye Oluokun also spent four games on IR with a foot injury.
Injuries coupled with massive struggles on both sides of the ball torpedoed what was expected to be a bounceback season for the Jaguars. Jacksonville has the worst defense in the league in multiple categories, including yards allowed per game and most passing yards allowed per game. Even with so many miserable breakdowns, the Jaguars have had so many chances to flip the outcome of games and haven’t found a way to do that. Of their 10 losses, seven have been decided by five points or less.
“As we look back, I mean, we’ve got five games left. We want to finish strong, obviously. But we get an opportunity to look back on it, I think that’s what’s going to be sort of glaring at us, are just those plays whether it’s offense, defense, special teams,” Pederson said. “Those are the things that we have to overcome as a football team in order to have consistency in winning.”