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Michael DiRocco, ESPN writer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said he is still evaluating possible personnel changes following the worst loss in franchise history, adding that everything is on the table.
But he also said he doesn’t want to place too much blame on one person for Sunday’s loss and the team’s 2-9 start.
“You have to be very, very careful when you start pointing fingers at certain people,” Pederson said Monday. “It’s a dangerous thing and I’m not going to do that.
“As a head coach in this league going through what we’re going through, you’re pointing the finger and if it needs to be pointed, it needs to be pointed at me. It starts with me.”
There’s been a lot of that over the past month as the Jaguars have unraveled in a season that began with owner Shad Khan telling the team the day before training camp began that it was the best team the franchise had ever assembled. and I hoped that would be the case. reach the playoffs. Sunday’s 52-6 loss to the Lions, during which the Jaguars allowed 645 yards (the second-most in team history) and a team-high 52 points, clinched the franchise’s 11th losing season in the last 14 years.
There was speculation after the loss that Pederson, and potentially general manager Trent Baalke, would be fired Monday as a result. However, Pederson held his usual press conference at 1:45 p.m. ET and said he did not have a meeting scheduled with Khan at that time.
So Pederson acted as normal, leading team meetings and seeing off players in the afternoon. The Jaguars are on their bye week, the most recent in franchise history. Pederson’s plan is to bring the players in Tuesday morning and then rest them the rest of the week. He said they need a physical and mental break.
“From a team perspective, not just defensively but a team perspective, guys are tired,” Pederson said. “The guys are mentally and physically fatigued. This is a good time to step away, take a break and recharge for the final six games.
“…Every Monday we haven’t felt very good and that weighs on you too. You get to the next week, you’re trying to motivate yourself again. You’re trying to get up for another game. That’s hard. That’s hard emotionally.”
Especially after the last three games. The Jaguars allowed 1,494 yards in losses to Philadelphia, Minnesota and Detroit, the most in a three-game span in franchise history. They also managed just 528 yards of offense, the fewest in a three-game span in franchise history.
“Where we are and there are still six games left, I think it’s time to hit the reset button and just go back, refresh ourselves again, coaches and players,” Pederson said. “And the coaches need, this is what I challenged them with this week, we have to go back and we have to look at everything from a schematic point of view, the players’ point of view, the staff’s point of view, all that kind of things from this week.
“If we come out of this break and keep doing the same things and trying to expect different results, it probably won’t happen, right? So, we have to do some little things, some minor things. We will do it, and that’s what we’ll go through these next few days doing.
