After Monday night’s blowout loss to the Bills, Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said that changes were needed on the 0-3 team and that “everything is on the table” when it comes to what the team will do to turn things in a better direction.
One thing that is off the table is a big Hollywood movie-style address from Pederson to rally the troops. Pederson said that teams that succeed are led from the locker room and that the focus has to be on ways to play better football rather than on stirring speeches.
“Coaches need to coach and players need to play,” Pederson said, via Garry Smits of the Florida Times-Union. “If you want to be an elite football team it’s led from within. It’s led by the players. The speeches are done. The speeches are over. We don’t need any more rah-rah stuff. It’s just time to go play football. Fix the mistakes and do everything we can to play our best football this weekend.”
The Jaguars have lost eight of nine dating back to last season, which has led to questions about whether Pederson’s voice — however it is used — is the right one to elicit the necessary response from the team. They can start changing that perception in Houston this week, but it will take a lot more than one win to convince most people that things are back on track in Jacksonville.