With so many comings and goings this week, the Jacksonville Jaguars are transitioning to full preparation mode for the regular season ahead of their Week 1 matchup against the Washington Commanders. The team is in the middle of a rebuild that will necessitate steady improvement over the course of their 2022 campaign. Just over a week remains before they will make their first appearance in a game that counts, so the pressure is on for the Jaguars to show they’re a legitimate force in the AFC South this year.
Their head coach Doug Pederson knows exactly what his team is up against in the regular season. No stranger to rebuilds, Pederson is sure to have a grand plan for showing that he can take Jacksonville to new heights this year, but fans will have to wait another week to see what exactly that will look like.
In comments to the media on Thursday, Pederson told reporters that the newly implemented preseason bye week is a chance to focus on putting the final touches on the Jaguars’ roster, but made it clear that his focus is mostly centered around winning football games.
“This week is unique because we can look ahead to the Commanders, but at the same time, we’re focused on our roster, too,” Pederson explained. “There [are] a lot of moving pieces and moving parts, it’s kind of two-fold that way. We’re putting some ideas and some things in front of our players this week that could be in the game plan, may not be in the game plan, things we want to try, pass concepts, possibly a new defense, whatever it might be, just to see if this is the time to kind of experiment with that this week, but at the same time, but again, be looking at Washington and getting to know the personnel a little bit and familiarize with them and get ready for next week.”
Little time remains for experimentation, but Pederson and his staff of elite coaches are grinding the film and finding solutions wherever they can to counter Washington’s offensive and defensive strategies next Sunday. While news on Jacksonville’s roster construction has made headlines all week, it is the time quietly spent in practice that will make or break the Jaguars when they match up against the Commanders in Week 1.