The Jacksonville Jaguars’ AFC South-clinching win over the Tennessee Titans wasn’t pretty. Jacksonville’s offense managed only 222 yards, its second lowest total of the season, and needed a defensive touchdown in the final minutes of the game to take its first lead.
At the end of the day, though, the 20-16 win for the Jaguars counts the same as a blowout.
“A win’s a win’s a win,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said Monday. “It’s hard to win in this league and I don’t care how you do it. Bottom line is you’ve got to figure out a way. Sometimes you’re gonna score 40. Sometimes you’re gonna score 20 or 10. Sometimes the offense is hot, sometimes they’re not. The defense is smoking or special teams, whoever it might be.
“That’s just how football seasons go, that’s how teams go. This time of year, it really doesn’t matter, as long as you figure out a way to win that game.”
Jacksonville has won many different ways in the 2022 season. The team has won blowouts, beating three teams by at least 24 points, and it erased a double-digit deficit at home three times in come-from-behind wins.
That’s a welcomed change for Jaguars fans, who haven’t seen much of a team that finds a way to win. Jacksonville’s current five-game win streak is its longest since 2005 and the team’s 9-8 record in the regular season was its second winning record in the last 15 seasons.