The Jacksonville Jaguars played well enough offensively to beat the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, but the defense couldn’t do nearly enough to slow Matt Ryan in a 34-27 loss. A week earlier, the roles were reversed as the Jaguars offense failed to do enough to capitalize on the defense’s strong showing against the Houston Texans in a 13-6 loss.
Getting both sides of the ball to play well enough to win at the same time has been a challenge. And it’s the biggest issue the Jaguars need to fix, according to coach Doug Pederson.
“It just comes down to when you get opportunities to get after the
opposing passer, we’ve got to do everything we can to do that,” Pederson said Monday. “It’s no different offensively. If there’s a third and eight, we’ve got to do everything in our power to stay on the field and complete the pass or make that run. It goes hand in hand.
“We’ve just got to be able to get it all together. I think that’s where we’re sort of a little bit out of whack right now is we haven’t been able to play complementary football together, and that’s what needs to get fixed.”
It’s not a completely foreign concept for the Jaguars. The offense and defense both looked stellar in the team’s back-to-back blowout wins over the Colts and Los Angeles Chargers in September.
All four of the Jaguars’ losses have been one-score games and Pederson told reporters Monday that “at some point, we need somebody to make a play” in big moments.