Just a couple weeks ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars were 1-2 and sitting at the bottom of the AFC South. Now, the Jaguars are 3-2 and atop the division most NFL fans expected them to win before the season.
While the schedule may show one home game and one away game, the two-game stretch served as back-to-back unofficial home games for Jacksonville. In Week 4 and Week 5, the Jaguars played the Atlanta Falcons and the Buffalo Bills, respectively, in London.
An extended stay at their home away from home may have been needed to get the Jaguars’ season back on track.
“It was good to get out of Jacksonville at that time,” Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said. “We needed to bond a little bit as a football team, and we’ve done that. And now we get to go back with two wins, and we’ve got a big AFC South matchup next week.”
Jacksonville started the season with a win against the Indianapolis Colts. However, the team suffered losses in its first two home games when it faced the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans, who blew the team out.
The Jaguars’ game against the Falcons looked like a potential bounce-back game, and bounce back they did. They cruised to a 23-7 victory, and Pederson saw a difference in how the team played, even if it hadn’t totally forgotten the previous losses.
“It’s hard to say if you’re over it, but I think they were much more relaxed, and really the energy today was much better than last week,” Pederson said following Jacksonville’s Week 4 win. “It’s about how we respond, and the guys responded extremely well today.”
The Jaguars then stayed in London, while not in the same hotel, and faced a challenge following their victory over the Falcons. They ran into a 3-1 Bills team that had won three straight, with all those victories coming by at least 28 points.
Jacksonville produced its most well-rounded game of the season and defeated the rolling Bills, 25-20.
“It started last week against the Falcons, and we found a way to win that one, then against a really good hot Bills team today and found a way again.” Pederson said after the Jaguars beat the Bills. “Great team effort, but definitely feels good. Still a lot of football ahead of us, but we accomplished our immediate goal, and that was to win two games over here.”
While Pederson said the team’s goal is to win one game at a time, two straight games could give Jacksonville more momentum than it has had all season. The time in London also gave the Jaguars players and staff time to grow closer early in the season.
“The fact that we got to spend time in the hotel together, players went to dinner together, they just hung around and played some golf together,” Pederson said. “When you’re in the heat of the battle out there and of course in the game, you lean on each other that way, and we were able to do that for those 10 days. I think the guys really embraced that, and now it’s a matter of coming back here, continuing that same sort of mindset as we prepare for this week and for the first half of our season.”
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence didn’t think much changed after going from 1-2 to 3-2, but he thought the wins helped the team work out some kinks.
“The difference is we’re making the plays when we have to make them in crunch time, and I think the other two games that we’ve lost, we didn’t do that when the moment was there,” Lawrence said. “If we clean up even more of the mistakes and the execution and sloppiness, it’ll be even cleaner.”
Lawrence enjoyed playing in London, but he said he looks forward to returning to Jacksonville. The Jaguars are now preparing for a home tilt against Indianapolis, the team they beat in Week 1.
“We got two wins, and that was the goal was to get two wins and go home,” Lawrence said. “I know we’re excited to go home. It’s a long time away from your life, but we’re excited to get back.”
While not much has changed for the Colts, starting quarterback Anthony Richardson will be out, and former Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew II will be in.
While the Jags beat the Colts in their season-opening matchup, going into their game against Indianapolis as the division-leader should give them more confidence. Now, Jacksonville not only leads the division, but they took down one of the best teams in the league.
The Jaguars can’t play down to their opponent because Indianapolis has played well to start the season. The Colts have beaten the Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens, and Tennessee Titans, and they fell in overtime to the Los Angeles Rams.
The Colts’ starter is Richardson when he’s healthy, but Minshew has seen plenty of action in 2023 due to Richardson’s early-season health issues. Even though Richardson is a more dynamic playmaker, Minshew has proven he can be extremely efficient and show up in big games, and his first chance to beat his former team certainly qualifies.
Regardless, the Jaguars have won back-to-back games and have a chance to use their London trip as a confidence boost against a division opponent.
“It’s big for our organization,” Pederson said after beating the Bills. “We came over here 1-2, and we’re going back 3-2… and just proud of our entire organization and our team for how we handled it.”
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