When the Jacksonville Jaguars host the Los Angeles Chargers in the first prime-time playoff game in TIAA Bank Field history, it’ll be legendary broadcaster Al Michaels with Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy in the booth for NBC.
Dungy, 67, spent six seasons as head coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and seven with the Indianapolis Colts. The two teams reached the postseason a combined 11 times in those 13 seasons, and the Colts won Super Bowl XLI after the 2006 season with Dungy at the wheel.
And according to that extremely accomplished and credentialed former NFL coach, the Jaguars’ Doug Pederson put in the best coaching performance of the 2022 regular season.
“Well, I have to tell you, I have a vote on the AP awards and I voted for Doug for Coach of the Year,” Dungy told Brian Sexton on the Jaguars-produced show, Drive Time. “I knew he would do well and I knew he would transfuse energy into this franchise and get them going, but I thought it would be a couple years to really get it. And they clicked in after about eight weeks. It’s amazing.”
The Jaguars picked first in the 2021 and 2022 NFL drafts after finishing with the worst record in the league in back-to-back seasons. After a 4-8 start to Pederson’s first season, Jacksonville won its last five games to earn the AFC South title and reach the playoffs.
While Dungy thinks Pederson should be the Coach of the Year, oddsmakers have generally considered him an underdog for the award, behind the Eagles’ Nick Sirianni, the 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan and the New York Giants’ Brian Daboll.