The Jacksonville Jaguars fell to 1-2 on Sunday with a surprising 37-17 loss to the Houston Texans, and coach Doug Pederson is having to answer for it.
Pederson admitted after the game that he believes the weight of expectations is at least partly to blame for Jacksonville’s slow start to the season. After making the playoffs last year, many expected further progression from the team in 2023.
“I think that’s real. I do. I think that’s real,” Pederson said of the hype factor, via Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “I’ve been around this game too long to know that you can’t live in the past or you’re going to fail in the future. We just got to focus one day at a time. We got to get better each day and can’t worry about next week or the week after. We can’t worry about the London trip coming up. We just got to focus in on the week at hand.”
Pederson’s job is to try to keep the Jaguars from falling into that trap, but it has not worked so far. Losing to the Kansas City Chiefs is understandable, but the Texans are a team Jacksonville should be beating.
The Jaguars host the Atlanta Falcons in Week 4, another game they should be winning. If they cannot do that, it may be time to seriously worry.
