The Jacksonville Jaguars offense was trying a little too hard to make big plays rather than executing their jobs in a 17-9 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, according to head coach Doug Pederson.
“We’re just doing too much as a unit,” Pederson told reporters Monday. “We don’t need to necessarily take things into our own hands sometimes. Just run the show, run the offense.”
Buy Jaguars TicketsJaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor, who took over play-calling duties full-time this season, has received plenty of criticism for his decisions in the booth. The team’s choice not to run up the middle on a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line was especially curious.
However, Pederson suggested Monday that Trevor Lawrence running for a 3-yard loss on first down was a decision made by the third-year quarterback, not the team’s offensive coordinator.
“Looking at the film I know why [Lawrence] pulled it, because he saw the defensive end and the corner there crash,” Pederson said. “Again, he’s trying to make a play. The game yesterday, quite honestly, felt like from an offensive perspective that we were forcing some things. We were trying to make a play as opposed to just going out and executing the offense.”
Lawrence pulling the ball from a running back has worked out well in the past. Last season, he ad-libbed on a similar play near the goal-line that was supposed to go to Travis Etienne Jr., but instead turned into a 1-yard touchdown run for Lawrence.
It was an instinctive play that earned Lawrence some praise from coaches. But the freelancing isn’t as welcomed when it ends up proving costly.
“From a coaching standpoint too, I’m saying we need to put our players in a little better situation,” Pederson said Monday. “Maybe we don’t give Trevor that type of option. We just say hey, you’re at the one-yard line, let’s run it four times in a row. Those are all things that it’s Week 2, we’re going to learn from it as a group and get better.”
A Week 3 matchup against the Houston Texans, owners of a defense that has allowed 56 points through their first two games, could be just what the Jaguars offense needs to get dialed back in.
