Blowout loss leaves Lawrence and freefalling Jaguars questioning themselves after 0-3 start
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence acknowledged a difficult truth last week in describing how poorly he and his team have played to open the season.
On Monday, it was coach Doug Pederson’s turn.
“It’s real shocking,” said Pederson, following a 47-10 loss to Buffalo that dropped the Jaguars to 0-3. “Very disappointed. You hate to say it, but the reality of it is this is who we are right now. We’re not a very good football team. And we’ve got to get it fixed.”
Their plane also needed fixing. The Jaguars’ flight home was delayed due to mechanical issues, the team announced.
The Jaguars offense has been limited to 40 points and has had difficulty staying on the field. And Jacksonville’s defense suddenly turned porous in an outing in which the Bills — in the first half alone — scored touchdowns on each of their five possessions, gained 288 yards and converted 6-of-8 third-down situations and both fourth-down opportunities.
This marks the first time Pederson has opened a season 0-3 in his eight years as head coach, including Philadelphia. Meantime, Lawrence has lost eight straight starts dating to last season, with his last win coming in a 24-21 victory at Houston on Nov. 26.
The Jaguars were rolling at that time, improving to 8-3 before stumbling to a 9-8 finish and missing the playoffs.
Picking up where they left off last year has raised more questions about Lawrence’s confidence and Pederson’s leadership.
“Disappointment would be an understatement,” Lawrence said, following a week in which he called for candid conversations over the mistakes the Jaguars were making.
“It’s just one of those times when we don’t have any momentum,” Lawrence said. “It seems like everyone takes their turn in making a bad play at the wrong time, including myself.”
The Jaguars opened the season blowing 14-0 and 17-7 leads in a 20-17 loss to Miami. Last week, a slow-starting offense couldn’t dig itself out of a 13-3 halftime hole in an 18-13 loss to Cleveland.
On Monday, rather than correct course, the Jaguars unraveled by falling behind 34-3 — their largest halftime deficit in franchise history.
Lawrence finished 21 of 38 passing for 178 yards with a touchdown pass to tight end Brenton Strange on the opening drive of the second half. His first interception of the season came when he sailed a pass above the head of receiver Brian Thomas Jr. that was picked off by Buffalo’s Damar Hamlin, leading to Buffalo going up 27-3 five plays later on Josh Allen’s 27-yard TD pass to Khalil Shakir.
After finishing the first half 10 of 22 for 59 yards, Lawrence said there’s plenty of blame to go around, while placing most of the burden on his shoulders.
“I’ve got to play really well for us to win,” said Lawrence, who signed a $275 million contract extension in June to make him one of the NFL’s top-paid players. “That’s the NFL. The quarterback has to play well every week in order to give us a shot to win. I don’t feel like I’ve done that consistently enough. So I put that on myself.”
The defensive letdown didn’t help.
“I need everybody to coach and play better. Let’s leave it at that,” Pederson said.
The Jaguars play their next two games against AFC South division opponents, starting Sunday at Houston.
“We need to move on and we need to flush it,” Lawrence said.
“We felt like we had an opportunity, in a prime-time game, Monday night, to show who we are,” he added. “That’s not who we are. We know that. But it’s how it looked like we are. We’ve got to fix it. It’s on us.”
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