Jaguars HC candid about team’s preparation this season

Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone spoke candidly about how he is moving forward with the team’s preparation this coming week against Tampa Bay.

It’s been a tough season once again for Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone. As the team puts the 42-20 loss to the Tennessee Titans behind them and focuses on the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday and Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the third-year head coach has come under fire for his decisions making this week.

Whether it was to keep his defensive coordinator (Todd Wash) and continue to give the football to Nick Foles when many fans would love to see Gardner Minshew try and create magic on the playing field, the 55-year-old is sticking to his guns in what he believes gives this organization the best chance to win football games.

Ask many fans here in Jacksonville and they will beg to differ with this approach. The criticism is nothing new with Marrone, who made choices he believed would make this team better, reaching as far back as training camp and the preseason. The Jaguars are 4-7 with the Buccaneers come to town with an identical record, hoping for a miracle to make the playoffs.

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Marrone talked at length on Tuesday about his approach to this season, which started with changing practice routines and how the coaching staff tried to avoid injuries that are continuing to mount for this roster. The one thing you see in Marrone week after week is he truly believes he is doing what is best to make the Jaguars a better team on the field.

"“Marrone made multiple changes to the camp schedule to have the Jaguars team healthy and fresh entering the season,” Jaguars.com senior writer John Oehser wrote. “He also opted against playing most starters in the preseason except for a Preseason Week 3 game in Miami. He said at the time and reiterated Tuesday the moves were in response to a 2018 season in which the Jaguars struggled throughout with injuries.”"

It’s not the same narrative from last season but had Foles not gone down in Week 1 and Minshew was pressed into action, this story might have a different ending. There are other “issues” the coaching staff and the franchise has dealt with this year, which included the Jalen Ramsey standoff and questions about what will happen with Yannick Ngakoue after this season.

The candidness of Marrone was ever apparent on Tuesday about how his decisions have been met with criticism in the confines of TIAA Bank Field.

"“I’ve been criticized even within the organization of how the team was, and how I trained the team,” Marrone said. “But I go back to I make decisions based on obvious things that have happened. Last year, with the injuries and everything we had, I went out and researched a bunch of other teams and what they do.”"

Per the story, Marrone was asked to clarify his comments, to which he replied it was not the first time it has happened to him and he is sure it is not the first time it has happened within the organization.

Sometimes, imitation doesn’t work for one team while another thrives at it. The Jaguars will continue to prepare for the Buccaneers before games against the Los Angeles Chargers at home and then on the road to face the Oakland Raiders.

Three of the team’s final five games are at home, which gives the Jaguars a chance to show improvement in front of the hometown crowd starting this weekend.