Jaguars putting ‘So What, Now What?’ model into practice

When it comes to NFL head coaches, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all profile. Some are good at motivating people, and others are better at teaching or delegating tasks. Doug Pederson can seemingly do all of that and has quickly made a positive impact in his first year with the Jacksonville Jaguars. During an appearance on The Rich Eisen Podcast, Pederson talked about the approach he’s embraced, which is called “So What, Now What?”

“It just tells you that it doesn’t matter what happens when lose or draw”, Pederson said. “It’s the so what right now. It’s just how you move forward. It’s the, ‘now what are we going to do with it?’ We lost in Week 1 to Washington and that was kind of our ‘so what’ and then we came back the next week and we practice, we worked on some things got better and we won the football game.

Pederson goes on to break down what the model entails, “it’s just the mentality of you just got to put things behind you. You’ll learn from it, move on, correct it and just focus on that 1-0 mentality each week”. The Jaguars head coach later tells Eisen that he can’t take credit for coming up with this method and instead says that “it’s been bouncing around for a while”.

The So What, Now What model it’s attributed to Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless and it’s described as a way to “evaluate a recent event/experience so that someone can identify ways to improve or act“. The Jaguars are coming off their first win of the year but instead of seeing themselves as being 1-1, they will face off against the Los Angeles Chargers not thinking about the outcome of the last two weeks. Here’s Pederson’s whole exchange with Rich Eisen.

Using the ‘So What, Now What model is working for the Jaguars

It’s one thing to adopt an approach and another whole thing is to actually implement it. You can get the best personal trainer, nutrition plan, and gear but if you don’t have the discipline and patience to take advantage of them, it won’t matter. Something similar happens in the NFL.

Coaches and players always talk about taking one game at a time, or not letting a win or loss affect them. But that’s easier said than done. Some losses are worse than others and they can have a truly negative effect on a team’s mindset, and sometimes it’s difficult to move on from them, just ask the Indianapolis Colts, a team that’s lost back-to-back games to the Jags.

Fortunately, it looks like the Jaguars are really putting into practice the “So What, Now What?” model. Just one week after losing to the Washington Commanders in the season opener, they push the rest button, refocused, and shut out Indy. And that’s a reflection of Doug Pederson’s job as a coach. It’s not easy to install a philosophy, especially on a team that had a combined 16 wins from 2018 to 2021.

Working in Pederson’s favor is that he has the right leaders in place. Trevor Lawrence, outside linebacker Josh Allen, offensive guard Brandon Scherff, and linebacker Foyesade Oluokun have risen to the occasion and have led the team by example.

So far, Doug Pederson has proven he’s the right coach to help the Jaguars eventually turn things around. And he will have a chance to help them win their first away game of the year and extend their lead in the AFC South.