Doug Pederson might've given Trent Baalke perfect cover to stay with Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars faced the Houston Texans in Week 13. A scuffle ensued following a vicious hit on Trevor Lawrence, and head coach Doug Pederson raised eyebrows for how he handled the situation. Instead of showing support for his players, he talked about imposing fines for how they reacted to seeing their quarterback getting knocked out. Inadvertently, he might given general manager Trent Baalke the perfect cover to stay with the Jags beyond 2024.

Tony Wiggins of Locked On Jaguars pointed out in a recent podcast that by failing to take proper action after the brawl on the sidelines erupted, Pederson might've shown that the team is lacking fire. This could in turn give Baalke ammo to make his case to keep his job. Here's the skinny.

"I wonder what those players in the locker room are saying," Wiggins said. "And my fear is, what has happened is it's giving Trent Baalke a chance to separate himself from Doug and tell Shad [Khan], 'See, that's why they can't win, because they're soft. He should have been defending our own player. See there, see what's going on.' And see, that's the part of this that bothers me. Okay, that's the part of this that bothers me. What if Trent doesn't leave?"

For context, linebacker Azeez Al-Shair laid a cheap shot on Lawrence, and a scuffle ensued. While Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans and general manager Nick Caserio defended their player publicly, Pederson talked about potentially imposing fines and called out cornerback Jarrian Jones, pointing out that he had to be the bigger man.

This has rightly led to scorn from Wiggins and other local voices, questioning Pederson's leadership. Heck, Ryans says the Jaguars overreacted to what was a "situation blown out of proportion," but you could make the case that Jacksonville in fact under-reacted if there's such a thing.

Here's the full episode where Wiggins talks about Pederson's handling of the scuffle and how it could body well for Baalke.

The Jaguars need to dismiss Doug Pederson and Trent Baalke but there's a chance they won't

In light of their underwhelming record this season, there's been chatter about the Jacksonville Jaguars potentially moving on from both Doug Pederson and Trent Baalke at some point this year or next. As a matter of fact, Josina Anderson of The Athletic reported that Shad Khan would consider making changes after Week 12 if the team was embarrassed against the Detroit Lions.

The Jags were humiliated but Khan opted not to act. Then the Bye came and went and Pederson and Baalke remain in place. This is consistent with the owner's track record. Since buying the team in 2012, he's given his head coaches and general managers plenty of time to prove themselves and has only dismissed them after consistently failing to deliver.

In the case of Pederson and Baalke, there's no guarantee that Khan will fire them. That said, how the head coach handled the scuffle against the Texans doesn't bode well for him. Aside from having won just three games dating back to Week 13 of the 2023 season, he will have trouble justifying his inaction during the brawl. This could be the last nail in his coffin. Meanwhile, Baalke might've gained ground and have a compelling case to stay in place.

The truth is that it's hard to tell how things will ultimately play out, but Doug Pederson most definitely didn't do himself any favors by failing to stick up for his players.

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