Doug Pederson deserves blame for the Jaguars 1-2 start: Overreactions from Week 3

The Jacksonville Jaguars could justify losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 2. After all, they were facing the defending Super Bowl champions. On the other hand, it's hard to justify their underwhelming 37-17 performance against the Houston Texans.

The Jags welcomed a Houston team that was without several key starters. However, they couldn't seize the opportunity and ended on the wrong side of a blowout. At 1-2, Jacksonville is no longer in control of the AFC South and unless they don't soon correct whatever issues they're having, they won't regain control.

With that in mind, here are three overreactions from the Jaguars loss to the Texans in Week 3.

This isn't the Jaguars team that finished the 2022 season strong and made the playoffs

The Jaguars made an effort to keep the core that got hot at the end of the 2022 season and qualified for the postseason. On paper, this is mostly the same team but they are certainly not playing like it. The offense didn't score a single touchdown in Week 2 and the Texans kept them out of the red zone until the third quarter.

The defense hasn't been much better. They played well the past two weeks but couldn't stop a Texans offense led by rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud. The special teams, for their part, haven't been so special. This wouldn't be an issue if this were the offseason but it's not. There are already three games in the books, and the longer the Jaguars wait to fix whatever issues they have, the harder it will be to earn a playoff berth.