Doug Pederson gets widespread scorn for comments toward Jaguars players

Head coach Doug Pederson raised eyebrows around the league when he said that players, not the playcalling, were the reason the Jacksonville Jaguars lost 24-20 to the Houston Texans in Week 4. Even though sort of had a point it felt unnecessary to throw his players under the bus publicly to defend offensive coordinator Press Taylor. The league has caught wind of his remarks and the reception hasn't been positive.

Adam Schefter of ESPN joined the Pat McAfee Show and said that Pederson has always been a coaches' coach, pointing out that he went to great lengths to defend Taylor back when he was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.

"Yeah, they should have won the first game against Miami, and they don't, and that's where it seems to get sour," Schefter said when host Pat McAfee noted that the Jaguars have made big investments in the offseason and things were getting ugly. "And look, he's backing his guy, Press Taylor, the offensive coordinator there. When the press, the reporters were asking questions about, it's exactly what Doug did when he was in Philadelphia, backed Press Taylor and he stood behind."

"Doug believes in supporting his coaches. He's always felt very strongly about that. He did that again yesterday, to the point where he went out of his way to say the players have to make plays. This is a team right now that it's really like, you go and sign your quarterback and you spend the money and you make all the moves that they did.

"They spent a lot of money this offseason, and you even had the owner Shad Khan come out and say before the season began, 'This the best Jaguars team that has ever been,' or that he's ever seen and they're not playing like that. When the owner comes out and says this is the best team that we've had here, and they haven't won a game, all you can say is: if it goes on like that, something's going to give at some point in time with somebody."

As Schefter and McAfee pointed out, Shad Khan said in the offseason that the expectation in 2024 is to win. So far, the Jaguars have failed to meet it. Here's the full exchange if you want to give it a look.

Keep in mind that Schefter and McAfee aren't the only media personalities who believe Pederson's remarks weren't great. Insider Jordan Schultz also chimed in, noting that it's one of the worst things the head coach could've said.

The Jaguars cannot point fingers if they want to turn things around

While it's true that head coach Doug Pederson must hold players accountable, he didn't have to go out of his way to defend Press Taylor. Granted, the offensive coordinator wasn't the lone reason the Jaguars lost to Housont but he didn't have to go out of his way to stand up for him.

After all, Taylor also had a couple mishaps. After Tank Bigsy's 58-yard run, he should have been substituted but instead stayed on the field. Had the Jags substituted him, their chances of scoring would've gone up. Similarly, going for it on fourth down up 20-17 was a risky decision, so the offensive coordinator isn't free of blame.

It's hard to tell how players took the comments. They surely caught wind of them not long after, and things could get "interesting," as Jordan Schultz pointed out. Having said that, the last thing the Jaguars want right now is to start pointing fingers.

Ultimately, players must execute and the coaching staff must put them in a position to succeed. Also, the Jacksonville Jaguars must refrain from calling out both sides publicly.

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