Jaguars’ historic wild-card win is a testament to the power of belief
Yes, Chargers Charged.
But did we expect the Jaguars to… Jaguar?
This is not the case.
Down 27-7 at the end of the first half and 27-0 with even 25 seconds left in the first half, seemingly demolished and disheartened by Trevor Lawrence’s four first-half interceptions and three third-quarter interceptions (the only first-quarter interceptions Lawrence had thrown in his NFL career), the Jaguars could have just laid up and folded over. It was a wonderful story that the Jaguars were hosting a playoff match with Doug Pederson as their new head coach, one year after Urban Meyer had taken a brontosaurus dump across the team. Maybe it was time to wait ’til next year.
The only people who didn’t seem to take that in was Pederson and his team. They outscored the Chargers, 31-3, after they were down, 27-0, and there’s absolutely no excuse for that from the Chargers’ side. Head coach Brandon Staley is going to hear a lot of noise about his future with the team, and that’s justified.
But this is not a story about another Chargers collapse — this is a story of how Pederson instilled an unwavering belief in the same building that had been so beaten down by Meyer’s arrogance and incompetence. After being fired by the Philadelphia Eagles in January 2021, Pederson took a year to recover and set this goal: We will believe that we can win, no matter what the setback. And it didn’t take long for the belief to take effect. The majority of the team was young and hungry for this message. You could even see it on field.
Because in the toughest possible situations, you saw the new Jaguars fighting back — not just fighting back to feel better about their ultimately futile efforts, but fighting back because they believed that they were to win.
Saturday’s comeback was one for the books — the third-largest postseason comeback in the history of professional football — but this has been going on for a while. Especially at TIAA Bank Field.
So, in the most improbable situation, Pederson’s team believed in the impossible — and then, they made it happen.
“I’m proud of you for this reason,” Pederson told his team after the game. “You have faith in yourselves. You believe in one another. As we talk about it all the time, you keep encouraging one another. And you believe. Believers believe that they can achieve their goals. It just can’t happen, and then you have belief. That’s what faith is about, and you guys have it.”
That belief was never more evident than on running back Travis Etienne’s 25-yard run with 1:27 left in the game. Down 30-28 at the Chargers’ 41-yard line, the Jaguars were seeming to just want to convert the fourth-and-1 and keep pounding the ball down the field so that Riley Patterson would have an opportunity to kick a game-winning field goal. Lawrence was at the line of scrimmage and killed the original call. Pederson then called a timeout.
And thenAs the Chargers were awaiting a quarterback pass, Etienne grabbed the ball and ran outside to score what was effectively a game-winning touchdown run.
This kind of T-formation stuff was something we’d seen before under Pederson. This was a different situation. Pederson believes his calls will work, as we all recall the Philly Special. This was a risk that almost equaled that.
“I was just trying to win the game,” Etienne said. “I was just trying to ice the game. I’m happy coach called my name, honestly, called my number. And I feel like anytime coach calls my number I’m ready and I was able to show it with that play.”
Pederson described the playing process.
“I just didn’t like the look that we had for the play we had called, and so I just took the time-out. We reloaded, regrouped. Then we came up the call. Travis did a fantastic job hitting an off tackle to get the first down.
“Listen, if they’re outside, you go inside. If they’re inside, you go outside, and Travis is a heck of a back that can do that, and with his speed and ability, made a great play in that moment.”
Lawrence offered further insight into the nature of the situation.
“We actually had a different call on before, and he didn’t like the look that the defense was in. It was probably smart looking back. Just turned the time-out. I was initially mad because I believed it would work. Then it happened. [Pederson] He said it to me and I was like, okay, sounds good. So, then he got the new call in, and just get the ball in Travis’s hands, and he makes a play like that, wins the game for us essentially. Although Riley won the game, it was enough to put us in position. It takes a lot to get there, fourth-and-1, game on the line, and only the guys up front, it just mashed them. They set the edge, and Travis was rolling.”
Patterson kicked the 36-yard game-winner after just two plays, but it was already too late to say that the Jaguars had won. They executed because they believed. They believed before they took to the field, believed when they were making a comeback, and believed when it was time for them to win the game. On every offensive play of the second half, the Jaguars were wrong. still This game was won.
Yes, this was about the Chargers’ collapse. Doug Pederson instilled a structure of manifestations and belief that yielded enormous benefits when it was most needed.