The Jacksonville Jaguars take an ‘about us’ attitude as they prepare to take on the Detroit Lions

THE Jacksonville Jaguars (2-8) are not going backwards despite a losing season.

This week, they will face the best team in the NFC, the Detroit Lions (8-1), a 14 point favorite during the visit Jaguar. The Lions have it all: culture, winning prowess, a solid offense and a resilient defense.

Jacksonville hasn’t been this big of an underdog since January 9, 2022, when they beat the Indianapolis Colts, who were also 14-point favorites.

The game will air at 1 p.m. on CBS.

Even though the team hasn’t won much this year, Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said he hasn’t felt like a “defeated” team, which might be the case for franchises in any sport going through this type of season.

Usually they look at the offseason, Pederson said.

“But I’ll tell you: You don’t see that with this team. I think it’s a credit to the leadership of this group. Even though they’re coaching the kids, you’re seeing better practices, better results .performance, studying their game plan,” Pederson explained.

“You still see all that stuff today, which is an honor. It’s just a big honor for the guys in the locker room. You have to have that, right? To get through it , you need to have this type of leadership and a cohesive group, even when you don’t get the results you want.

EMERGENCY: Jacksonville Jaguars’ Mac Jones ready to ‘get back up and keep trying’ against Detroit Lions

The Jaguars seem to be heading in the wrong direction. But they’re not giving up hope and instead of focusing on the quality of the team they’re about to face, they want to keep that to themselves.

“Great team, great coaches as well. I feel like we have to come out and it’s more on us than on them,” Jaguars defensive end Travon Walker said Wednesday.

Walker also doesn’t view the team’s eight losses as a reason to give up. He understands that what they have done so far has made it more difficult to achieve their goals. However, they have everything ahead of them.

“We’re at a point now where we’ve dug ourselves into a hole. But, if you look at our schedule, I mean, it’s really not over for us, we’ve just made it a little bit more tough for ourselves. We have to go out and win every game from now on,” Walker said.

The Jaguars’ schedule is getting easier.

After facing the Lions this week, Jacksonville will take a week off, then face the Houston Texans (6-4), Tennessee Titans (2-7) twice, New York Jets (3-7) , the Las Vegas Raiders. (2-7) and the Indianapolis Colts (4-6).

Jacksonville narrowly lost to the Texans 24-20 earlier this season, they beat the Colts 37-34 in Week 5 and are facing teams that have also had more than their share of struggles.

“I feel like it’s definitely achievable with the team we have and where we’re trying to go,” Walker said of the team making a run to finish the season.

With Trevor Lawrence out, Mac Jones must deliver against Lions

Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence will not play Sunday against the Lions. Instead, backup quarterback Mac Jones will get his second start with the team after being acquired via trade in the spring.

Lawrence injured his left shoulder against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 9.

Jones struggled during the team’s game against the Minnesota Vikings. He completed 63.6% of his passes for 111 yards, one fumble and two interceptions. The performance led to a loss for Jones in the post-match press conference, but he sounded upbeat on Wednesday.

“I think we played with good rhythm in and out of the group. Obviously there’s a lot to work on throughout the game, but it comes down to finishing better for me,” Jones said, expressing optimism with humility.

“I thought I left three games there and if you change those three games then maybe the result will be a little bit different. So that’s how I look at it and that’s the truth.”

Jones has been in a similar situation before. During his time with the Patriots, Jones experienced both success and failure, especially as his career in New England was winding down.

“I’ve been here before, which is tough, but you also have a choice and that’s to get up and keep going. So that’s what I’m going to do,” Jones said. “Leading the team and showing confidence not only in them but in myself because we work really hard and the coaches put us in a great position to be ready every week and that’s our goal as an offense and as a team to get everyone playing together.”

Jaguars players ‘buy more’ as season dwindles and losses pile up

Instead of giving up and accepting defeat, the Jaguars view their losing season as a challenge to finish strong.

Jaguars safety Andre Cisco said this week that the team is sticking more when the opposite would be expected of a 2-8 team without much sense of direction.

“I think in the building there is a lot of confidence in the staff and the players are even buying more. From the outside you would think it would be the opposite. I think the guys are trying to buy more , I just trust the process,” Cisco said.

“This league, and life in general, you never want to leave too soon, especially because things haven’t gone the way you want them to. I’ve seen things go wrong and while it’s not ideal, it may still help you in the end.”

When asked why, Cisco simply asked, “What else are you going to do?”

The Jaguars are at a point in their season where all that’s left is confidence. They don’t have time to make big adjustments and they’ll have to keep trying, no matter what’s happening around them.

“You can’t end the season early. It’s not a playoff, anything where it looks like the season is going to end,” Cisco said. “So why not invest more? Why not invest a little more? For us, we truly believe that we have the right guys in the room, especially on the playing side. So as we get closer as a group, team, why not?

Jaguars linebacker Foye Oluokun said the team has the right players in the locker room. Leadership helps the ship stay on course. But his goal goes beyond just words in the building or at press conferences.

“We have great guys in the locker room, I just want to win more. So, I think it will happen eventually,” Oluokun said Thursday. “By buying in, I think we’ve all talked about it from the jump, but really trusting yourself to fully buy in, it’s going to happen naturally with all the kind of character guys we have in the locker room.”

Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X, formerly Twitter, has @Démitrius82.

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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars stick to ‘about us’ attitude, set to take on Lions