The Jacksonville Jaguars accomplished the miraculous feat of winning last week with five turnovers and zero takeaways. No team in NFL history had ever before won a playoff game with a turnover margin that poor, but the Jaguars erased a 27-point deficit to beat the Los Angeles Chargers.
The comeback was a testament to the Jaguars’ resiliency, but coach Doug Pederson isn’t exactly proud of the hole his team dug for itself.
“Yes, you worry about it,” Pederson said Tuesday when asked about the turnover issues. “We were very fortunate the other night. That doesn’t happen, five giveaways and come back and win a football game, it just does not happen. That’s something we address our team a lot about.
“I don’t want to overemphasize it, but at the same time, they have to understand the seriousness of keeping the football and the seriousness of creating takeaways. … We just can’t give it away like we’ve been doing in order to win these games, especially now where we’re at.”
It wasn’t always a problem for the Jaguars this season. Through the first 13 games of the season, Jacksonville had 15 giveaways. The 1.15 turnovers per game was one of the lowest averages in the NFL.
But in the Jaguars’ last five games — all of which were wins — the team turned the ball over 12 times.
Continuing that trend against the Kansas City Chiefs could mean a swift end to Jacksonville’s season. Even when the Jaguars finished plus-three in the turnover margin against the Chiefs in Week 10, Kansas City still cruised to a 27-17 win.
The margin of error will be thin in the Divisional Round and the Jaguars’ sudden carelessness with the football can’t continue into next weekend.
