JACKSONVILLE – The expectations are public and real.
Doug Pederson understands that much – and as Sunday's regular-season opener approaches, the Jaguars' third-year head coach made this clear: It's for real now.
"The talking is over," he said.
Pederson, speaking to the media Monday six days before the Jaguars' Week 1 game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., discussed multiple topics. Among them:
Owner Shad Khan opening 2024 Jaguars Training Camp by telling players in a team meeting that "winning now is the expectation."
"He's right on," Pederson said. "That is our expectation. It's always our expectation. Each year, you assemble the best team, the best set of coaches. You have to put in the time. You have to work hard."
The Jaguars finished 9-8 in Pederson's two previous seasons as head coach, winning the last five regular-season games to win the 2022 AFC South title and losing five of the last six in 2023 to miss the postseason with a Week 18 loss at Tennessee.
"He sees what we've done the last two years, and the successes we've had," Pederson said. "He also knows, and we know, that we're better than the way we finished last year. That's something he alluded to. He's right. That's the expectation. We're all held to that.
"It gives you a lot of a lot of confidence."
Wide receiver Christian Kirk on Monday discussed a different feeling entering the '24 season after entering '23 as defending division champions.
"I wouldn't necessarily say underdog mentality, but definitely maybe flying under the radar a little bit more," he said. "People aren't talking about us the way they were talking about us last year. It's not a bad position to be in. It's just focusing on us and our goals, our visions of what we have, expectations we have for ourselves and this season.
"We know we have to earn the right to play in the postseason. It starts early in the year with an opponent like Miami who is probably going to contend for the playoffs again. We know the opportunity at hand. It's not going to be given to us. We have to go out and take it."
The Jaguars spent the 2024 offseason revamping the roster by signing free agents such as center Mitch Morse (Buffalo Bills), cornerback Ronald Darby (Baltimore Ravens), wide receiver/returner Devin Duvernay (Ravens), wide receiver Gabe Davis (Bills), defensive end Arik Armstead (San Francisco 49ers) and safety/cornerback Darnell Savage (Green Bay Packers).
All six players played for playoff teams last season.
"They've added the value in the competition that we were looking for at their positions and also leadership," Pederson said. "They've been on winning teams. It's just their leadership, the value that they bring there, with their skill set and what they can provide offensively and defensively."
They also focused during training camp and the offseason preparing rookies such as first-round wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. and second-year veterans such running back Tank Bigsby, wide receiver Parker Washington and linebacker Ventrell Miller.
"It's just something that we focused on all the way back in the offseason program," Pederson said. "You've heard me say this a bunch about developing our roster and making sure everybody gets opportunities. That carried over into training camp.
"Now it's just a matter of, 'We have to go do it.' You just have to go put in the hard work and preparation and try to go 1-0 this week."
The Jaguars begin the season with four games against 2023 postseason teams: Miami (11-6 in 2023, wild card), home against the Cleveland Browns (11-6, wild card), at the Buffalo Bills (11-6, AFC East champions) and at the Houston Texans (10-7, AFC South champions).
"It's always good to get off to a fast start," Pederson said. "You can't go 2-0 unless you go 1-0. These are playoff teams and AFC teams we have to compete against. It's a long season. We understand that. At the same time, you want to play good football. It does help the momentum, too, if you can get off to a good start."
Kirk said a victory Sunday "would be huge."
"Especially starting off with an AFC playoff contender, a team that's had a lot of success over the past few seasons," he said. "It would just propel us on that journey we want to start on into accomplishing all the things that we want. That starts with playoff teams, especially on the road. That's a big thing too.
"We're still relatively young as a team. For a lot of these young guys, it's important for us to go on the road and set the tone of how we go about our business. We're on the road and really banding together. We're definitely going to take this week and set that out of tone and emphasize how we're going to approach this Sunday."
