Mitch Morse: "I Wish I Had All The Answers…" | Game That Was

Nov 03, 2024 at 11:32 PM

John Oehser

Jaguars Senior Writer

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The story remained the story early Sunday.

The Jaguars, who got hot and played impressively late Sunday, were anything but that offensively early in a 28-23 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. That was a big reason they trailed big at halftime, and a major source of frustration following their fifth narrow loss of the season.

The Jaguars started slow Sunday. Really slow. Once again.

"We just couldn't get started," rookie wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. said.

The Jaguars, who have failed to score on their first drive in a league high 14 consecutive games, struggled offensively throughout the first half Sunday. They trailed 16-0 at halftime and trailed 22-0 early in the third quarter.

"We just have to improve," Head Coach Doug Pederson said, with center Mitch Morse saying. "It just comes down to shooting ourselves in the foot early."

Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence completed four of 10 first-half passes for 23 yards Sunday. He was intercepted in the second quarter when a short pass to running back Travis Etienne Jr. was batted into the air by Etienne and intercepted by linebacker Zach Baun.

"We'll look at everything, and it has been an issue," Lawrence said. "It's something we have to fix. We didn't do anything in the first half for one reason or another. We have to improve there. We gave ourselves a chance to come back and win the game, but we had to have a lot of plays go our way. We put ourselves in a tough spot. We shouldn't have to do that every week.

"We have to look at it. How do we start better? How do we just move the ball, get in a rhythm? We were just really stagnant at first. We have to get better at that."

The Jaguars had just one first down when the Eagles took their 22-0 lead.

"It puts our defense in a terrible situation: time of possession, yards," Morse said. "We'll take a good hard look at it. I wish I had all the answers today. I don't.

Added Morse, "It's really tough right now. There's no getting around it."

The Eagles outgained the Jaguars 187-31 in the first half, after which the Jaguars had one first down to 10 for the Eagles. This came a week after the Jaguars struggled in the first quarter of a loss to the Green Bay Packers with no first downs and 15 yards in the period.

"I'm not one to kind of settle on that," Pederson said. "We have to keep working. We have to keep challenging the plays and we have to be better. It is what it is, obviously, but we're going to roll up our sleeves and go to work and try to keep moving and keep trying to fix it."

NOTABLE WEEK 9 GAME MOMENTS

The Jaguars sustained two injuries to starting offensive linemen Sunday, with second-year right tackle Anton Harrison leaving temporarily with a knee injury and second-year guard Cooper Hodges leaving with a leg injury. Hodges left the field on a cart and was taken to a Philadelphia hospital.
"Coop is a guy who does everything the right way," Morse said. "He's such a spark in our room, not only as a player, but as a personality, as a friend. When you're in the flow of the game, you compartmentalize, but now that you have the opportunity to sit back and reflect, it's devastating. He does everything the right way."

QUOTABLE BITS FROM WEEK 9 POSTGAME MEDIA AVAILABILITY

Lawrence: "We're 2-7, and there's no quit in us. We're fighting every week. We're giving ourselves a shot. It all comes down to the end and we're just not finishing the games. That's what's tough now. I felt like if I do some things better, we win the game. That's tough to swallow, but I have to take accountability for that."
Pederson: "They're hurting. They're disappointed. There are some good plays. It's just not consistent enough."
Thomas: "There's nothing we can do about it now .We just have to come out next week and be better than we were this week. We've been right there the past couple of weeks. We're just trying to get over the hump."
Linebacker Foye Oluokun: "We definitely showed a lot of fight, a lot of resiliency. We have to be cleaner throughout the game and that's how we'll come out on top. Frustration is definitely there because you see that we can play with anybody. You see we can beat anybody, but we're not winning at the end of the game. We clean ourselves up all the way through the game and you're going to see us come out on top. But we have to get that fixed."