Jaguars end prime-time losing streak behind the steady hand of Doug Pederson, Mr. Thursday Night

The Jaguars busted another dubious streak thanks to coach Doug Pederson's Thursday night magic.

Their 19-3 victory over the New York Jets on Thursday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford ended a 23-year, eight-game losing streak in prime-time games on the road and snapped a two-game losing streak in Thursday night games overall and a four-game losing streak on Thursday road games.

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That last time the Jaguars won on the road in prime time was on Nov. 19, 2000, when Fred Taylor ran roughshod over the Pittsburgh Steelers with 234 yards in a 34-24 victory, which still stands as the team record.

In flushing that history, the Jaguars (7-8) had Mr. Thursday Night on their side. Pederson is now 7-0 as a head coach on Thursdays, winning his first six when at Philadelphia between 2017-2020.

One of those Thursday games opened the 2018 season, so he's 6-0 on a short week.

Combine that with the fact that the Jaguars were without left tackle Cam Robinson and outside linebacker Travon Walker, and had several other players battling through injuries.

Streaks keep falling

Ending their road prime-time losing streak comes during the same season when the Jags snapped a 20-game losing streak against NFC teams with a 40-34 overtime victory over Dallas two weeks ago and a six-game losing streak in games played in Southern California -- against either the Rams or Chargers -- when they beat the Chargers 38-20 on week three.

"This year has been crazy ... a lot of firsts," Pederson said on Friday during a teleconference.

The Jaguars also won seven games for the first time since they reached the playoffs in 2017 and when Travis Etienne gained 83 yards to reach 1,000 -- the fifth back in Jags history to get to that barrier -- he became the first 1,000-yard rusher to play for Pederson as a head coach.

Christian Kirk needs 12 yards on Jan. 1 at Houston to become Pederson's first 1,000-yard receiver.

That can be explained by Pederson's balanced offense that spreads the ball out. Thursday night was another good example as quarterback Trevor Lawrence used eight receivers, led by tight end Evan Engram with six catches for 117 yards, and Etienne led six players who had rushing attempts. Lawrence contributed 51 yards on seven carries.

"Even in 2017 [when the Eagles won the Super Bowl] we didn't have a 1,000 rusher or receiver and we still put a championship team together," Pederson said. "I'm happy for Travis, happy for the offensive line and happy for [offensive line coach] Phil Rauscher for putting the run game together."

Pederson doesn't wave a magic wand

Pederson said his only goal when facing a short week is to keep the game plan simple, use practice time as glorified walk-throughs to not tax the players physically -- especially late in the season -- and stress to the team that two games in five days (and three in 12 days) is a mental barrier more than anything.

"There's no magic, no pixie dust," Pederson said. "Just what I feel is right for our football team and where we are. Thursday or Monday -- and I hope we get that in the future -- it's about understanding the team and where we are, their health and how you prepare. On Thursdays, it's about the mental more than the physical. Our guys did a great job. They had a lot of energy at practice, a lot of that juice. There's not a lot of magic, other than the players understanding how important it is to prepare."

Pederson also said that it's a mark of how mature the team has become over the course of the season, despite having only five players 30 years or older and 30 players on the current active roster who are either rookies or in their third pro season or less.

The Jags have playoff hopes in their own hands -- if they beat Houston and Tennessee at home on Jan. 8, they win the AFC South -- and have battled back from a winless October (producing a five-game losing streak), six one-possession losses and the 40-14 debacle in Detroit that dropped them to 4-8 for the season.

But they have rallied to win three in a row for the first time since 2017, two of them on the road, and two against 2021 playoff teams.

The Jaguars' current winning streak, coming in less than two weeks, matches their 3-14 record in all of 2021.

"It's how we've hung together, fought through adversity," Pederson said. "We are maturing, learning how to win, even against really good opponents and fighting to the end. It's what I appreciate about these guys. There is great leadership on this team, veteran guys, but also young guys who have stepped up in a leadership role and played good football. The maturity has grown throughout the course of the year."

Pederson said when he took the job last February that it would not be a quick fix from a team that went 4-29 in the previous two seasons. But he's not surprised the team will be in the thick of the playoff hunt when the calendar page turns to Jan. 1.

"We had hopes and expectations to be in the tournament, win the AFC south and play meaningful games in December and January, and that's where we're at," he said. "We battled through some adversity, some ups and downs and we're still right here at the end of the year and in position to accomplish some of our goals. I like where we're at as a football team. We still have unfinished business. The guys sense that and feel that and believe in it."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: 'There's no pixie dust:' Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said coping with short weeks is mostly mental