Jacksonville Jaguars - The Mental 180
JT: They did the Hokie Pokie and They Turned Themselves Around
The Jacksonville Jaguars Head Coach Doug Pederson and his staff came to the First Coast with it. The veteran Jaguars players, during OTAs, adopted it. The acquired and drafted Jags players were brought to JAX believing it, and the owner Shad Khan enabled it. Now, after the Jaguars display of complete domination, in every facet of the game, against the Indianapolis Colts, the Jacksonville fans are experiencing it. “It,” is the mental 180. A 180-degree mindset change resulting in a true understanding of what the 2022 Jacksonville Jaguars team can be this year. This isn’t the same team that disappointed fans for decades. This is a new brand, a new attitude, a new feeling, a new mentality. Jacksonville’s new mindset was on display, whistle to whistle, this past Sunday against Indianapolis. Not only was the collective player attitude different on the field, but it was noticeably different off the field as well.
Listen (technically read) what Evan Engram had to say after the game. “The biggest thing is we expected to go out and get a victory. Our mentality going into the game was to settle for nothing less than victory.”
Trevor Lawrence talked about enjoying the victory that night but “flipping the script” the next morning and going to work. The LA Chargers are in the headlights and it’s time to focus. This new expectation of winning led to Lawrence’s career best 83% completion rate (25 of 30) against the Colts.
Safety Andre Cisco when talking about turnovers said, “that’s part of our identity, kind of how we see ourselves, as a defense that takes the ball away and that can rely on that.” What? Who are these people? This is obviously not the Jacksonville Jaguars who had a league low nine total takeaways last year. This 2022 team expects to get turnovers. Johnny five (it’ll catch on) sees it as part of the Jaguars identity. This is a phenomenal mindset shift from just a season ago.
Doug Pederson looks at the year as 17 separate seasons. His job is to make sure the team goes 1-0 every “season.” Pederson said, “credit the players for having that mindset and having that attitude each week.” There’s that word again, “mindset.”
If you haven’t watched the post-game interview with linebacker/edge rusher/sack master/backfield blower upper, your friend and mine (call me man, let’s hang out) #41, Josh Allen, then please stop what you’re doing, ‘cause I’m about to ruin, the image and the style that you’re used to (another reference showing my age). Stop everything and go watch/listen (I don’t know how you consume your media) to it right now. Josh Allen very eloquently sums up everything you need to know about your new and improved Jacksonville Jaguars. It was one of the best post-game interviews I’ve heard in a very long time, and it had nothing to do with the questions asked and everything to do with the answers given. He said, “We set a standard for ourselves. This is our standard” Go watch it. Fine, I’ll do the work for you. Lazy people (I see a mental 180 is in order for some readers). Josh Allen postgame presser.
All of these quotes, and there are many more players saying the same thing, are not just talking points. Doug Pederson didn’t hand out a sheet of things to say to the press. These statements are all independent of one another and they all say the same thing. This is a mentality shared by every single player on this team. This is the hump that Jacksonville could never get over. You have to believe before you can achieve. If you can believe it, you can achieve it. Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, you can achieve…and all of the other Successories inspirational quotes, overlaid over a beautiful ocean sunrise picture, you can think of. They sound cheesy and corny because they are, however, they are factual. You can’t reach your goals unless you believe you can reach your goals. Getting your mind right is the first step to achieving any kind of success. This is why so many of those “successful habits” and “millionaire mindset” books sell like hotcakes (to use a simile I’ve never truly understood). By the way, I’ve read my fair share of them and I’m available for motivational talks - group settings, teams both large and small, one on one - have your people call my people (wait until I get some people though).
You know how senior writer for Jaguars.com, John Oehser, always answers some emails (I typed “always” answers “some” emails. That makes no sense.) by saying “[name] is all-in.” Well, in just six short months, from OTAs to week freakin’ two, the entire Jacksonville Jaguars team is “all-in.” Hats off to the writer of FEARLESS for bringing ‘da noise and ‘da funk (but most importantly the mental 180) to Duuuval.
That is the “it.” That is the mental 180 that the Jaguars have made this season. It’s time for the fans to make it as well. Expect to win. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.