Doug Pederson says Jaguars players convinced him to go for 2
The Jacksonville Jaguars rolled the dice in a major way Sunday when they decided to go for the win rather than kick an extra point in the final seconds of a Week 12 game against the Baltimore Ravens.
The all-or-nothing decision worked out for the Jaguars as Trevor Lawrence connected with Zay Jones to give the team a 28-27 lead with 14 seconds left.
After the game, Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said he doesn’t deserve the credit for the gutsy call.
“They wanted to go for two.”#BALvsJAX | #DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/DKC30Dy9JM
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) November 27, 2022
“We’ve gotta think players not plays, and trust our guys,” Pederson told reporters in his postgame press conference. “Our guys believe. Once we scored that touchdown in the end, they wanted to go for two. It wasn’t my decision, the players were like ‘Let’s go.’ I’ve got a lot of faith and trust in them.”
Lawrence deferred most of the credit for the call to Pederson, though.
“We could’ve just kicked a PAT…and he was like ‘No, we’re gonna win it now.’”
Trevor Lawrence loved Doug Pederson’s decision to go for two and give the @Jaguars the win over Baltimore.
🎤 @Amanda_Balionis pic.twitter.com/fjtW120Et4
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) November 27, 2022
“Just really trusting me and Zay to go make a play, I love that from our coach,” Lawrence told CBS Sports’ Amanda Balionis on the field after the game. “We have a chance — we could just kick the PAT and tie it up and go to overtime — but he’s like ‘No, we’re gonna win it now.'”
The truth is likely a combination of players ready to go for two and Pederson happy to trust them to make a play. But who actually made the suggestion in the first place is a mystery for now, as both Lawrence and his head coach would rather applaud the other for the game-winning decision.
