Gene Frenette: Maybe it's good thing Jaguars go back to being the hunter in AFC South race

ORLANDO – The whole collapse still gnaws at Doug Pederson. Just the way it all fell apart so incredulously, like a tornado with no forewarning.

The 2023 Jacksonville Jaguars season was a grim reminder to its head coach on the dangers of a team getting too comfortable, of thinking its perch atop the AFC South division would continue ad infinitum.

As Pederson gathered for a roundtable media discussion Monday at the NFL owners meeting, it mostly centered around the impact expected from the incoming free agency class.

More: Gene Frenette: Jaguars using free agency to get more physical in trenches a good offseason start

But he acknowledged the difficulty of putting the entire 2023 season in the rear-view mirror. The ending — a Week 18 loss to the hated Tennessee Titans, capping a six-week slump that torpedoed a division title defense — was a harsh lesson that still lingers.

“For me, it’s not so much that loss as much as it is the last six games, when we were sitting there at 8-3 and we had everything going for us and right in front of us,” said Pederson. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get over it.

“For me, it’s going to be my motivation, my fuel moving forward.”

Part of Pederson’s job, starting when the Jaguars assemble in April for offseason conditioning, is making sure that fuel also goes into the players’ tank and stays there in 2024.

Two years ago, the Jaguars were one of the hunters in the AFC South and that mindset served them well. In constant chase mode all season, they won their last five games to snatch the division title from the collapsing Tennessee Titans in the final week.

When the Jaguars stunned the NFL by recovering from a 27-point deficit to beat the Los Angeles Chargers in an AFC wild-card game, they fit the perfect definition of an ascending team.

In the blink of an eye, it all changed. The script flipped last season and the Houston Texans did to the Jaguars what they had done to Tennessee, so it’s up to Pederson and a retooled roster to rediscover that winning edge and maintain it.

Houston is a problem

While the Jaguars added some much-needed pieces in free agency, notably veterans Arik Armstead, Gabe Davis, Mitch Morse, Darnell Savage and Devin Duvernay, two AFC South rivals were even more aggressive.

The Tennessee Titans made a bombshell deal with the Kansas City Chiefs to acquire Pro Bowl cornerback L’Jarius Sneed. That was after loading up a Brinks truck with $92 million to pry receiver Calvin Ridley away from the Jaguars.

Houston lost edge rusher Jonathan Greenard and his 12.5 sacks to the Minnesota Vikings, then plucked the Vikings’ four-time Pro Bowler, Danielle Hunter, who had 16.5 sacks and an NFL-best 23 tackles for loss in 2023. The Texans also landed underrated Tennessee defensive lineman Denico Autry and traded for productive Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon.

With Texans’ rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud playing like a seasoned veteran, Houston in 2023 pulled off a similar feat to the Jaguars in Pederson’s first season. It came out of nowhere to not just win the division, but the Texans and Stroud are now being hyped the way Jacksonville and Trevor Lawrence were a year ago.

Expectations have soared in Houston. It’s the Texans’ turn to deal with the added burden that comes with being the hunted, a role the Jaguars appeared to handle just fine until the wheels came off right after Thanksgiving.

“It doesn’t change our approach,” Texans’ coach Demeco Ryans said Monday about his team’s new position as defending AFC South champion. “When we line up and the ball is snapped, we’re not worried about being hunted or being the hunter. We’re going out to play great football.”

Pederson was thinking along the same lines a few months ago. But looking back, the harsh reality is there’s a difference between a team having success and being able to replicate it.

“I believe you can definitely get comfortable,” said Pederson. “You can kind of believe and read into the hype that’s surrounding your football team. That’s one that can’t happen.

“You got to guard against that obviously. It’s something I think our team is going to realize moving forward.”

Jaguars hit reset button with new blood

The Jaguars’ collapse forced the hand of GM Trent Baalke in free agency. The reset button had to be pushed.

This team couldn’t just move on from the 2023 season with the same core cast. It needed some veteran players accustomed to postseason success.

Importing guys like Armstead (San Francisco 49ers), Morse and Davis (Buffalo Bills), Duvernay (Baltimore Ravens) and Savage (Green Bay Packers), all with Super Bowl or conference championship game experience, was as valuable to the Jaguars as their production.

“These guys know how to win,” said Pederson. “That’s kind of the influx of talent we want to bring on our young roster. Guys that have been there and done that. I got to continue to message the team in the right way.”

Once OTAs start in May and the 2024 draft class is on board, don’t think Pederson will totally flush how last season went down. It’s never going to leave him.

The interruption of the momentum the Jaguars built in 2022 and the first half of ‘23 was sobering, one of those gut punches a Super Bowl-winning coach can’t easily dismiss.

Pederson remembers all too well from his five-year tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles how a winning formula can vanish. He went from hoisting a Super Bowl trophy and three consecutive playoff appearances, to 4-11-1 and the unemployment line.

Now 56, with the possibility that Jacksonville might be his last NFL head coaching stop, Pederson knows the 2024 season is arguably the most critical in franchise history. Whatever the Jaguars had going as a team before last season went south, they must find it again quickly.

It’s more than just quarterback Trevor Lawrence staying healthy, albeit that’s a big component. It’s a team staying connected. It’s leadership conveying a message that winning can never be taken for granted.

Injuries aside, the Jaguars did a terrible job of handling prosperity last season. To Pederson’s credit, he is rightfully using that to get his team back on course.

“Yeah, as a coach, you’re hopeful that’s the motivation,” said Pederson. “The way we finished the last month and a half is not our standard and it’s not what we talk about. It goes against everything we talk about, really.

“You hate to live in the past, but I think you can remember the past. I think it's fuel moving forward, it's kind of our motivation as we go.”

The recalibrated Jaguars are back to being the AFC South hunter in 2024. Maybe it’s what they need to be relevant again and stay that way.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540; Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @genefrenette 

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Hunter mindset: Jaguars losing AFC South to Texans should fuel them in 2024