LONDON — The Jacksonville Jaguars are underachieving after a 1-4 start to the 2024 season. What matters most though, Jaguars owner Shad Khan told the Times-Union in an exclusive interview on Saturday, is how the team finishes.
Khan cited Jacksonville’s past two seasons as part of his thought process. The team began the 2022 season 2-6, finishing 9-8 to become AFC South Champions. In 2023, however, Jacksonville flipped that, starting the year 8-3, while finishing 9-8 and out of the playoffs.
“So, to me, every game you go to, you want to do everything to win it and this is the NFL, that’s hard. Every game is competitive. A loss is a loss, but [it’s about] how you lose,” Khan said. “To me, the three games we lost early in the season, it’s disappointing, [but] we could have won them.”
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Khan said the team’s 47-10 Monday Night Football loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 3 was “embarrassing,” but he remained steadfast in supporting Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke.
“I admire what Trent [Baalke]’s done, Doug [Pederson]’s done and I think, how do we support them to have better results, more wins?”
Jacksonville’s four losses this season have, outside of the team’s blowout loss against the Bills, essentially come in the same fashion.
The team either had leads or opportunities to take leads late in their losses to the Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans. They didn’t, though, and questions have been raised about whether or not the franchise is headed in the right direction led by Pederson and Baalke.
The concern has been amplified after Khan declared in the offseason that “winning now is the expectation,” and that “this is the best team assembled by the Jacksonville Jaguars, ever. Best players, best coaches, but most importantly let’s prove it by winning now,” he said to the team just before training camp.
Though the losses this season aren’t matching those expectations, Khan’s outlook remains unchanged.
“No. Not at all,” Khan said when asked whether he has changed his thoughts on what he said this summer.
“I still believe in them. I believe in the players, I believe in the coaching staff. I believe in Trent [Baalke]. Obviously, the results are disappointing for all of them, just as well as me or any other Jaguar fan, but, the key thing one has to understand [is] we have evolved and really got to a level. I think we’ve got the players, we’ve got the coaching, we’ve got the facilities.”
The Jaguars have posted back-to-back winning seasons for the first time under Khan since he became the team’s owner in 2011, with his first full season of ownership coming in 2012. His optimism, in part, stems from that and his investments in the team over the last couple of years, have shown that he believes the team is ready to compete on a year-in-and-year-out basis.
“I expect us to be competitive and winning every year and we have graduated to that point and not be someone we don’t know. So, sharing my expectations, I believe that,” said Khan.”The coaches who are there, players who are there, they’re coming here to win and if they’re not comfortable with that, they shouldn’t be here. That’s the team institution we want to be.”
Ultimately, Khan feels like the Jaguars, as a whole, are in a good spot.
“I think [the Jaguars are] obviously headed in the right direction in a good way. I mean, you look at what’s happening with the stadium, I think you look at our fans, the support we have. I think we’re in a good place,” Khan said.