Doug Pederson: Another slow start ‘not a recipe for success’

Safety Rayshawn Jenkins said the Jacksonville Jaguars are a “bunch of cockroaches” that can’t be killed after the team climbed out of a 27-point hole against the Los Angeles Chargers. Head coach Doug Pederson doesn’t really want to test that against the Kansas City Chiefs, though.

“You always try to go into every game and try to start fast,” Pederson said Thursday. “Hasn’t been that way probably going back to the Houston game, probably, when we got off to a quick start there. You want to do that. Games like this, everything is on the line. You don’t want to get behind, especially against good teams. It’s just not a recipe for success.”

During the Jaguars six-game winning streak, the opposing team has scored first in five of those games. The only exception — as Pederson said — was the team’s 31-3 blowout of the Houston Texans on New Year’s Day.

Before the Jaguars’ run of comeback wins, the team was unable to overcome a 20-0 deficit in a Week 10 game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Jacksonville punted on five of its first six possessions against the Chiefs in that November meeting. The other drive in that stretch ended with a missed field goal. By the time the Jaguars finally got their offense going, it was too little, too late.

The Jaguars’ ability to persevere through adversity has been impressive and it’s fueled an incredibly fun run to the Divisional Round. But falling in another early hole against the Chiefs would probably mean the end of the road.