Doug Pederson: ‘We’ll probably each year play 2 games’ in London

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ extended trip to London was a success for the team. They arrived in the United Kingdom with a 1-2 record following a pair of losses, but return to the United States at 3-2 after back-to-back wins overseas.

No NFL team had played multiple games out of the country in the same season before, let alone in consecutive weeks. But Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson doesn’t think it’ll be the last time it happens for his squad.

“I think it’s relatively safe to say that we’ll probably each year play two games over here,” Pederson said Sunday after a 25-20 win against the Buffalo Bills. “I don’t know that. I don’t have a crystal ball. I hope the rest of the league plays two games over here at some point.

“But again, it was good for us, and it was good to get out of Jacksonville at that time. We needed to, I think, bond a little bit as a football team, and we’ve done that.”

The Jaguars have played an annual home game in London since 2013 (with the exception of 2020 when international games were cancelled due to COVID). Their contract to play a game every year at Wembley Stadium ends in 2024, but Jaguars owner Shad Khan isn’t ready for the partnership to end.

“Hopefully we’ll get this thing renewed,” Khan said last week, via Jaguars.com. “It’s been great for the city of Jacksonville. It’s great for the players. It’s been great for us.”

If the Jaguars continue to cede home games to the United Kingdom, it only makes sense for the team to do more two-weekend ventures to London by adding road game to the annual trips.