Luke Fortner: Jaguars played more relaxed in 2022 without expectations

The Jacksonville Jaguars are searching for answers to explain why an offense that finished 10th in scoring last year and added more pieces in the offseason hasn’t been able to stop shooting itself in the foot.

Head coach Doug Pederson said Sunday that the Jaguars may have got caught “buying into the hype.” Second-year center Luke Fortner offered a similar but not quite the same explanation Monday when he told reporters that the weight of expectations could be slowing the team.

“I think last year when no one expected us to have a good offense, we’d come out, we’d play relaxed,” Fortner said Monday. “Hey we’re going to go make plays just when they come to us, we’re not going to go looking for extra plays, and we’re not going to go make plays happen. Then they happened.

“Now, we’re saying, ‘We got to be a good offense, we got to go be a good offense.’ We’re all just pushing and pushing and pushing to make all these plays. We have the players in place that it will come to us, and it will happen, we just have to let it.”

Through the first three weeks, the Jaguars offense is 21st in scoring with 19 points per game. The team has turned the ball over five times with at least one giveaway in all three games.

One reason why many were expecting Jacksonville to have one of the league’s most unstoppable offenses was the addition of receiver Calvin Ridley. After recording seven receptions for 92 yards and a touchdown in his first two quarters with the Jaguars, the veteran receiver has struggled in the last couple weeks.

Pederson’s explanation for Ridley’s rough stretch mirrored Fortner’s thoughts on the weight of expectations. The Jaguars coach said that the receiver “wants to prove” that he’s one of the NFL’s best and needs to just relax.

The Jaguars will look to get back on the right track with a two-game trip to London where they’ll play the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills.