JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It wasn't pretty, but a win is a win, and the good news is there's only room for improvement moving forward. The Jaguars' offensive line struggled to protect the quarterback, allowing Mac Jones and C.J. Beathard to be sacked five times in total in their 20-7 win against the Buccaneers.
"We got edged a little bit on a couple of those sacks," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said. "And their secondary covered our guys. So, a little bit of everything. We've got to take a look at the film and obviously make some corrections and improve a little bit there."
Despite the sacks, Jones took accountability and viewed the game as a learning opportunity.
"It's a tough defense. They're going to light us up a little bit, and they did a good job," Jones said. "Sometimes in preseason, they don't bring blitzes, and sometimes they don't really care. So, you're going to get both in every game, and I expected it. I planned for it, we all planned for it. I took a few sacks."
Jones added that it's crucial to evaluate what went wrong.
"You have to look at actually what happened. Was it my fault? Was it a coverage thing? Was it a blitz pickup?" Jones said. "I mean, I thought they did good for the most part, and I could get the ball out quicker and throw it away or do whatever. So, I'll watch it and see what happened."
Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke emphasized the team's commitment to building physicality.
"It's just a mindset," Baalke said. "It's something that we worked on all offseason in the preparation phases, in the weight room. We've done a lot of talking about it within the building, within the organization. We want to be the most physical team on the field on that day. That's our goal."
The Jaguars have one more preseason game on the road before opening the regular season on Sept. 8 against the Miami Dolphins.