JACKSONVILLE – Doug Marrone talked confidence Monday.
The Jaguars don't have it right now, and their recent play has reflected it. That's something the Jaguars' head coach said must change somehow, someway.
"I talked to the players about, 'We're not playing with a lot of confidence,''' Marrone said Monday, a day after a 45-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers at TIAA Bank Field.
"We've got to coach with better confidence. We've got to play with better confidence. That's my responsibility. I've got to do a good job and fight. It's obviously disappointing. There are a lot of words that can describe how we feel.
"We don't have that opportunity to kind of sit back and feel sorry for ourselves. We've got to go. We have to fight. Every day we're learning something. Every day we have to build this thing back to where we can coach and play with confidence. That starts with me."
The loss to the Chargers marked the fifth consecutive game the Jaguars have lost by 17 or more points. They have been outscored 174-57 during that span.
They allowed more than 200 yards rushing during the first three games of the streak, allowing 195 more yards rushing to the Chargers Sunday. Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers also threw three touchdowns Sunday, finishing with the highest quarterback rating in 16 NFL seasons.
The loss officially ended the Jaguars' long-fading playoff hopes, and Marrone on his next-day conference call Monday was asked now the team could maintain confidence following such performances.
"Wins and losses are obviously on me," Marrone said, "but I think it starts with the small things, knowing, 'Hey, listen: This is the way we want it done. I'm going to be able to get you to do it during the week, then we need you to go out and execute it on the field.'
"When people talk about confidence, it really only comes about with winning football games. We haven't done that – obviously now for five straight. You can't just look ahead and say, 'All right: we have to win a game and build confidence.' How do you do it during the week so you can go out there and have a better performance.
"It starts with me, to the coaches and then on to the players."
Marrone on Monday also talked discussed apparent communication breakdowns defensively Sunday. He said one schematic issue arose on the Chargers' last touchdown – a 14-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor to tight end Virgil Green.
"That was a tough play schematically for us, but the rest of them … everything was communicated," Marrone said. "It's more missing the key, or being late, or where they're going or what's going on. Again, it's on us as coaches to make sure we rep it and get them ready. We do the best job we can during the week to get them ready for it. Then, we have to go out there and execute.
"If it was a simple fix, if it was communication, I'd feel a whole lot better about it. I've always said, 'See a little. See a lot. Don't try to look at too much stuff that goes on. Read your keys, adjust and have a laser-like focus that will put you in position to make plays. …'
"We've got the calls. We know how we want to play it. We just get out of position."
Marrone also was asked when he would consider lineup changes.
"That's a good question," he said. "We talk to the coaches about it. We talk to the players about it. You have to put people on the field you trust that are going to be able to do the right thing. You have to trust the coaches are preparing them the right way. …
"If the players aren't playing well on the field, I always put it on us as coaches. It's something we have do to. Now, if we don't feel a player is able to do something out there, if he maybe hasn't gotten it yet, it's our responsibility to put someone in there that can't.
"We're at a point right now we're putting guys out there that we believe in, that we think can get it done, but obviously we're all not doing a very good job of it."
