JACKSONVILLE – He won't change just to change.
So, while the Jaguars have struggled to stop the run in recent weeks, Head Coach Doug Marrone on Monday said that won't prompt him to change the coaching staff.
Todd Wash, in his fourth season as the Jaguars' defensive coordinator, will remain in that role. Marrone said as much following a loss to the Tennessee Titans Sunday afternoon, and he reiterated during his next-day conference call Monday that he plans no staff changes.
"I don't believe there's a change I can make right now that would make sense for me – or this team – to help us win," Marrone said a day after the Jaguars' 42-20 loss to the Titans at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
Marrone, who has been asked about Wash's job status after the past two games, said he was not philosophically opposed to making staff changes during the season. He dismissed offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett with five games remaining last season, after which quarterbacks coach Scott Milanovich performed the job on an interim basis.
"Obviously, it's something you don't want to do – and you don't think about doing it," Marrone said. "It's obviously something I have done in the past – making those decisions during the season. I feel like if it's going to make our team better and help us win, then I have to do that.
"When you make decisions like that, you have to look at the staff and see if there's someone that can do it better, if you have someone who's better executing that role.
Wash coordinated top-ten defenses the past three seasons, with the Jaguars finishing sixth in total defense in 2016, second in 2017 and fifth last season. The Jaguars remain a strong pass-rushing team this season with 34 sacks – fifth in the NFL – and they rank 10th in the NFL against the pass.
But the team has struggled in high-profile fashion against the run, currently ranking 29th in the NFL in that area. The Jaguars have allowed 200 or more yards rushing in three consecutive games and four of the last seven, allowing 259 yards against Tennessee Sunday.
Titans running back Derrick Henry rushed for 159 yards on 19 carries, scoring on runs of 74 and seven yards on back-to-back plays minutes into the third quarter as Tennessee turned a 7-3 halftime lead into a 25-point lead with four third-quarter touchdowns.
"I think we're all battling," Marrone said. "Not only just Todd – and obviously everyone's going to take pride in exactly what they do, being on that side. But it falls on me, too. And it falls on the assistant coaches and it falls on the players.
"We continue to keep trying to do different things that would be able to help us. The defense is much different than it was obviously two years ago. We've got to continue to do a good job with the players we have to become more consistent."
With the Jaguars 4-7 and having lost three consecutive games – all in the AFC South and all by 20 or more points – Marrone said he has talked to the coaching staff about speculation and talk outside the team.
"I talk to our staff," Marrone said. "When you get to this point in the year, having gone through it as an assistant and a head coach, everyone kind of gets protective and they get isolated.
"We've been doing more things together to stay together, to keep our head up, to keep fighting, to try to build up those walls on the outside and not concern ourselves with things that aren't going to help us fight our way out of this predicament that we're all responsible for getting ourselves in."
