JACKSONVILLE – Press Taylor likes the feel of the Jaguars' offense these days.
The pace is good and the confidence is high. A major reason is the people involved have worked together a while now – and therefore know each other.
There's experience on the unit – and Taylor said that matters.
"A big part of that's familiarity," he said.
Taylor, entering his third season as the Jaguars’ offensive coordinator, spoke to the media Tuesday on Day 2 of the team's 2024 mandatory minicamp at the Miller Electric Center. The minicamp essentially closes the offseason, and Taylor said he likes the state of the offense as 2024 Training Camp – which will open sometime in late July – approaches.
"I think we've established a tempo," Taylor said.
A specific focus for the Jaguars offensively this offseason: A running game that struggled in key situations and in short-yardage last season. Taylor earlier this offseason spoke of tearing the offense down "to the studs." He said on Tuesday while that mostly was about the running game – the "terminology, the structure, the progression of the way we teach it" -- the results of the work won't be known until the regular season.
"That's something where we haven't been as good as we want to be," Taylor said of the running game. "So moving forward, we kind of pared it down. What's really important to us? What do we want to be really good at? What have we been good at? How do we build this thing, rebuild this thing from scratch? That's really where our main focus was."
The Jaguars in 2023 finished 24th in the NFL in rushing and with 25 percent of their running attempts failing to gain a yard. Their 3.6 yards per carry ranked 31st in the NFL.
"The progression, the way we've taught it so far through the offseason, has really stuck with guys," Taylor said. "There's a clear understanding. There are more of things fitting in certain families to where the rules, the techniques are carrying over from play to play. But again, you honestly have no idea if you can run the ball until the games start. Preseason only gives you so much. Obviously, offseason doesn't give you a whole lot."
Taylor added, "There's more understanding. It's not memorization. Now we understand why this word means this, how this relates to that, and our blocking scheme's the same or combination's the same."
The Jaguars in 2023 ranked 14th in the NFL in scoring and 13th in points after ranking 10th in scoring and ninth in yards in 2022. They finished 9-8 both seasons, winning the AFC South in 2022 and missing the postseason with a loss in the final game of the regular season in 2023.
Taylor on Tuesday spoke of an offense this offseason showing confidence, and moving with better pace and efficiency.
"We've established a tempo," Taylor said. "That's something that's not necessarily no-huddle, but a tempo in and out of the huddle – establishing our standard for, 'This is what it looks like.' We'd love to say we established this physicality that we're going to be, but that's just not real right now.
"But there are certain things with the tempo, the way we communicate, in and out of the huddle, playing in the line of scrimmage … there are couple of different things that I feel confident we've been able to do."
The Jaguars' offense in 2024 figures to start at least six players – including quarterback Trevor Lawrence, tight end Evan Engram, wide receiver Christian Kirk, running back Travis Etienne Jr., left tackle Cam Robinson and right guard Brandon Scherff – who have started the past two seasons in the system utilized by Taylor and Head Coach Doug Pederson.
"A lot of this group has been here before," Taylor said. "They understand why things went away, why things changed the way they were called, why we do things we do. It helps when your teach tapes are now our guys. There are no more Indy clips, Philly clips. It's us for two years, whether it's training camp, off season, competitive joint practices, games … whatever that is.
"I think guys watching themselves on tape certainly helps as well."
QUOTABLE
- Wide receiver Gabe Davis on Lawrence: "Trevor's confident. He knows what's going on. He knows what he wants and how he wants something to be done. That's what I like about a quarterback. If you there's a reason you want things to look, let us know. Let's communicate it and figure it out, so we can go out there and get this done."
