Why the Jaguars can't afford to repeat 2023 mistakes

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- The beginning of the 2024 season looked a lot like the last part of the 2023 season for the Jacksonville Jaguars .

Missed opportunities, untimely mistakes, questionable decisions ... and a loss.

But players say what happened in their 20-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday is not a sign that they haven't made any progress in fixing the issues that led to their 1-5 slide that cost them a playoff berth last winter.

"It's early on," tight end Evan Engram said. "We're going to learn from this. This isn't a gut-punching loss to us. We're going to bounce back from this."

If the mistakes continue, the Jaguars face the real possibility of an 0-4 start. Their next three games are against 2023 playoff teams -- including AFC South foe Houston Texans -- in what is the hardest strength of schedule in the league from Weeks 1-4 based on opponents' win percentage last season, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

The Jaguars had a 14-0 first-half lead over the Dolphins but got outscored 20-3 the rest of the way, marking the first time since Week 8 in 2022 that they lost a game in which they had a double-digit lead at any point.

It all fell apart in the second half, and there was plenty of blame.

Running back Travis Etienne Jr . fumbled inside the 5-yard line and the Dolphins recovered in the end zone, killing what would have been a TD drive in the third quarter that would have put the Jaguars up three scores. According to ESPN Analytics, the Jaguars had a 92% chance to win the game when Etienne fumbled.

Receiver Christian Kirk had a third-down drop (he had another on third down in the first half) and tackles Anton Harrison and Cam Robinson gave up sacks on back-to-back plays on the Jaguars' final drive. Robinson whiffed on a block on a fourth-and-1 play from the Jaguars' 32-yard line -- a questionable decision by head coach Doug Pederson and a weird play call of an outside run. There were also false start and delay of game penalties on punts.

In the fourth quarter, the Dolphins out-gained the Jaguars 105-4. Meanwhile, the Jaguars' offense went 0-for-5 on third downs and 0-for-1 on fourth downs in the second half.

"We beat ourselves," defensive end Josh Hines-Allen said. "I don't think they really beat us. They had a lot of good players, but at the end of the day, I don't feel like they beat us. I think we beat ourselves and put them in that position to capitalize off of it."

Coming up, the Jaguars have a home game against Cleveland (0-1) on Sunday followed by back-to-back road games at Buffalo (1-0) on "Monday Night Football" and Houston (1-0). If the Jaguars continue malfunctioning over the next three weeks, they could put themselves in a deep hole that they can't climb out of.

Only one team has ever made the NFL playoffs after an 0-4 start: The 1992 San Diego Chargers, who went 11-1 the rest of the season, won the AFC West and won a wild-card game before losing in the divisional round.

Considering owner Shad Khan told the team on the first day of training camp that he expected them to make the playoffs, the Jaguars can't have the self-destruction from last Sunday continue through the rest of the month.

"What happened [Sunday] ... don't make it more than it is," Lawrence said. "We know we have to improve and get better. The reality is, though, it's Week 1 and we're 0-1. Not the start we wanted, but even if we're 1-0, we still have 16 more games that we've got to do something with.

"... We've got to be able to play with the ebbs and flows and make those plays when we need. And I take that on myself too. I've got to make a play in that last drive that we ended up having because you're sitting there and you don't get the ball back and you feel like you blew your shot."