Jacksonville Jaguars' Doug Pederson's confidence 'still high' in offensive line

The Jacksonville Jaguars offensive line has given up seven sacks and 11 quarterback hits on quarterback Trevor Lawrence in two games, the worst example coming late during the 18-13 home loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday that resulted in a safety.

The Jags are averaging 3.8 yards per rush (it was 4.2 last year). They’re 26 percent in third-down conversions, (1 of 7 on third-and-five and shorter). Issues of scoring in the red zone or converting short yardage remain.

However, Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said “confidence is still there” in the starting five of center Mitch Morse, guards Brandon Scherff and Ezra Cleveland and tackles Cam Robinson and Harrison.

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“I think the communication is probably the biggest issue,” Pederson said, then alluded to the line calls by Morse and recognition of the rush by Lawrence. “Some of the hits [vs. Cleveland] ... whether it was Trevor or Mitch ... these are things we’ve got to fix, making protection calls.”

Pederson said the safety, in which Lawrence was sacked when Myles Garrett forced him into the arm of Alex Wright, who had split Morse and Cleveland, was a matter of Lawrence wanting to wait a split-second more for wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr., to get open on a double move.

“Just execution down there,” Pederson said. “It wasn’t necessarily a communication issue. If we pick up that defensive tackle right there, there’s a big play to Brian Thomas. ”

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Pederson did have a word of caution: the line has to play better against the Bills.

“This is probably going to be the fastest sort of downhill linebacker group we may see all season,” he said. “These guys really attack the line of scrimmage. There were some good things, some good, positive things, nice runs that were in there. And then there were some we failed to execute on. So, you know, confidence is still high and and it's going to remain high.”

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jacksonville Jaguars' Doug Pederson's confidence 'still high' in offensive line