It was a cold morning in Chicago , November 30, 1993. I had watched ABC News Nightline the previous evening with Wayne Weaver, then of 9 West shoe fame, and now the new face of Touchdown Jacksonville! Nightline spent a segment on NFL expansion, outlining how Charlotte had secured a franchise in October and how the NFL had tabled the decision on the 30th team until their next meeting.

I had been with Weaver the day the league awarded Charlotte a franchise a month ago and then told him to wait. He was not happy. In October, Wayne invited me to walk with him at the Chicago Hyatt to the NFL’s temporary offices where he was to meet with NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. As we waited outside the door for Tagliabue to finish up and speak with Weaver, I asked Wayne, “What are you going to tell him?”

Without hesitation, the future Jaguars owner turned to me with a narrow eyed, unblinking stare and said, “I’m going to ask why we didn’t get what we came here for.”

And with that, the receptionist invited Weaver into the offices. He turned and said to me, “Wait here.” So I sat back down, grabbed a newspaper (still popular then) and settled in for a long wait.

Much to my surprise, it wasn’t more than 15 minutes before Wayne walked back out the door, stern faced and clearly still not happy.

“How’d it go?” I asked somewhat jovially, trying to lighten the mood.

Weaver would have none of it.

“I wanted to know why we didn’t get an NFL franchise and he didn’t have an answer. He said, ‘Be patient,'” Wayne answered as he strode toward the lobby.

There, the other members present in Touchdown Jacksonville were briefed on what the NFL was thinking and what they’re jobs were for the next 30 days. No matter what was said, it was obvious, the league was trying to put a franchise back in St. Louis and avoid Jacksonville. The Cardinals had moved to Phoenix and with the lure of Budweiser and other institutional money in St. Louis, the league wanted a franchise there. And the little publicized fact was Weaver’s connection to St. Louis where he had lived and worked.

But to Jacksonville’s gain, Wayne turned down the league’s suggestion that he become the principal owner and managing partner in St. Louis instead of Jacksonville.

So about 30 days later we were back in Chicago at the same Hyatt going through the same song and dance with the NFL Owners. Weaver had invited me after the viewing of Nightline to go for a run in the morning.

“Seven AM, in the lobby,” he said

So at seven I was standing in the lobby in running shorts and long sleeved shirt and a knit hat. Weaver appeared moments later wearing the most beautiful running suit I had ever seen. We headed out into the cold morning, well below freezing, anticipating something around five miles. We chatted the whole time about how Wayne should present himself to the media when, or if, he got a franchise.

“You’re the shark, we’re the guppies,” I told him. “Move where you want and we’ll follow.”

Then I added, ‘When you’re up there with the Commissioner, look at the back row where the camera’s are. I’ll be standing there pointing into the camera. You look there and you’ll be speaking to all of Jacksonville,” I said with a bit of hyperbole. (In a side note, we stopped at about the three mile mark to catch our breath and out of a grove of trees in the suburbs of Chicago, stepped about a 8 point buck, 10 yards from us. I’m not much for ‘signs’ but I turned to Wayne and quietly said, “You’re getting a team.”)

This time in Chicago they would award one franchise instead of two. Baltimore was still in the picture with two ownership groups, Memphis still thought they had a shot but it was St. Louis and Jacksonville as the front-runners.

Current Jaguars President Mark Lamping knows the inside story of the St. Louis bid. The infighting, the “who’s in charge” that sank their bid. To the public though, they brought in Dan Dierdorf to help make their presentation. Dierdorf, not yet a Pro Football Hall of Fame member (Jack Buck was his biggest patron) might have told the St. Louis story to the NFL Owners but in public he spent most of his time running down Jacksonville. As part of the media in attendance at his press conference, I heard Dierdorf go out of his way several times to outline how Jacksonville couldn’t support a franchise and didn’t deserve one. Perhaps he thought he was doing his job. But at the time, it was unseemly.

Nonetheless, the presentations concluded and the different city representatives were sent to separate suites on one of the top floors of the Hyatt’s adjacent towers.

Weaver invited everybody along who looked like a familiar face from Jacksonville. Ensconced in the suite, the league sent instructions to sit tight while the owners voted. They’d let us know the outcome.

So along with several other media members, I settled in with TD Jax members like Tom Petway and Chick Sheerer to wait. I was looking at the plans HOK had proposed for stadium improvement with Petway when a security guard started to sweep through the suite saying “Media out!”

I grabbed the plans, put them in front of my face and turned on the couch to look at Petway. He just smiled as the guard walked by.

Hearing “But Kouvaris is still in there,” from one of our competitors as the door to the suite was closed only heightened my sense that I was in the right place at the right time, but probably shouldn’t be there.

We had arranged through the Channel 4 News Director Nancy Shafran and a high-level officer of TD Jacksonville a code word, “Tangerine” to tip us off if Jacksonville were to be awarded the franchise.

Suddenly, bursting through the front door was Ron Weaver, a Jacksonville local and Wayne’s brother who had brought Wayne to the table as the principal owner the league was looking for. TD Jax had put together enough money but the league didn’t want to deal with a committee. They wanted one person, and Weaver was that guy.

I jumped out of my seat and found myself in a circle with Ron, Wayne, his wife Delores and David Seldin of TD Jax and the potential Jaguars President.

“You’re getting an NFL team,” Ron blurted out to his brother, red-faced with excitement.

Out of turn I asked, “How do you know that?”

Ron turned to me and said, “Because I just ran into the finance committee chairman in the hallway and he said we were the choice.”

Everybody knew the full NFL Owners membership had never turned down a recommendation of the finance or expansion committee so this seemed to be it: the dream coming true.

“I should go,” I said to Seldin as I turned away, shook both Wayne’s and Ron’s hand and hugged Delores. Seldin agreed and I walked to the sofa to gather my things.

In 1993, mobile phone technology was not what it is now and at the time I carried one of those phones everybody makes fun of: big, bulky, looked like the son of something the GI’s carried in WWII.

As I carefully put the antenna up to the window to see if I had service, I dialed the news director’s private number. When she answered I simply said, “Tangerine.”

“Really? Are you sure?” Nancy said excitedly.

Before I could answer, the other phone in her office rang and she said hold on. In something that seemed surreal at the time, I heard a familiar voice say from the other room of the suite, “Tangerine.” It was our source, confirming what I had just told her.

We quickly formulated a plan, I said my goodbyes’ and headed to the ballroom where the announcement would be made.

As I approached the elevator, a young producer from our competition at the time stepped out of one of the two elevators and asked, “Where is everybody?”

What happened next I’m not sure is ethical or right, but it’s what actually happened.

“Down that hall,” I motioned to her, knowing full well the numerous security guards wouldn’t let her approach the Jacksonville suite.

As she walked off, I stepped into her elevator and hit every floor’s button and jumped out as the door closed. Slowly. I then grabbed the other elevator and hit, “1.” Before the doors opened, I hit every floor’s button on that panel as well, figuring it would buy us some time.

I knew we were right, and wanted us to be first, an important element in the news business.

I briskly walked to the ballroom where Tom Wills, the Channel 4 Anchorman was just about to go on the air.

I had walked by a small room entering the ballroom that had boxes of t-shirts and hats with “Baltimore Bombers” and other contenders emblazoned on the front. The one that was missing was “Jacksonville Jaguars,” confirming what I already knew.

“We’re getting a team,” I said to Tom with a huge smile on my face.

“If you’re sure, let’s go with it,” Tom said. I’ve always appreciated the trust he had in me at that moment, littlerally putting his credibility on the line just on my word.

In seconds we were on the air announcing that shortly, the NFL would award the 30th franchise to Jacksonville.

Sure enough, Paul Tagliabue announced Jacksonville would be awarded the franchise and bedlam ensued at home.

Tom flew back on one of the two private planes Touchdown Jacksonville had brought to Chicago with Petway, Weaver, and several others. I was assigned to stay in Chicago and report from there. In a bit of irony, the plane Tom and Weaver were on had a flat tire and it took a while for them to fix it and get back to Jacksonville.

It didn’t matter though, the team had already arrived.

It’s a bit of a strange week for the Jaguars coming back from a weekend off and also having Thanksgiving in the middle of the workweek. Head Coach Gus Bradley let his team off over the weekend following the win over Tennessee, and gave the players Monday off before bringing them in for a full workday on Tuesday.

“Sometimes I think when you have some time off like that you come back. I know in the past those Mondays that you have after some time off it takes them a while to get going, but not today,” Gus explained today.

They’ll have Thanksgiving Day off, and then finish up preparations for Sunday’s game against Phillip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers. Most players we talked to said the Chargers are the best 2-7 team they’ve ever seen. And most of it starts with Rivers. “He commands the whole offense,” Bradley said on Tuesday. “They go no-huddle and he runs that part of it as well so he just has complete control of the offense, knows defenses, the looks he’s getting and where to go with the ball.”

As far as putting pressure on Rivers in the pocket, Bradley explained why they’d have to play well on the “back end” rather than expect to put Rivers on the ground.

“I know his average time of getting the ball off is under 2.3 seconds, so he gets rid of the ball fast but he takes his shots too. That’s what he did against us last year.”

Now that Sen’Derrick Marks is on injured reserve, the Jaguars are moving a lot of players around on the defensive line. Tyson Alualu has taken on a bigger role. A bit turn of events since Alualu wasn’t sure he’d be on this team in 2015.

“I think with the personnel that we had and when we moved him outside to be head-up on a tackle or head-up on a tight end we did utilize some of his strength so that part of it. I know that was some concern when we got here with his knee but it hasn’t been an issue thus far,” Bradley explained. “His consistency. We know what we’re getting all the time with him versus the run, his toughness, his mentality, every day that he comes to work you know what you’re getting and he’s just been very consistent for us.”

As a free-agent acquisition in the offseason, Jared Odrick was expected to fill a role on the defensive line that wasn’t very glamorous: Take on double-teams, stuff the run, and clog things up. With a sack against the Titans, Odrick raised his profile a bit, but Bradley says he’s always valued Odrick’s contributions.

“I think he’s playing very well,” Gus explained. “When you look at him as far as his role, what we’re asking him to do, and he’s done a really good job. I think he’s been a big part with the run game why we’ve been better versus the run or more consistent versus the run. That was a deal where we felt like we needed that style of player and he’s been a great addition.”

After a win, it’s easy to pick things apart and look at certain situations where it could have been better. When you lose, it’s much more difficult. So on Friday, less than 15 hours after beating Tennessee, Head Coach Gus Bradley was willing to talk about his teams failings in the red zone, something that’s haunted his team all year.

With a first down at the seven yard line to start the half, the Jaguars chose to run Denard Robinson three times, but only gained 5 yards. And all of those were on first down. It was a 13-play drive for 78 yards and 6:50 off the clock after receiving the kickoff so getting only three points was disappointing. With all of the options the Jaguars have on offense, why does it seem so vanilla in the red zone?

“We felt like if we got it to fourth-and-one at that point in time in the game, there was a strong percentage we were going to go for it,” Bradley said as he explained the thought process on a conference call Friday afternoon. “It was second-and-two and we just felt like we could get it on three downs by running the ball. And then when we lost yardage on the third down and went back to where we kicked the field goal.”

All of that is pretty easy to second guess when there’s no success. And it’s not new; it’s been a problem for the Jaguars for a while. Asking why TJ Yeldon hasn’t gotten a chance in that situation gets the same answer from Bradley that he gave after the failure on the goal line against Buffalo: they had Denard in the game.

“We thought we would spell T.J. and give him [Denard Robinson] some reps. ‘D-Rob’ was in there and we went with him. It just happened to be where ‘D-Rob’ was in the game at that time after the hurry-hurry situation …”

After the problems they’ve had in the red zone and the success Yeldon has in small spaces, that’s where Bradley or Offensive Coordinator Greg Olson has to look at Yeldon, go off script, and tell him to get in the game.

But the players have overcome those problems in three of the last four games and come away with a win. That’s the resiliency Bradley has been talking about, the grit and determination he was hoping the 2015 version of the Jaguars would develop.

“Anytime that resiliency pays off and get a win, I think it adds to the mindset. It helps the mindset [and] it gives them confidence,’ he said. “So that part is good. I think we also realize that every game is different, and just because you did it one week doesn’t mean it’ll automatically show up the next week. ”

Whether you watched the game in person or on the NFL Network, you could see a difference in the Jaguars’ body language at the end of the game compared to the last two years and even the first half of this season. They weren’t uncomfortable and seemed to have their act together. Bradley likes what he’s seeing.

“It’s something we can build on and talk to the players about, but more so to understand, ‘What does it take to get to that point where you do have that faith?'”

From a nuts and bolts standpoint, Bradley thought Safety Jonathan Cyprien played well for the third week in a row and liked what Jared Odrick did in the game. He sees improvement in Andre Branch but says he can play better and referred to the “catch radius” when talking about Allen Robinson, Marcedes Lewis and Julius Thomas. “If it’s not perfectly thrown, (they) have the ability to go up and make plays.”

And as good of a designed play the reverse pass from Bryan Walters was, its lack of success surprised Bradley since he had hit it all week in practice. Walters is a former high school quarterback who Gus says has a good arm.

“The timing and whether he had his shoulders squared, whatever the case is. It just didn’t work. He did have good success (in practice), we felt, had a lot of confidence going into it.”

Now with back to back wins for the first time in nearly two years, the second longest drought in the NFL, the Jaguars have a weekend off before preparing for San Diego at home and the final six games of the year. Even with their struggles, could they rest on their recent success?

“They’re sure saying the right things and acting the right way,” Bradley finished with today. “In the locker room, in our talk, in those, couple of players said some things to the team that I thought were spot on. Your actions are going to reflect it. It think when we come back and go back to work, I think that my mind is of the idea that they’ll come ready to go and work because they’ve shown us nothing otherwise.”

Against the Titans tonight, the Jaguars might be a little depleted because of injury but that’s part of the NFL this time of year. The “color rush” uniforms worn by both teams will provide a story line, but this will be a chance for the Jaguars to “ignore the noise,” all of the distractions that go with playing a Thursday night game, and win their fourth game of the year.

While it’s simplistic to distill the game down to a matchup between two young quarterbacks, they do hold the key to their team’s success.

Last week the Jaguars beat Baltimore despite Blake Bortles struggling. The coaches and Bortles himself admitted afterwards that the whole offense had trouble getting in sync, but Bortles also knew he was a part of that problem.

“It’s good to see other parts, defense, special teams, pick us up when we’re not playing well. That’s why it was a team win,” Bortles said on Tuesday.

In the locker room after the game, Head Coach Gus Bradley asked Bortles if he played his best, and emphasized how they still won, with other players getting the job done.

“It’s not all on him and I want him to know that. Keep us in games and good things will happen,” Gus recalled saying. “I see his leadership, he’s always been a pretty strong leader, a different styled leader but the team really responds to him. I think he’s done a really good job of growing. We understand that there are going to be games where he’s playing with more consistency than others, but he’s doing some good things.”

On defense, the Jaguars haven’t gotten much pressure on the quarterback and they won’t again tonight. Not from a lack of effort or scheme, but just because the Titans and Marcus Mariota get rid of the ball quickly out of the backfield. Mariota’s ball handling skills have been on display since his time at Oregon and perhaps his arm is a bit stronger than most scouts expected in the pro game. So it’ll be important for the linebackers and the corners to not give him much of a window to throw into when they’re in man coverage.

Despite a bit of a rocky relationship with parts of the media, Titans Interim Head Coach Mike Mularkey says he’s looking forward to coming to Jacksonville. He didn’t get much of a chance the year he was here as head coach, but still lives in Atlantic Beach and says he’ll make it his permanent home once he retires. That might not be soon if this “audition” works out with Tennessee for the second half of the year. “This is not a dress rehearsal,” Mularkey pointed out this week. “It’s my job to get this team as ready as possible to play against the Jaguars.”

Weather could be a factor tonight, but rain or not, look for the Jaguars to try and run the ball against the Titans and take their shots down field when they can. No matter who the running back is, Offensive Coordinator Greg Olson said this week the Jaguars have to run the ball more effectively and challenged the offensive line to make that happen.

Should be fun tonight with all of the surrounding things that go into a nationally televised night game. About a half dozen PGA Tour pros will participate in a “closest to the pin” contest from the fourth level in the South End Zone hitting out to the 50-yard line. It’s about a 125-yard shot but the thing they have to account for is the wind that high. When the Jaguars invited the media to hit the shot this week, it was blowing about 20 mph out of the east.

While the “color rush” will include all gold from head to toe, the Jaguars will have the option to use the gold jersey in the future as their alternate jersey.

Kickoff is 8:25 with the Jaguars Pregame show starting at 7pm.

In his never-ending optimistic look at his team and life in general, Jaguars Head Coach Gus Bradley applied that to the win over the Ravens on Monday.

“Bottom line, your quarterback didn’t play very well but you were still in the game in the end and you figured out how to win it,” I said as Bradley met with the media.

“Well, he did make those throws in the last drive to give us a chance,” Gus said immediately in defense of Blake Bortles.

“Yeah, but what’s that say about your team? It’s the first time since you’ve become a head coach here that your team didn’t play its best and still managed to win the game. That’s saying something,” I pressed.

“That’s why playing your best is always the goal,” Bradley said, drawing an imaginary line on the wall. “We won the game, and that’s here, but we didn’t play our best, and that’s here,” he emphasized, putting both lines at the same level. “So when you play your best, you’re up here,” he said raising one hand above the other. “And that’s when the wins come.”

Without Blake Bortles playing well, the Jaguars needed other parts of their roster to step up: and they did. Defensively, generally on special teams and the wide receivers made plays. It shows the rest of the roster is getting better, and that their margin of error is a little larger than in the past.

“My message to him (Bortles) after the game was, ‘Were you at your best? Were you at your best yesterday?’ Bradley said at his press conference. “He said he wasn’t and I said ‘How was the outcome? We still won.’ I think that’s a valuable lesson for him in a young quarterback and for him to think that the only way we have a chance is if I play lights out. That’s not the case.”

But Bradley admitted he wants to see improvement from Bortles and the entire offense. They show flashes, but still struggle in the red zone and move the ball in fits and spurts.

“Offensively we weren’t as efficient as we needed to be. I thought we saw good execution during the week of practice, but when it got in the game, we got away from it a little bit,” he explained. We’d like to see more touchdowns. Overall, just the execution offensively and efficiency in the passing game is an area that I think we need to improve on.”

Late Monday, the NFL told the Ravens that Luke Joeckel wasn’t set on the last play and a penalty should have been called and the game ended. It’s so easy to go back and look at critical plays in every game to figure out what went wrong and how it should have gone the other way. Bryan Walters had his feet down last week. Odell Beckham caught the ball for the Giants in the end zone on Sunday night. Big deal, the game is over. But Bradley did go through the sequence leading up to the last play and how he showed some “time critical” plays to the team last Friday emphasizing how everybody had to do their job just to run the play.

“We talked about how little things like that are so important because they give you an opportunity. To see that really come up in the game was cool. Did they reflect back on that? I don’t know. You look at Julius Thomas; he caught the ball and right away he handed the ball to the official and hustled back. That’s been a coaching point through training camp. You saw receivers 30 yards down field and turn around and run back and get all lined up and we made sure we had enough guys on the line of scrimmage. A guy like Wis [C Stefen Wisniewski] is looking at the clock and snapping it with less than two seconds because he knows that’s our only opportunity for everybody to get set up. I think there are so many things that had to take place in that last play for us to get that opportunity and to see that on tape and be able to show that to the players is going to be cool.”

One thing the Jaguars have is “want to.” Sometimes it’s missing on a professional football team, that will to win. They’re getting paid, win or lose and oftentimes on losing teams players look internally and figure if they’re doing their job, they’ll keep their job. I once asked Eric Curry when he came over from Tampa Bay to the Jaguars what the difference was between the two teams.

“These guys want to win,” he said with a laugh. “It’s a good feeling in the locker room to play with guys who want to win.”

In his postgame speech, Bradley lauded the team for their will and ability to play to the end of the game. He told them that some teams search for that intangible for years.

“So many times as a coach, you’re saying ‘I hope they develop that, I hope they learn what it takes and to do it every play and every situation.’ I know it’s something that you hope that your team can demonstrate when needed and I just thought they demonstrated it.”

How does a team develop that will? Bradley believes it comes with players working with each other and believing that their teammates will do their job.

“I think you’re starting to see guys trust and develop those things that we talked about last week and the week before about their effort, their grit, all those things that they’ve been developing. It was good yesterday because they came and we put it together and it gave us an opportunity.”

It was another Monday at the stadium with Gus Bradley after a Jaguars loss. In the past two years, the tone was different because the Jaguars weren’t even in most of the games the lost. This year, it’s usually one possession or two that makes the difference between winning or losing. Even in the Jaguars two victories, one possession made the difference.

“I love the spirit of our team,” Bradley said outlining the positives in the loss to the Jets. “I love how they’re relentless and they don’t blink and they battle and they fight and they scratch. They’ll do anything they can to give us a chance to be victorious. Unfortunately, it’s not enough.”

Earlier in the year, Bradley was concerned that he wasn’t getting 100% effort on every play from every player. He thinks that has changed, and for the better.

“Yeah I think that through the last couple of weeks some things that are taking place. The standard for us will not change. The players adjust to the standard that we create and I think they understand that. Sometimes players come in from other teams and they have to learn the standard and learn what’s expected from them in all situations.”

If the Jaguars are in these “one possession” games, what’s keeping them from winning more? This year, unlike the previous three, they’re making enough plays to win games. But they’re also making enough mistakes to get them beat. With that combination, and the margin of error in the NFL, you don’t win often.

“I think for us to make the next big step is what do winning teams do consistently? Gus said, echoing the message he gave to his team. “I think when those teams make plays at critical times like we did in Buffalo. When you get into a situation at a critical time, go down and score and defensively stop them and win a game. We need to do more of that consistently when those times show up and I think that’s what this team continues to grow from.”

Now in the middle of his second season as a starter, Quarterback Blake Bortles looks like a second year starter: He makes some great plays and some bonehead mistakes. Usually he’s decisive in the pocket but against the Jets, indecision led to a sack, a fumble and a turnover. Bradley seems to accept that as part of the growing process at that position.

“He was (indecisive). I think sometimes with Blake, he’s had the ability to, when he extends plays, to make big plays. He’s done that throughout the game. He’s done that throughout the year. I think down in that area, he was extending the play and looking to make a big play. It wasn’t there, so now, just take what you can and move on to the next play.”

Anytime Bradley talks about WR Bryan Walters, he talks about how you can “trust him.” He reiterated that on Monday, saying Walters and other players are building trust with their teammates by consistently making plays. But having said that, Gus explained that the game plan on punt return was to have Walters field it if it was expected to land inside the ten (because of his decision-making on catching it, letting it go, etc.) and have Nick Marshall as the returner if it was outside the ten.

At that point in the game, the Jaguars needed the ball, as Bradley has said for a couple weeks, they needed to play “situational football.” But they stuck to the game plan and Marshall fumbled, in essence ending the game. The head coach said they’ll evaluate what they’re going to do going forward on punt return this week but explained why Marshall was in the game.

“I think with Nick’s situation, one of the things that we’re looking at, we’re looking for returns. We’re trying to get more yards return. Kickoff return, he had a couple of really good returns. Then, the punt returns, the 20-yarder. Going into that, where it was on the field, felt like he gave us the best opportunity. I think when you looked; he saw a lot of green grass down the sideline. Took his eye off of it, first foot, second. You can’t do that.”

We’ve heard that from the Jaguars Head Coach a few times when it comes to young players. He’s willing to put up with some early mistakes but they can’t make the same ones over and over. He gave Jason Myers a pass after the Indy game but put him on a short leash. Marshall might have spent his one chance in New York.

There was an odd situation at Jaguars practice this week: injuries didn’t dictate who could play.

“It’s the first time I’ve looked out on the practice field away from our field and there was no one out there,” Head Coach Gus Bradley said. “That’s a good feeling, to see guys get reps and the number of receivers that we have, running backs and safeties and all of those things. It’s a good sign.”

Although Rashad Greene isn’t eligible to play until the Tennessee game in two weeks, he was practicing, working on his conditioning. Marqise Lee took some reps during the team and the individual drills. The competition at defensive back was heated since the three guys trying to earn the starting spot are all healthy. The coaching staff dragged out the decision on the starter into the weekend trying to get the most information they could.

“So, kind of let it play out again today and see. I know, like I told you [the media], [Dwayne] Gratz did pretty good [and Davon] House did pretty good,” Bradley explained. “I think ‘D-Mac’ [Demetrius McCray] showed up better today than he did yesterday.”

There’s a lot of talk in the NFL of shutting out “the noise.” That’s the stuff about winning streaks, playoffs and coaching hot seats. But Bradley knows the players are adults and hear plenty about all of those things. The fact that the Jaguars are 2-5 isn’t keeping them out of the playoff picture because the AFC South is so bad this year. So, somewhat begrudgingly, Bradley did talk to his team about what’s at stake, but not like, “hey, we can make the playoffs!”

“No, and I think when I said I acknowledged it the other day, it wasn’t like we put up the standings and showed everything. It was just more, ‘There’s some talk,’ so we just acknowledged it. I said, ‘Hey, this is the position, and now let’s go back to work.”

Playing at the Jets and at Baltimore in the next two weeks, the Jaguars have a chance to break their 12 game road-losing streak. Blake Bortles has never won a game on the road. All five wins in the last two years have come at home. Bradley said he didn’t bring that up this week, choosing to focus on things internally instead.

“It really hasn’t changed our mindset, as far as that’s concerned,” Bradley said on Friday before heading to New Jersey. “I really want these guys to understand how important the process is, how important it is to respect the day and get everything we can out of it and really truly believe about going in there and being our best.”