While thankfully talk of the post-season has faded since last week’s loss to the Chargers, the Jaguars five remaining games will give them a glimpse to the future and a chance to put some numbers up that show they’re an improving team.

Facing the Titans today, they have a chance to win their 4th game in six tries and grab their fifth victory of the season, a number they haven’t reached since 2011

“Football, like life,” Owner Shad Khan said in London, “Isn’t a straight line up. There are some ups and downs.” Khan was referring to the overall picture of the Jaguars since he took over in 2012 and the assessment of General Manager Dave Caldwell and Head Coach Gus Bradley.

When you look at the big picture, no question the Jaguars are an improved and improving team. But when you see it game-by-game, play-by-play, the mistakes and consequently the losses can be discouraging. It’s not in his nature to be discouraged so Bradley chooses to see it from the other side of the equation.

“We’ve entered this next stage,’ Bradley said earlier in the season after one of several close, heartbreaking losses. “It’s a stage where we’re in these one possession games and we need to learn how to win those games.”

In the cyclical world of the NFL, the Jaguars should be an ascending team considering their draft position in the last four years and the money they’ve had available in free agency.

Showing that he didn’t think they were ready yet, Caldwell has been very conservative during free agency, taking players in their second contract phase who looked to have some years and some upside remaining in their career. This year’s class has provided some stability both short and long term on offense and defense. Based on the growth of their young players and what the expectation will be when it comes to wins and losses next season, it won’t be surprising to see a shift in the free-agent focus once 2015 concludes.

To a certain point, Caldwell and the Jaguars will be interested in short-term fixes and big-money free agents they haven’t competed for in the past. The losses of Sen’Derrick Marks, Dante Fowler and James Sample this season didn’t give them a chance to look at those three positions (interior Dine, Leo and safety) and those three have been deficient in their 2015 production. No doubt free agency will be a place the Jaguars look to fix that issue.

Still in the NFL’s concussion protocol program, Allen Hurns won’t play today, his first missed game in 27 NFL games. Marqise Lee should get the start after missing six of the first eight games with a hamstring injury. Lee has great speed and was a dynamic college player, but since turning pro, he hasn’t been able to stay healthy. Every time he runs a route, he’s one of those guys you expect to put his hand up and come to the sidelines once the whistle blows. If he can stay healthy and productive, it changes the whole dynamic for the Jaguars offense.

The same could be said for Rashad Greene who’s “suddenness” Gus Bradley has talked about during the week. Greene’s 63-yard punt return set up the game winning TD for the Jaguars in the last meeting between these two teams on November 19th. Adding him to the offensive mix creates matchup problems for a third corner or a safety trying to cover him in the slot.

Putting Toby Gerhart on injured reserve ended his season and possibly his Jaguars career this week. Bernard Pierce is listed as questionable and Dan Skuta will miss this game as well.

Today against the Titans it’s a chance to show that the Jaguars are capable of beating teams they’re supposed to beat. Going up against a team that’s “beatable” and taking care of business is something the Jaguars need to learn how to do in a business like fashion.

Across the board, the Jaguars are a better team than Tennessee and quarterback play will be the difference. If Blake Bortles starts to play better as he had earlier this year, the Jaguars will come home with a victory. But if he continues to struggle, especially in the red zone and if Marcus Mariota’s ball handling, running and intermediate passing game are successful, it’ll be tough to secure a road win in Nashville.

If you want to consider most everything else on both teams being equal, it could come down to quarterback play this week for the Jaguars against the Titans. As the number two pick out of Oregon, Marcus Mariota is a true rookie. Blake Bortles is in the middle of his second year in the league. Bortles has shown great improvement over his rookie year although he’s hit a bit of a plateau recently while Mariota has been impressive since day one. His quarterback rating through 11 games is 92.0, good by any measure.

“That’s a pretty good quarterback rating,” Jaguars defensive coordinator Bob Babich said on Thursday. “I believe in the red zone that he’s really good. He’s done a great job for a rookie. Obviously, I think as our players do on our defense, rookies, as they play, the more they play the better they get and the more things they recognize, and those types of things.”

Babich agreed that Mariota is most comfortable with intermediate passing routes because of the offense he played at Oregon. But it’s his ability to keep plays going and get out of trouble that Babich said he recognized early.

“Well, I think he can scramble and make some plays with his legs. He’s doing a good job of scrambling with vision and looking downfield and pulling it down … And I think that with slants and things like that, he’s really good with his timing and his accuracy.”

Just 18 days are between the two meetings of the AFC South rivals, so what they used in the first meeting doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll show up in game two.

“You can’t get comfortable because you think ‘We know those guys,” Head Coach Gus Bradley said a couple of times this week. “You get to know their personnel but last time it was a short week. They didn’t show everything, they’ll have some new players in the lineup. We have to guard against thinking we know what’s coming.”

Babich agreed you have to look at it like a whole new opponent. “It’s a little cat-and-mouse game, obviously the same thing – we’re looking at what they did versus us. In a game like this, your fundamentals – you have to make sure your fundamentals take over – and possibly do some things schematically, or whatever you need to do.”

Last week Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers took advantage of a Jaguars defense that seemed to regress to the same problems they created at the beginning of the year. Part of that was Rivers, part of that was the defense just not playing well. Not enough pass rush, not good enough play on the back end.

“We were discouraged – starting with me,” Babich explained. “We were discouraged with the way we played, in particular in the second quarter. The guys came out, fought hard [and] gave up only 10 points in the second half. So, starting with me, I have to do a better job.”

Quarterback, quarterback, quarterback.

That’s what the NFL is about and looking for their 3rd win in a row and 5th overall, the Jaguars ran into one of the elite signal-callers in the game. Phillip Rivers put on a clinic, using the Jaguars defense as his plaything throwing four touchdown passes in a 31-19 win by the Chargers.

Despite move the ball up and down the field at will in the first half, the Jaguars red zone woes continued. Some of it’s play calling, other problems involve execution but whatever they point to, it’s not working.

Winning the toss and taking the ball, the Jaguars marched right down the field with a 10-play 76-yard drive that ended with a Jason Myers field goal and a 3-0 lead. Three passes from inside the 12 yard line, one incomplete, the fade that Blake Bortles just doesn’t throw very well that forced the field goal try.

Defensively, the Jaguars stopped the San Diego run and the Chargers made enough mistakes to keep themselves from driving, showing why they have two wins coming into the game.

Another drive by the Jaguars stalled at the 33 so Myers kicked his second FG of the game to make it 6-0. The Chargers had a net zero yards rushing in the first quarter. Quarterback Phillip Rivers was 5 of 7 for 75 yards.

As the offense bogged down in the second quarter, the Chargers found some rhythm. Rivers drove his team inside the 10 and completed the drive with an easy pass to Dontrelle Inman for the TD. A simple out route from the slot put Dwayne Gratz on his heels and gave San Diego a 7-6 lead.

To their credit, the Jaguars came right back. A nice punt return by Rashad Green, helped by a 15-yard hit out of bounds penalty put them in Chargers territory. A run by Bortles and a catch by Julius Thomas put the ball in the red zone but again they couldn’t do anything with it. Bortles might have had a chance to run for the first down but would have had to absorb a big hit to do so. He chose to flip it in the end zone, but was across the line of scrimmage. Another FG by Myers made it 9-7.

If you’re going to beat the Chargers and Phillip Rivers you’re going to have to convert the red zone opportunities into touchdowns and the Jaguars haven’t been able to solve that part of the field.

That’s because when Rivers gets his team into position, he converts with touchdowns. Under two minutes in the first half, Antonio Gates came out of the backfield and beat Davon House in the end zone easily to give the Chargers a 14-9 lead. It was a little bit of a different formation, a small twist on what the Jaguars had been seeing, but just enough to make House think about it and Gates was wide open.

Trying to make something happen, Bortles didn’t see Manti Te’o over the middle and threw an interception, his seventh straight game with a turnover. This one meant points for the Chargers as Rivers found Gates matched up against Jonathan Cyprien for a TD. Gates vs. Cyprien is actually no match so San Diego took a 21-9 lead to the locker room at halftime.

In a game the Jaguars seemed to dominate early, San Diego scored TD’s instead of kicking field goals and took advantage of their breaks to score 21 points and lead by twelve with 30 minutes to play. What I’m sure is frustrating to most fans is the innovation the opposing teams seem to have with their scoring opportunities while the Jaguars playbook seems mundane and predictable inside the 20-yard line. With the kind of talent they have at receiver and with TJ Yeldon at running back, it would seem the Jaguars could have all kinds of options when it comes to scoring. But they stick to their script and in this game, scored nine points in the first half.

It was much more of the same script in the third quarter. The Jaguars again drove the ball inside the Chargers 10, only to have to settle for a field goal and being down 21-12. Without crossing routes or the threat of TJ Yeldon running (apparently by choice) the Jaguars don’t have any imagination when it comes to their red zone offensive plan and it leaves Bortles looking, and looking and looking. Blake also had his second “illegal forward pass” penalty when he could have run for a first down inside the five-yard line. He’s still a little off and needs to be more aware in each of those situations.

Perhaps the difference a talented, experienced quarterback can make was never more on display than in this game. Bortles had flashes in between the 20’s but Rivers had command of his offense, and the Jaguars defense, putting up three more points on the Chargers next possession to lead 24-12.

Rivers finds the open receiver, checks down when he needs to and anticipates the moves by his receivers, putting the ball in the air long before his target makes his break. Bortles is still waiting for the receiver to come open and numerous opportunities, particularly over the middle of the field, were left out there.

In the 4th quarter, Bortles showed why the Jaguars drafted him with some toughness and a strong arm. His decision-making wasn’t great, but on 4th down from the Chargers 21-yard line, he hit Julius Thomas with a bullet for a touchdown to bring his team within 24-19. Thomas has great hands and they were on display as he caught the ball going away from him for a TD. A perfect throw and catch to make it a one score game.

But with 12 years of experience behind him, Rivers didn’t flinch and drove the Chargers right back down the field, converting a 4th and 7 by running to the marker and throwing his 4th TD pass of the game to give SD a 31-19 lead. It chewed up some clock as well, taking 14-plays, 80-yards and 6:13 off the clock.

Going for a low throw, Allen Hurns went into the turf, head first and was taken off the field on a stretcher during the Jaguars next drive. It ended with Bortles hit Denard Robinson for 6 yards on 4th and 8. Hurns’ injury was called a concussion but he was immobilized immediately and taken to the locker room.

With 1:33 left in the game, the Jaguars didn’t put anybody back and blocked a San Diego punt, getting the ball on the Chargers 14 yard line. Bortles threw up a 50-50 ball on a quasi-back-shoulder fade to Allen Robinson that ARob came down with for a TD. Myers missed the extra point but the and the Jaguars were down 31-25 with 1:21 left.

The on-side kick was clearly batted out of bounds but that’s not illegal if it’s batted sideways and the Chargers knelt the rest of the game away.

It was apparent there were 10 years of experience between Rivers and Bortles in this game. Rivers used the whole field, anticipated who was going to be open and still has enough arm to get it there when needed. Bortles is still early in the learning process and it showed. Switch quarterbacks in this game, and the outcome is reversed.

Growing with a young quarterback is sometimes what bonds a team and it’s fans. You can only hope Bortles has a growth spurt soon.

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.”

There are some subtle changes to the bye week for the Jaguars players although Gus Bradley wouldn’t outline them specifically. He did say he didn’t “want guys to go home and run hill sprints with their personal trainers” but outside of that, stay out of trouble, clear your mind and be ready for the second half of the season when they come back.

Bradley’s look at the Buffalo win gave him a chance to assess where the Jaguars are seven games into his third season.

“Coming off of this game that we just had, a lot of good things, a lot of things that we need to improve on,” he said at his final press conference of the week. “I think we really need to focus on those areas and attack them like we’ve done some of the other things, try to be ahead of the curve on some of the things coming out of the bye.”

Bradley got specific about certain situations, saying that they won’t be afraid to bring in some kickers if Jason Myers seems to be struggling. And he said the cornerback position that’s been up for grabs between Davon House and Dwayne Gratz remains so. Gratz got the start against Buffalo but House saw plenty of action. Bradley says he wants Gratz to take better advantage of opportunities.

“I think he’s a good technician. I want to challenge him more to be more of a playmaker when there is opportunities. Not guess and go ball-hawking, but when the opportunity presents itself, take advantage of it. I think that’s a step that he needs to take.”

I asked Gus after the game in London if the package on the goal line with Tyson Alualu at fullback only included Toby Gerhart at tailback. He said it did, but admitted that TJ Yeldon “makes people miss” and might be an option there in the future.

“If you look at analytics it probably says kick the field goal at that time.. It was a coach’s choice and it was a strong to go for it. I felt strongly for this reason: I feel like we came out of the locker room and we had a long drive. It was 13 plays. We were ahead by quite a few. It was more of a message to this team, let’s finish. Let’s finish right now, let’s put this in and let’s find a way. And it didn’t work out that way.”

He’s right. If they kick the field goal there, they’re up by three scores. But Gus stuck by his conviction thinking his defense could handle it if Buffalo bot the ball back on the one. But it was a huge momentum swing that the Jaguars took over a quarter to stop. That might have been the most surprising thing and perhaps a signal that the young players on the Jaguars are starting to mature and develop as expected. They stopped the momentum of the Bills and created some of their own.

“It was outstanding to stop momentum and switch it in your corner after the number of three and outs,” Bradley explained. “You talk about uncomfortable, keep your spirit and great growth, its classic illustration right there.”

It might have been most important for a young team to have a positive vibe coming home from London and going into a bye week. Gus likes to talk about the “fits” and “how things look” when reviewing a game. A lot of the Buffalo game had the right look and in the end, a victory on the scoreboard.

Perhaps as a lesson to his team he couldn’t have drawn it up any better.

“To have it all come together in that situation was cool. There was poise, there was grit, there was resolve and all the things that we talk about day after day they used in that situation. They felt it and it was cool.”

Of all the things Jaguars Coach Gus Bradley has said in the last few weeks about the Jaguars performance and lack of success, perhaps the most insightful has been about the “stage” the Jaguars are in at this point in their development. Bradley points at the double-digit losses in 2013 and 2014 and how the team has grown since then. Getting into one-possession games in the fourth quarter is what the NFL is all about. A one score game can change with the next possession: If the team behind scores, they grab the momentum. If the team leading scores, the game is basically over.

That’s why Sunday’s win in London could be considered a step in the right direction for the Jaguars. Having built a big lead in the first half, they fell apart in the third quarter but regained the lead late and held on for victory.

“There’s a lot to be said about this game,” Bradley said, his voice hoarse from his in-game exhortations.

“We’ve got to go back and look at some things. To have a lead like we did and not complete it like we wanted to, but with that being said, I think there’s a lot of good things about our team.”

For a few weeks, Gus has talked about “the grit” that’s necessary to get past those bad situations in games. Against the Bills, he said the team had it. “The grit that we’ve been talking about, the turnovers on defense, the pressure on the quarterback, the offense coming through. In all three phases there’s work to be done but all three phases came through for us in some way or some fashion. I thought it was an awesome environment, great opportunity for our players.”

After blowing a 27-3 lead, the Jaguars scored late to win 34-31. It doesn’t happen without the development of quarterback Blake Bortles as a second-year player.

“I thought he showed tremendous poise. I thought the whole team did offensively, but he did, “Bradley explained. “He made some plays. I thought Allen Robinson came up big in that series, too, Allen Hurns, so just showed great poise.”

There’s been a lot of talk about validation for the Jaguars, getting a win after all of the work put in without anything to show for it.

“It really is, but that’s what we’ve seen in this team. We’ve seen it all year where they’ve come back and fought back, but it never showed the results that we had hoped.”

It was a wide swing of emotions in this game, from confused, to elated to shock to jubilation all in four quarters. But Bradley says there was never any despair. He believes his team believes.

“They might have said, let’s go, man, we can get this thing done. But when you hear them talking like that, just regroup and let’s go. We’ve still got time. That was more the conversation.”

After the nearly nine hour plane ride home, the Jaguars had Monday off with Gus Bradley and the payers scheduled to speak on Tuesday. They’ll have had a chance to look at video of the game and tell us what they though about four shots at the goal line without a TD and other failures as well as the success they had at the beginning and the end of the game. Since it’s the bye week, the players are required to have four days off, so they’ll practice Wednesday and return to work the beginning of next week.

In a wide ranging interview with the Jacksonville media Saturday morning in London, Jaguars Owner Shad Khan addressed the Jaguars record, the future of Head Coach Gus Bradley and General Manager Dave Caldwell, playing more games overseas and the practice facility/Shipyards project among a variety of other topics.

“Frankly, it’s never crossed my mind,” Khan said when asked about getting rid of Bradley and Caldwell during the season. Although he’s disappointed as any fan would be of the Jaguars 1-5 record, he’s not making a change anytime soon.

“It’s the only sane and proper thing to do,” Shad added about keeping Gus and Dave through the season.

Would he then make a change?

“There are 10 games left. Like any fan, I want to see us win. I think we deserve it. No one is more disappointed in our record than Gus and Dave,” Khan explained. “There are a variety of factors to making that kind of decision. ‘Where are we compared to two years ago? What’s in our future? Are we headed in the right direction?’ We’ll consider all of those things before we decide if we’re going to make a mid-course correction.”

I did get the sense that while Shad was disappointed in what’s happened, especially in the last three weeks, he seems committed to what Bradley and Caldwell are doing and appears to be patient enough to give them through the 2016 season to prove themselves. (Provided the Jaguars don’t get blown out for the rest of the year.) He didn’t blanche at the question of benching Davon House, even though he paid $6 million for him in the off-season as a free agent.

“I think it shows that you shouldn’t be playing players because of what you’re paying them. They should earn their position. There are a lot of reasons for encouragement. The way you measure a football team is wins and losses. We should have won the last three games. Everybody feels we should have won. It’s very important we don’t become a victim of status quo.”

“There’s light years difference between three and three and one and five,” Shad said, his expression clearly showing him stepping between his role as the Jaguars Owner and being a Jaguars fan. “But life, like football, is not a straight line going up. We want to see where the journey’s been over the last three years.”

It’s clear that the Jaguars organization has benefited from playing a game in London and today Khan reiterated that he’s thrilled to extend the deal to play at Wembley Stadium. He added that the Jaguars are committed to London and won’t be interested in playing a game elsewhere. The NFL owners have approved games in Germany and in Mexico and he’s all for that, just not for the Jaguars. He thinks it’s good for the NFL but won’t include his team.

“It’s not on the Jaguars radar,” he said.

That doesn’t exclude another game in London though, as the visiting team. The Jaguars won’t take another home game away from the city, but Khan said he was open to the possibility of playing a second game here, back-to-back with their home game. While it doesn’t seem imminent, it does seem like a possibility.

“There might be a time where that would make sense. We have the NFL’s support. We’re in conversations.”

Being an entity on the sports landscape in London is a priority for the Jaguars and for Shad Khan. He might have wanted a longer deal, perhaps through 2030, to play games in London, but for now, the deal is through 2020 with an option for another five years.

“I’m delighted to see it for 5 years and perhaps another five years. Jacksonville has benefited greatly for another five years. Nothing happens without economic growth.”

“Money is the resource that allows us to be competitive,” he explained when asked about the revenue stream that comes from the London connection. “We should use the power of football for the common good. That’s the ultimate goal. To create jobs for Jacksonville.”

“I think there’s been a lot of personal growth in Jacksonville,” Khan said regarding the way business is being done in North Florida and the Jaguars connection to that.

Everybody remembers Shad’s comment about the lack of “mojo” in Jacksonville so I asked him if there was more mojo at home than in the past.

“You have to create mojo,” he said, pointing to the number of young people who are creating opportunities at home. Khan has spent most of his week working with London civic leaders and Jacksonville’s representatives here trying to create a synergy between the two cities.

“I’d like to see direct flights from Jacksonville to Europe,” he mentioned as one idea of how the city can benefit from the game in London. “That helps put Jacksonville on the map. There’s a missing connection point between Atlanta and Orlando for overseas flights and I think Jacksonville can fill that void. That could really help.”

That’s a pretty good example of the big thinking Shad Khan brings to the table when it comes to driving the economic connection of the Jaguars, Jacksonville and London.

Sitting at Khan’s side, Jaguars President Mark Lamping echoed how well the deal has worked. About 15% of the Jaguars revenue is derived from sponsorship opportunities in London. In fact, the Jaguars have assigned one of their Vice Presidents, Hussein Naqi, permanently to London to continue to explore the revenue possibilities and the possible connection between the Jaguars and Khan’s soccer team, Fulham FC.

“Absolutely,” Lamping explained when asked about creating a bigger connection between the two cities and the two clubs. “Visit Florida is the primary sponsor on the front of the jersey at Fulham. That deal was done in Jacksonville, not London.”

With only eight wins over the last three seasons, Lamping said the appetite for a connection to the Jaguars either in London or in Jacksonville hasn’t been dampened because of the record. “Businesses are looking at it as more of an opportunity rather than what the record is on the field.”

And how have the fans reacted to that?

“We have really smart football fans,” Lamping said. “They’ve gone through a lot of speculation about their football team over the years. They’ve clearly outperformed the team.”

Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bulls will be the first live, streamed NFL contest worldwide. (Although it will be televised in a traditional manner in Jacksonville and Buffalo). Yahoo announced that the sponsorship of the game has sold out, not surprising to Khan.

“I see it as an historic moment. It’ll be the answer to a lot of trivia contests 20 years from now. It’s the first. Other sports are finding the value in being able to go directly from the provider to the consumer.”

As the Jaguars owner, Khan seems committed to Jacksonville, saying the team will start to build, in a small partnership with the city, a full practice facility on the south side of the stadium starting right after this season. It will include an indoor practice field and will have a “destination” quality to it as well. While it’s not tied to the Shipyards project, he said it will be “architecturally integrated with bridges and the like” when both projects are completed.

Environmental issues remain with the Shipyards that the city, the state and even the federal government are working through. That’s why Khan said the practice facility would come first.

“That will give the city a chance to look at what we’re doing. We’d like to engage with the city” (with the Shipyards project), perhaps sending a message to Mayor Lenny Curry and the City Council.

At the upcoming NFL Owners meeting, Khan doesn’t expect any decisions on playoff expansion or putting a team in LA. But he expects those subjects to be discussed.

“The stars will align,” he said when asked if either of those will happen.

Will the NFL ever put a team in London? A whole division in Europe?

“I know there’s been a huge amount of speculation but I don’t know if the fans here have the appetite for it. There will be more games here. Team’s playing home games, that’s for sure.”

It’s certainly no surprise that the Jaguars have extended their agreement to play one home game a year in London through 2020. It’s only a bit surprising that the new deal is not for longer.

“Our interest in extending our agreement to play a home game each season in London is nothing new. So, we’re very happy to make it official today,” said Jaguars Owner Shad Khan from London.

Khan was interested in extending the deal through 2030 but instead; it’s an arrangement to continue to play at Wembley Stadium through 2020 with an opportunity to extend the deal into 2025. Although Khan has also expressed an interest in playing a game in Europe as well, for now, just one game a year overseas will be on the schedule for the Jaguars. Perhaps if the team was winning there’d be more thought of expanding the footprint onto the Continent but for now, the focus is to get a winning team on the field.

NFL clubs recently approved a resolution to continue playing international regular-season games through the 2025 season and expanded the league’s ability to play those games in countries and territories beyond the UK. Germany and Mexico City are the two places the league would like to play next. If he can figure out how to make it work and not impact the revenue or the product on the field, Khan would like to have the Jaguars in the game in Germany. It’s possible the Jaguars could play a “road” game there either the week before or after the London game. But that’s just a thought for now.

A quick look at the Jaguars revenue makes it clear that London is a key component in the Jaguars profitability. Khan has said many times that a “sustainable franchise in Jacksonville is only helped by playing a game in London.”

Today he reiterated that.

“This is great news for the Jaguars and the stability of the team in Jacksonville, which has come to embrace London as our home away from home.”

An important part of the deal for Khan was to continue to play at Wembley. Earlier this year, the NFL and the English Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur franchise announced an agreement to play a minimum of two games per year during a 10-year partnership at Tottenham’s new state-of-the-art stadium, due to open in the summer of 2018.

That means the league will have two different stadiums hosting games in London. The NFL’s Vice President of International Mark Waller said today at the announcement, “We are very appreciative of the Jaguars extending their commitment to the UK market, which emphasizes the club’s and league’s strong ambition to continue to grow the fan base for NFL football beyond the borders of the United States.”

When you’re in London for the game, you see a lot of Jaguars gear on fans and for sale. While Americans who have made the trip wear some of it, a surprising number of International NFL fans have embraced the Jaguars as “their team.”

In the UK, FA Group Operations Director JULIE HARRINGTON said today, “We are proud that the NFL identified Wembley Stadium 10 years ago to serve as the focal point of its vision for international expansion. Since then, we have forged a very special partnership with Mr. Khan and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Today’s news and this deal shows their trust and long-term belief in our venue.”

Just about every losing team in the NFL talks about ignoring “the noise.” “The noise,” by the way, is what you and I have to say about how the team is playing. After their 31-20 loss at home to the lowly Texans, there has been plenty of noise from outside the stadium about how to fix it. Fire Gus. Cut some players. Puts guys on the bench. Get rid of Dave Caldwell.

They hear it, but they’re trying to ignore it.

“I always want to make sure that we play hard in front of our fans and we give them a good product,” Bradley said at his Monday’s press conference. “What goes on in that locker room and how we handle it in the team meetings and how we talk, there’s not a lot of conversations about ‘here’s what they’re saying outside.’ ”

That’s not unique. Patriots Head Coach has a sign on the door to the Patriots practice facility that says, “Ignore The Noise.” At least Bradley admitted what would put an end to all of that talk.

“They will be happy if we get this right so we put all of our attention into that.”

For the second week in a row, the Jaguars had a lead and lost it and for the third straight week chances to win the game were at hand, and lost. “Very challenging time that we’re going through right now. We’re in that stage where we have to find a way to pull these off,” Bradley explained as part of the growing process. “I believe in the guys in the locker room, I think that’s important that they believe in each other and they do.”

Were expectations too high going into the third year? Bradley declared the team built and immediately everybody thought that meant they’d be competitive and win games. In comparison to 2013 and 2014, there’s no question the Jaguars are better and more competitive. It’s the winning games that’s not happening. Bradley spoke today as if he expected this all along. “Going through this, you knew this was going to be challenging: to teach this team what it takes to get through this and do enough right things to earn that victory. So that’s where we’re at.”

Fans appear particularly dismayed because the Jaguars are collapsing at the exact wrong time and finding a way to lose late in the game.

“That’s the part where I think we have to teach our team, when you have the lead, now you even go more if there is such a thing,” Bradley said, addressing losing leads late in games. ”

“I think instead of dipping your toe in the water, you get immersed in it. And that’s what we need to learn.”

Although practices are closed to team coaches and officials only, apparently the team looks different behind closed gates than it does on Sunday afternoon in stadiums. Bradley wants to see the team that practices show up on Sunday. It appears the Jaguars are now a team full of Blaine Gabberts.

“I want to make sure what we see in practice is what we get in the game. I think that that same competitive spirit transfers over. What we’re seeing now in some guys is they compete 90 percent of the time; I’m just talking about a few. Ninety percent of the time, and then they have a let-up or they lose their focus for a period of time.”

When he said that, a lot of eyebrows were raised. Being able to see that on video when a guy isn’t giving 100% on a particular play means he’s headed to the bench, soon. Gus was particularly critical, without naming him, of Davon House and how he performed late in the game. De’Andre Hopkins was held pretty much in check for most of the game but he torched House on three consecutive drives in the 4th quarter to put the game out of reach.

“You can’t do that, you can’t do that in the NFL. In the secondary, if a guy gets behind you, there’s no excuse. If you lose your eyes, there’s no excuse. You have to be able to do those things, that’s part of being in the league. It’s playing that complete game.”

So they’ll evaluate performance this week and decide who gets to play in London against Buffalo and who’s sitting. Making one mistake can be written off. But the same mistakes over and over, Bradley calls that a lack of accountability.

“But if it’s a repeated action, then what is accountability? If they repeat it and they continue to play and go out there and play, what takes place?” he noted when talking about figuring out who will play and who won’t. “That’s the decisions we have to make this week.”

And how will they make those decisions? Bradley gave us some insight into how he’ll approach the situation. The short answer is: different ways for different players.

“To me, accountability is changing someone’s behavior. If putting the hammer changes someone’s behavior, then put the hammer down. That’s why you have to understand your players and know what they’re all about. If I told Poz I was going to fine him five dollars, he would straighten up. If I told someone else I would fine him five dollars, they may not. Everybody is different, so you have to find out what they value and what’s important to them and hopefully it’s this team. I’m sure it is.”

Hope he’s right.

It’s not hard to see that the Jaguars could have won three of the four games they’ve lost this year if they had only gotten out of their own way. But you are what you earn in the NFL and the Jaguars have earned one win and four losses. That has lead to a lot of soul searching this week at the stadium about the whole process. I’ve said all along that Head Coach Gus Bradley’s coaching style is one huge experiment, trying to empower the players instead of the coaches standing over them with demands. Bradley confirmed that this week in not so many words with some of the things he said regarding a change in his approach.

“Whenever things don’t go the way you had hoped you always search inside to try to find out what can I do to help be a part of this?” Bradley said at the end of the week. “Rather than say he’s wrong, he’s wrong or he’s wrong you say what can I do? How can I be a bigger part of this?”

If you’ve ever been on a team at any level, you know that’s a whole different approach to getting things done from a head coach. Usually they have their ideas and they put them in place. You can either get on board or ship out. For Bradley though, he’s looking for answers not just among his team and his staff, but within himself as well

“A hundred things run through your mind saying ‘maybe we should do this, let’s take a look at that, let’s take a look at this,’ and your mind is constantly racing trying to find out what works and that’s the competitive side in you.”

Does that mean he’s not sure about what he’s doing? Hardly. Bradley believes in the process and how to get there. He’s said often that his conviction has been tested but he’s staying on course. There’s a philosophy of the “servant leader” that Bradley adheres to as a coach. He’ll give you the tools to get better: it’s your job to do it.

“I don’t want them to rely on me or their coaches for juice or to always be corrected,” he explained. “They’ve got to self-correct. That’s what happens in a game. There’s no one out there in a game and they’ve got to learn to do it on their own.”

And while having a young team is no excuse, it is the young players who are having the most difficult time self-correcting and staying focused play after play, game after game, week after week.

If you compare scores in the last three years you could make the case that the Jaguars are light years ahead of where they were in 2013 and last year. But it’s no solace to continue to see losses mount when the expectations were so much higher.

When asked about the process, Bradley points to the progress made by Blake Bortles, the defensive backfield, the offensive line and other places. But when I asked him if part of the process of improving the pieces and becoming a better team is actually finishing and winning games, he agreed.

“That’s the next step, to be consistent and precise and finish,” he told me. He also said this week was a big step forward in that process.

“They’ve had good weeks but I just felt like the whole emphasis on putting these things together. I felt more accountability. I’m not saying from me, I think it’s more powerful if you feel from player to player,” as he reiterated where he hopes to put the team permanently.

“We’re learning a lot of lessons about our team. Each week there’s going to be new things that come up, that’s just how the NFL is. That’s how it goes but we’re trying to minimize these things as much as possible. I think how they’re holding each other accountable is a big part of it.”

As they get healthy and mature, the Jaguars appear on the verge of stepping out of the cellar of the league and becoming very competitive. But they have to take that step. There are hundreds of teams that get to this point and never take that step. If they do, they have the talent to be good for a long time. If they don’t, the players will have to adjust to a new message in the future and the fans will continue to wait.

After flashing a bit of anger on Sunday after the loss to Tampa Bay and still being disappointed after watching the video on Monday, Gus Bradley was back on the field with his team Wednesday. Bradley told us Monday that he was going to try and be more of a “presence” on the field with the whole team, so they would know he was there and recognize his voice and interest. He said he stepped it up during practice but wasn’t sure if it had an instant impact.

“I don’t know. I think that was more at the point in time I was a little emotional. We want to keep the things that are building, we want to ensure they keep building and then these things we need to correct let’s act on them and get it done.”

Being consistent is what most NFL coaches strive for, so Bradley wanted to keep the same routine, but ramp up the results.

“It breeds credibility to players but at the same time, act,” the Head Coach said about not being all over the map when it comes to what he’s like in practice. “Talked to them about being pros, going out there and really playing at a high level at practice. Like I said, I thought that was accomplished.”

In a bit of a surprise, Blake Bortles practiced on Wednesday. It was reported that he had a mild shoulder contusion and might not practice early in the week but he reported he felt better Wednesday morning and went through the normal practice with the team. Sen’Derrick Marks and Denard Robinson also participated in practice and have a chance to play Sunday.

“Very pleased with Blake Bortles how he practiced, going through what he’s going through,” Bradley noted at his normal Wednesday press conference. “Sen’Derrick Marks and D-Rob. All three I thought performed pretty well today and we’ll wait and see how it goes.”

Bradley reiterated that the Jaguars didn’t tackle well on Sunday either on defense or on special teams. He did reveal that they’re looking for a 4.8 second hang time average from Bryan Anger on punts and a few were under that, giving the returner a chance to react. By the way, 4.8 seconds is a long time and that’s what the time is on a 60-yard punt. But the Jaguars want that number even on shorter ones.

There was a new face on the practice field working with kicker Jason Myers. Apparently Myers was looking for a “tune up” every now and then and the Jaguars said he could bring his own kicking coach to practice to see how it worked out.

“Dave (Caldwell, Jaguars GM) and I talked about that we’re out there coaching these guys and he feels really good about his kicking coach that he’s had in, so we’re looking at bringing him in every four weeks or so just to fine-tune some things.”

Switching from special teams to starting running back is what the Jaguars have asked of Toby Gerhart this year. This week Gerhart might get the start because of injuries to Robinson and T.J. Yeldon, who didn’t practice today.

Bradley sees Gerhart as finding a groove. “I think he’s getting used to that and also transferring over so it was a little bit of a time period there, an adjustment period. But he practices good and I think this is the time for him to get some reps and he’s been pretty excited.”

I’ve never seen Jaguars Head Coach Gus Bradley this fired up.

After the 38-31 loss to the Bucs in Tampa, it was an inordinate amount of time before Bradley made his way to his post-game press conference. When he did, his entrance was swift and he started in right away. He didn’t mince words.

“OK, this one is painful,” he started. “We scored more points than we have in the past but there are still errors. A turnover that lead to a touchdown. Defensively, 183 yards on 40 carries, whatever it is, 4.6 (yards per carry,)” he continued. I couldn’t quite tell if Bradley was so red faced because he was flushed with anger or from standing in the 85 degree sun all afternoon.

He continued with the litany of problems the Jaguars had on Sunday afternoon. “Special teams, 28 yards per return. Just unacceptable.”

And then he started into a “big picture” look at the Jaguars situation. “We’re after victory. We’re after being our best. Well, that wasn’t our best, And it’s not acceptable. And that is the challenge. We have to dig deep and find out what these issues are and clean them up as soon as possible, because the expectation that we had in that locker room, this opportunity, was not met.”

I didn’t like the first question asked of Bradley, “Is this the bottom?” but it did provide a spectacular answer.

“No, this does not feel like the bottom but it feels like something is wrong in how we played. Maybe there is a difference between being ready and prepared. And we weren’t prepared as well as we needed to be and everybody can take responsibility for that.” I thought Gus might put the blame for that squarely on his own shoulders, but he spread it out through the team and the coaching staff.

I didn’t like Corey Grant being in the game in the 4th quarter, backed up near the Jaguars own goal line. Perhaps everybody else was hurt? No, Bradley said, “We had some plays for Corey in the offense.” Still, in the 4th quarter, with the lead and the momentum? It’s not time to try “some plays.” It’s time to have your best players in there who understand what’s at stake at that point in the game.

It was interesting to see the raw emotion of Bradley after a game, unfiltered. In the last two year he was able to keep everything in check, knowing that his team was ususally out-manned but it all came flowing out in this situation. Clearly he believes in his team, believes they’re “built” as he has mentioned before, but he also knows something’s missing.

“It’s the play after play, you know, what they call grit, where you do a play after play after play after play the right things. And you do it enough that when a mistake happens, you can overcome it. But right now, we’ve got to many. We are not showing the grit needed to sustain it.”

I asked Gus how the momentum could switch so quickly when they had scored 17 unanswered points to take a 24-20 lead. “Third and 15 and we failed to make the play. Was it the play? Could we have a better call? We had guys that had an opportunity to make plays. We didn’t make the play.”

And don’t think he didn’t notice the teal jerseys in the stands and the vocal fan support on the road.

“There’s no excuses for it. I do, I feel bad for our fans. How many, 7000? I saw them all in the corner chanting and we come out and we don’t play as well as we are capable of playing? THIS IS REAL! I feel for them. They come down like that, how can’t you. That’s just disappointing as well.”

There were some solid individual performances worth noting. Allen Hurns and Blake Bortles had plenty of stats. But the overall team loss changed Bradley’s emotions from confused and frustrated to angry.

“I hope this setback SHOCKS US TO GET THINGS RIGHT,” he said, his voice now booming. “I believe in these guys. The reason I am upset is because they are capable of better. I am not upset because we are not very good, we are capable of being better and we are not showing that. We have enough good players in that locker room to do better than what we are doing on the field. That’s a fact.”

And finally Gus said all is not lost. But it’s slipping away.

“The script isn’t done yet,” he said after being asked about the division race. “But I just think that right now, we need it, we all need it. Let’s get this thing right now. We are very capable of playing better than we did today. And we missed it, again.”

If you log onto News4Jax and click on the Sports tab, you’ll find the interview in it’s entirety. Turn the volume up to get the full effect.

With a body of work spanning over 20 years, the Jaguars franchise doesn’t have much to speak of when it comes to success on the field. Fans of the team from the beginning hold onto the successful playoff runs in ’96 and ’99 but that’s nearly a generation ago. A road win in Pittsburgh in 2007 was the last victory in the post-season and the Jaguars last appearance in the playoffs.

So while it appears General Manager Dave Caldwell and Head Coach Gus Bradley have them headed in the right direction, there’s no tangible, tactile proof, in other words wins, that would bear that out.

Owner Shad Khan has a distinct style when it comes to running his businesses. He acquires the company, looks it over, assesses what the management team is up to and makes decisions based on their success. He did that when he bought the Jaguars, letting Gene Smith run the team, hire Mike Mularkey and show what the franchise was all about.

“I hire the best people,” Khan told me after his first year of ownership. “Whomever is the best, that’s who I’m looking for.”

So when the Jaguars went 2-14 after that first year, Khan decided to make some changes. “I was told that if we signed a defensive back and a wide receiver (Aaron Ross and Jerry Porter) and re-signed the defensive lineman (Jeremy Mincey) we’d be competitive in the division. And what did I get? Two wins. I knew we needed to make a change.”

That’s when Caldwell and Bradley got their chance. Since then through 36 games the Jaguars have 8 wins. Are they on the verge of changing the history of the franchise or is it just more of the same?

“Sometimes it looks like you expect it to look and other times, it’s not there,” Bradley said this week. He talks a lot about precision and consistency, neither of which have been hallmarks of the 2015 team.

Quarterback Blake Bortles talked this week about cleaning up the details, staying focused for 4 quarters. “Everything else is kinda in place. The one more improvement is to win.” Scoring points and winning the game is the whole point of playing. Bortles believes everything is in place to take the next step. “Our numbers are good except for offensive scoring. We’re throwing the ball and running the ball well. We just need to finish drives.”

That’s the optimistic view any team wants their quarterback to have but is it realistic? Are the Jaguars at the point that if they perform to their own capabilities and cut out the mistakes they’ll start winning?

“We are,” Ryan Davis said in Tampa as the team finished up their preparation for the Bucs. “Guys can make plays. We have the talent. We see it every week.”

Last week’s loss to Indianapolis was confusing and disappointing to everybody, including Gus Bradley. Many fans said it was the last straw in breaking their support.

But not for everybody.

As many as 3,000 Jaguars fans have followed the team to Tampa. Some as part of fan organizations, others just because, as they explained, they’re fans.

“I think we’re a good team and the season is about to turn around,” Murray Rubin from Jacksonville said in the lobby of the team hotel. Rubin and his wife Nadine made the trip to Tampa on Friday with two other couples and will stay through Monday supporting the Jaguars. “Not us,” Nadine said when I asked if they were about to give up after last week. “It was heartbreaking but we just need to anticipate what’s going to happen on the field and we’ll be alright.” Every fan has their opinion but the Rubin’s, sporting their Jaguars gear proudly, believe the team’s fortune is about to change. “Our season is going to just fine.”

So far the two buzz words this year for the Jaguars have been precision and consistency. Regrettably, the Jaguars have had neither too often and thus, a 1-3 record a quarter of the way through the season. But a w

A win against Tampa Bay this week puts the Jaguars about where everybody was hoping before the season that they’d be after five games. While neither team looks to be headed to the post-season in 2015, they do look a lot like each other when it comes to youth and results.

“They’ve brought some veteran guys in from Chicago on defense,” Gus Bradley said today at the stadium. “And on offense they’re trying to build something with Jameis.”

You could say the same about the Jaguars after their offseason acquisitions and what they’re trying to do on offense with Blake Bortles, T.J. Yeldon and company. But the Jaguars should be a year ahead of the Bucs when it comes to the process. And perhaps they are.

At the very least, Bradley says the team has bounced back from their los to Indianapolis and is understanding where they’re deficiencies are.

“It’s not just effort and energy and enthusiasm,” he said after practice on Thursday. “What I liked about today was yesterday we talked about the details; the message today was to come back and apply those details to today’s practice.”

Although he declared the team “built” at the beginning of the year, the Jaguars still have some work to do to be competitive week in and week out. They appear to have the talent on the roster but a lot of the intangibles are missing. Some of those could be called the “details” that they haven’t mastered with precision or consistency.

“I’m talking about communication, the line calls, the defensive calls, the communication that takes place in the back end and doing it from start to finish,” Bradley explained. “So that was really the message today, very pleased with how it went. Everybody’s got to do their job and that’s what it comes down to play after play and that consistency is what we need to continue to build.”

And while the building process continues, it’s not an open-ended timeline. They don’t have forever and Bradley knows it.

“I’ve talked about this ‘Race to Maturity’ that we’re in and that’s still true. But we can’t wait around, we have to go out and get it done.”

Emotions were still running high Monday at the stadium after the Jaguars watched video of their loss to Indianapolis in overtime. Fans, players, and coaches all seemed to feel the same way: Confused and disappointed.

“It’s a tough game to watch,” Head Coach Gus Bradley admitted in his opening statement during his Monday press conference. “I think we had a great opportunity yesterday with our team and the way we wanted to approach it and go about it. I truly felt we missed it, it got away from us and it’s very disappointing.”

“We missed it,” was a theme running through Bradley’s observation of the game. A chance to win, slipping away through inconsistency and a myriad of other problems. Last year, the Jaguars were the least penalized team in the league. This year is a different story. They’re on pace to give up over 1,300 penalty yards after 13 flags were thrown against them on Sunday.

“There’s self-inflicted wounds that are hurting us badly,” Bradley explained. I look at one drive defensively, (5 penalties for 40 yards on the Colts only TD drive) Good teams consistently don’t have even a series like that so far too many penalties in that situation.”

It is interesting that Bradley uses the phrase “good teams” when he’s outlining how things should go versus how the Jaguars are playing. There are flashes, and perhaps that’s what the realistic expectation should be for a team with a second-year quarterback and with their best players rehabilitating injuries. But even Bradley admitted he was confused after seeing the game a day later at how on one series the Jaguars could be so solid and in the next, clueless.

“Yeah, disappointing because we did miss it (an opportunity). I’m probably a little confused like our fan base is. When you see good plays, when you see big plays, when you see guys taking shots or guys making plays and it feels like it should, and then you don’t see the consistency.”

If “precision” was the word last week, “consistency” was what was lacking against the Colts. Offensively,, Blake Bortles had a strong first half, taking the team to a 13-10 lead going to the break. While it could have been more, it still was a lead. Nonetheless, not getting more points in the first half lead to more inconsistency in the second half, perhaps because they were pressing and eventually the game came down to a kick. Or two.

Bradley saw the same thing we did. “Offensively we moved the ball but the issue is this; in the first half I think we had first and ten on the six, first and ten on the 13, we had first and ten on the 16 and came away with two field goals and a touchdown. We’ve got to score more points than that. Its self-inflicted wounds again; botched snap, not handling it right, penalties, disciplined and staying focused throughout.”

And while social media was flooded with “Bring back Scobee” talk, Bradley reiterated his support for Jason Myers, despite missing two game winning kicks.

“I think when we first signed Jason and we made that decision we knew that there was going to be some waves I think that we were going to have to go through. I like his mentality, we’re very confident in him and he had an unfortunate day yesterday.. We know with a younger kicker like this he’s going to go through some of these situations.”

No team wants the game to come down to a kick, especially one from around 50 yards. The Jaguars are no different and there were numerous opportunities lost all over the field “There were mistakes made out there by multiple players.” Bradley agreed. “They took their turns, and his is more visual. Everybody saw it. I think we just have faith in his demeanor.”

“I think it’s a work in progress, I do. To say that it’s like a well-oiled machine where we’ve been together for seven or eight years, no it’s not that but I’m seeing good signs. But also to be real I’ve seen some signs that are disappointing, It has the capabilities, we’re just not seeing it consistently.”

So again this week, Bradley will ask his team to bounce back, but in a very different way than after the loss to New England.

“Both are tough. It’s tough, it really is. I think games like these, they really challenge your conviction and how you want to approach it. I do know that it might be where everybody wants us to become negative, but I know becoming negative isn’t going to work. Challenging our guys and demanding that we do things right and are disciplined and focused, that’s what we need.”