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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jaguars may control the AFC South after Sunday’s victory over Indianapolis, but that doesn’t mean they’re feeling good about themselves — not when they know there’s a large swath of people who don’t believe they belong there.
“At the end of the day, I feel like no one likes us except for us,” said running back Travis Etienne Jr., who ran for 74 yards and two touchdowns in the 36-19 win. “It just goes along with being in this organization and the way this organization has been for some time now. We’re not going to get their respect. We kind of don’t even care.”
The Jaguars have latched on to that perceived disrespect — whether in the national media or in sports bar conversations — as fuel for a stretch run.
According to quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the Colts and Houston Texans get more attention when talking about the AFC South, with Jacksonville an afterthought. And he might have a point because the big story out of Sunday’s game wasn’t the Jaguars’ fourth consecutive win to move into sole possession of first place in the division — it was Colts quarterback Daniel Jones’ Achilles injury.
“We all feel like we’re a really good team and probably don’t get the credit we deserve,” said Lawrence, who threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns. “Everybody talks about every other team — and even in our own division, it’s all these other teams that are going to go win the division and do all these things and nobody really cares about the Jags, which is fine.
“It’s kind of just how it is and we’ll use it as a chip on our shoulder and keep playing. It doesn’t really matter.”
Even Jaguars coach Liam Coen has taken note.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever really get [respect],” he said. “That’s the beauty of it. It ain’t coming. You know that. It’s not. And that’s the beauty of it. And that’s totally fine.”
Coen said the Week 10 loss at Houston — in which the Jaguars blew a 19-point fourth-quarter lead — might have something to do with that. He also said that loss actually turned into a good thing because it was a reminder that each game “is going to be a 60-minute football game and our mindset and mentality has to be that way.”
Since that loss, the Jaguars have beaten the Los Angeles Chargers (35-7), Arizona Cardinals (27-24 in OT), the Tennessee Titans (25-3) and now the Colts. At 9-4, the team has already tied the franchise record for most victories in its first season under a new head coach and has posted victories over the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs on “Monday Night Football.”
With games against the New York Jets (3-10) and Titans (2-11) remaining, winning 10-plus games one season after finishing 4-13 isn’t out of the question.
Yet defensive end Josh Hines-Allen said that might not even be enough for them to feel respected.
“League-wise, I think to them, we’re still the Jags,” he said. “They’re just waiting for us to slip up.
“But for us, if we continue to trust our process, trust our grind, and we’re going to continue to keep peaking and all the people that are going to say that we’re not a good team, we’ll see them in the Super Bowl.”
At this point, Coen doesn’t want any respect because he doesn’t want his players’ approach to change.
“I don’t think [getting respect] helps,” he said. “I’ve heard the rat poison before. Everybody loves you when you’re doing it well, and then you’re always going to find something. That’s the competitive advantage that you have. Every player has to get themselves into a place, right? You always hear the stories about [Michael] Jordan and how he would create things to get himself into a place to go compete.
“Our guys just keep finding ways to get a little bit pissed off and go play their tails off and execute, though, at a higher level.”
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