The Jaguars are going to be the first team to play back-to-back games in London when they face the Falcons and Bills across the pond in Week Four and Week Five.
While that is a long trip overseas, head coach Doug Pederson doesn’t think it’ll create any extra challenges for the club.
“None,” Pederson said in his Friday press conference when asked about that. “We just stay there, we just stay there for a week. We do have a game after that when we come back. But we’re on the East Coast and travel is not bad when we come back and we gain the time. So, it doesn’t really affect anything that we do, preparation, nothing like that.”
The Jaguars are the designated home team for the Week Four contest against Atlanta at Wembley Stadium. But they’re the away team for the Week Five matchup against Buffalo at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Jacksonville will have to change hotels after the first game to prepare for the next. But Pederson didn’t express much concern about that.
The Jaguars will come back to the States to play the Colts at home in Week Six and won’t have their bye until Week Nine. That was by design, as Pederson said he didn’t want to have the week off come too early in the season.
“There’s a ton of football past that,” Pederson said. “And, really, your season, as we know, can really take off in the back half of the year. So, not having a bye when we come back is fine. And players are really caught up with sleep, honestly, by the time we get back on the field on Wednesday. Coaches could be a little groggy, but that’s just what we have to do.
“It worked out for us last year. Obviously, we’ll learn from last year and some of the things that maybe we went through, the struggles we went through especially early in that football game. And we’ll just learn from that.”
In 2022, the Jaguars lost to the Broncos in London in Week Eight. And while the Jags were down 20-7 to the Raiders in the second quarter of their Week Nine contest, the Jacksonville scored 20 unanswered points to win that game 27-20.