Jacksonville Jaguars coach Gus Bradley believes his offense was too cautious in the team's 20-9 loss to the Panthers on Sunday. Bradley said the players were overly concerned with failing rather than carrying over what they've been doing in practice and throughout the preseason.
"As an offense we played very cautiously," Bradley said Monday via ESPN. "We didn't want to make mistakes. I thought that some of the things that we saw in practice carried over to the preseason. In preseason, we saw them do a bunch of really good things. Those things carried over to the preseason games. Our hope and our thought was that it would carry over to the regular season and it didn't."
The Jaguars host the Dolphins in Week 2, followed by contests with New England and Indianapolis, respectively. Much like the past two seasons, the team could potentially dig themselves into a hole early with its first handful of games. During Bradley's tenure, the Jaguars opened the 2013 season 0-8 and started 0-6 last year.
Is another slow start a cause for concern?
"I never think about that," Bradley said per The Florida Times-Union. "What happens if you get in a car accident after you leave here? You don't think about that. I don't think about would've or could've. I don't have time to think about all those things. We have to direct our attention to today and get our team learning from what took place in the game and where we need to move forward."
Bradley, however, emphasized the need to correct last week's mistakes instead of looking ahead to the next opponents on the docket.
"There's a pressure for us to be at our best, to get this right and to execute like we're capable of," he said. "Our players will feel that."