All six 2022 wild-card games offer rematches from the regular season, the most such games in a single postseason round in NFL history.
Down in Jacksonville, they're preparing to face a Los Angeles Chargers squad the Jags dismantled, 38-10, way back in Week 3. Coach Doug Pederson said this week he expects a much different matchup Saturday night.
"They're different. We're different," Pederson said. "That was a long time ago. There's some new faces on their side. There's some new faces on our side. Schematically, probably both the same with us and with them. Again, we've talked about it a lot, you're not going to trick anybody. It just comes down to execution, both sides, them and us."
The Chargers played that Week 3 game without receiver Keenan Allen, and Justin Herbert was dealing with a rib injury. Trevor Lawrence tossed three TD passes as the Jags pulled away in the second half of that meeting.
Pederson noted some benefits to analyzing the Week 3 film from a schematic standpoint, though both clubs have evolved over the regular season.
"I think you go back and you watch it and you see, just from an X's and O's standpoint and personnel standpoint kind of how we attack them and how they attacked us, both sides of the ball and special teams," Pederson said. Then you kind of look at the whole body of work since, and if there's anything that's changed and why it's changed, and then you put your game plan together that way."
Jacksonville is on a hot streak, winning five straight to swipe the AFC South division and host a playoff game. It's the Jags' first five-game winning streak within a season since Weeks 9-13, 2005.
But the offense struggled in Jacksonville's Week 18 win over the Tennessee Titans, scoring 13 offensive points before the defense generated a late touchdown to secure the win. Lawrence passed for 212 yards and a TD but lost a fumble in scoring range and sailed a pass to a wide-open Zay Jones in the end zone.
Pederson noted the Jags need to be better on offense to beat the Chargers in the postseason.
"I think the offense needs to have a better game than the other night, quite frankly," Pederson said. We didn't do enough. We had opportunities, obviously missed some opportunities in the game that we can learn from, but sometimes that's the way games go. Tight games like that, it's going to come down to, it could be a defensive battle, or something of that nature. Special teams did a nice job, but I think overall, offensively, as a group, coaches included, need to do a little better."
