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Jacksonville Jaguars have been bad on West Coast trips. Can that trend change at 49ers?
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- Jacksonville Jaguars have been bad on West Coast trips. Can that trend change at 49ers?
Sometimes the message is in the music.
When the Jacksonville Jaguars came out to stretch before practice on Wednesday, Sept. 24, at the Miller Electric Center, the sound system was blasting "California Love" by Tupac.
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A lyric in the song is "It's all good from Diego to the Bay."
Not for the Jaguars . That's what they're trying to change on Sept. 28 when they travel to Santa Clara, Calif., to play the San Francisco 49ers (4:05 p.m., FOX).
Coach Liam Coen takes his efforts to create a different culture in Jacksonville to the West Coast, where the Jaguars have a habit of losing, and often badly.
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The Jaguars are 4-16 in games within the Pacific Time Zone against the 49ers, Los Angeles Chargers , Los Angeles Rams , Las Vegas Raiders and Seattle Seahawks .
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They're 0-2 on the road against the 'Niners, losing 44-33 in 2017 and 20-3 in 2009.
Jaguars have had success only vs. Raiders
The last time the Jaguars won on the West Coast was a 38-10 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 3 of the 2022 season under Doug Pederson. It was the first time the Jaguars had ever beaten the Chargers in either L.A. or San Diego, with five losses coming by 13 points or worse.
The Jags' best record in the Pacific Time Zone is 3-4 vs. the Raiders, 0-1 in Las Vegas (a 19-14 loss last season) and 3-3 in Oakland, with the last victory coming in 2019, 20-16 in the Raiders' final game at Oakland-Alameda Coliseum.
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Jacksonville is 0-1 against the Rams in Los Angeles (losing 27-7 in 2021) and a dismal 0-4 in Seattle, with the closest loss coming in 2001, 24-15.
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew dives forward for yardage in a 20-16 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Dec. 5, 2019, in Oakland, Calif.
Jaguars West Coast losses have been one-sided
It's not so much the .200 winning percentage for the Jags in the Pacific Time Zone, but the utter lack of competitiveness.
Jacksonville has lost those 16 games on the West Coast by an average of 17 points, with only two under a 10-point margin.
It's been especially ugly in Seattle and San Diego.
The Jaguars' four losses in Seattle have been by an average margin of 25.5 points, with the Seahawks averaging 35.2 points per game.
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Jacksonville has played four games against the Chargers in San Diego, with an average loss by 20.2 points. The Chargers averaged 35.7 points in those games.
New coaches, new players, new attitude?
Of course, the Jaguars' West Coast wobbling isn't entirely the fault of the current team and management. Only 25 players on the current active roster played against the Raiders last year and eight remain from the previous loss on the West Coast, 31-7 to the Rams on Dec. 5, 2021.
Former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Tank Bigsby scores a first-quarter touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders on Dec. 22, 2024, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
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And Coen has a recent history of winning on the West Coast. Tampa Bay beat the Chargers 40-17 in L.A. last year, when Coen was the Bucs ' offensive coordinator. It was their only game in the Pacific Time Zone.
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He said the coaching staff is making preparations for the long flight, the change of three time zones and the team's first late afternoon start of the season
"We've obviously got a five-hour flight," he said. "We're trying to keep these guys in their East Coast rhythm and routine as much as possible. So, we are kind of tailoring the schedule to that so that we won't maybe feel those effects as much."
Coen said it's about hydration, sleep habits and facing the weekend as a "business trip."
Coen said the team will fly to San Francisco earlier on Saturday, get meetings done and have an earlier curfew.
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Hydration during road trips is vital
Safety Andrew Wingard echoed Coen about the importance of hydration on road trips. Studies have shown that the body dehydrates in a pressurized plane cabin and the longer the flight, the more it's compounded.
Wingard said he tries to drink half his body weight in water and sports drinks every day, about 100 ounces, or close to a gallon. On road trips, he increases that amount.
"You're dehydrated just being in the cabin, and if you take a three-hour nap, you're behind the 8-ball more if you don't hydrate more. There's a lot of discipline about it."
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"You've got to drink before you leave, drink in the air, drink when you touch down," defensive end Dawuane Smoot said.
Jaguars haven't lost often as favorites
The hard truth about many of the West Coast losses is that the Jaguars weren't having much success, no matter where they played.
The Jags and the Raiders both finished 4-13 last year. In the previous three West Coast losses, the Jaguars, in 2020 and 2021, were a combined 4-29, and their opponents were 26-24. The Rams were 12-5 when they pummeled the Jags 37-7 in 2021.
In 11 of the Jaguars' 16 West Coast road losses, they ended the season with a worse record than the teams that beat them.
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According to sportsoddshistory.com , the Jaguars lost four times as West Coast road favorites (twice in the 2017 season when they reached the AFC Championship game, to Seattle and San Francisco) and have been the underdogs 12 times when they lost, five by six points or more.
The Jaguars have beaten the spread as West Coast road underdogs in a loss once, a 26-23 overtime game at Oakland in 2012 when the Raiders were favored by six.
Travel is more difficult anywhere
Smoot said it's more about the time in the air than it is about crossing time zones.
Marvin Jones Jr., scores a touchdown for the Jacksonville Jaguars in a 2022 game against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.
"It's hard to go from north to south, east to west, west to east," Smoot said. "Five hours [in a plane] anywhere is tough but once you get there, you get settled."
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Smoot and Wingard contend that geography isn't an issue once the game begins.
"Once you kick off, it doesn't matter," Smoot said. "It's just getting in the night before, getting to sleep as soon as possible and be able to adjust to it as soon as possible."
"None of it matters just because you flew five hours the day before," Wingard said.
Jaguars on the West Coast by the numbers
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Record:4-16.
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By opponent:Las Vegas 3-4, Los Angeles Chargers 1-5, Los Angeles Rams 0-1, San Francisco 49ers 0-2, Seattle Seahawks 0-4.
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Point differential:The Jaguars have been outscored 563-337 in West Coast road games.
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Average score in losses:Opponents 31.5, Jaguars 14.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars have inexplicably bad record in West Coast games
