JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The Jacksonville Jaguars may have picked the perfect time to don throwback uniforms.
After all, they could use a week of not looking like themselves.
The NFL’s lone winless team will try to end its skid against the banged-up Indianapolis Colts (2-2) on Sunday while wearing “Prowler Throwbacks.” The threads will be worn in honor of the team’s 30th season and the induction of former coach Tom Coughlin into the team’s ring of honor.
It might help that the Jaguars (0-4) are facing Indianapolis, which hasn’t won in Jacksonville since 2014. The Colts have dropped nine consecutive road games against the Jags, including one in London.
“We want to change that for sure,” Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson said.
The Jaguars might be even more desperate given how their season is unfolding. They know only one NFL team — the 1992 San Diego Chargers — have made the playoffs following an 0-4 start.
“It’s a long season. Thankfully we have a lot more opportunities ahead of us than behind us,” receiver Christian Kirk said. “We can’t do anything about what’s behind us. Only thing we can do is focus on what’s in front of us and going 1-0 this weekend."
Jacksonville has dropped nine of 10 going back to last year. The 0-for-September swing included a blowout on “Monday Night Football” and two late-game collapses. But the Jaguars feel as if they made progress in last week’s 24-20 loss at Houston in which they could have won comfortably with just a few less errors.
“You can’t get too far ahead of yourself, and you can’t sulk in the past either,” quarterback Trevor Lawrence said. “We’re at where we’re at. We’ve lost our first four games. Sucks, but you can’t go back and change it.
“All you have is this week and you can’t go get four (wins) in one week either. All we can do is just win this game, this week.”
The Colts have won two in a row while playing four one-score games. But injuries are mounting, most notably with Richardson (hip) and running back Jonathan Taylor (ankle) missing practice this week.
Indy was down eight starters at the end of last week’s 27-24 victory against previously unbeaten Pittsburgh.
“I like the way our team has been battling,” coach Shane Steichen said.
Coughlin, the first coach in Jaguars history who was twice fired by the franchise, will be inducted into the team’s ring of honor at halftime. Coughlin helped build the Jaguars from the ground up between 1995 and 2002. He led the expansion team to the AFC title game in 1996 and 1999.
He was fired at the end of his eighth season and went on to win two Super Bowls with the New York Giants. He returned to Jacksonville as a football czar in 2017 but was fired in his third season.
“I’m humbled, to be honest with you,” Coughlin said last week. “When you look up there and you see my name, there’s about 200 people that should be a part of it.”
Coughlin will join Pro Football Hall of Fame left tackle Tony Boselli, running back Fred Taylor, receiver Jimmy Smith, quarterback Mark Brunell and original team owners Wayne and Delores Weaver in “the Pride of the Jaguars.”
Colts linebacker E.J. Speed and safety Nick Cross are tied for the NFL lead with 47 tackles through four games, and Speed has a chance to earn a different distinction this week.
After his seventh consecutive game with at least 10 tackles, he now finds himself in a class with two Hall of Famers — Ray Lewis and Zach Thomas. Speed broke a tie with Lewis last week against Pittsburgh and has now matched Thomas for the longest streak since 1987.
“I just pride myself on making tackles,” Speed said. “I hate missing tackles actually more than I like them so that results in me having a great game as far as getting to the ball and getting the ball down when I get there.”
Indy set a franchise record for sacks last season with 51 but started this season without last year’s team leader, Samson Ebukam, because of an Achilles tendon injury. Then they lost three-time Pro Bowler DeForest Buckner (ankle) a week before Tyquan Lewis, a key rotational player, went down with an elbow injury. All three are now on injured reserve.
They still managed to pressure Pittsburgh’s Justin Fields relentlessly last week, finishing with four sacks to give them 12 on the season. They’re on pace to match last season’s total.
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AP Sports Writer Mike Marot in Indianapolis contributed.
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