JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Gus Bradley has stood in front of a podium explaining how and why the Jacksonville Jaguars lost a game 28 times during the past two-plus seasons.
No. 29, apparently, was the tipping point.
This time you could see the frustration on his face and hear the anger in his voice. What he saw from his team in Sunday’s 38-31 loss to Tampa Bay at Raymond James Stadium finally got to the man who throughout his tenure as the Jaguars’ head coach has been a beacon of positivity.
Bradley finally had enough. He lit into his team for its abundance of mistakes and what he called a lack of grit to overcome those mistakes.
"We’re very capable of playing better than we did on the field today, and we didn’t," said Bradley, whose record as head coach with the Jaguars is 8-29. "We missed it. Again.
"Hopefully the shock gets us to where we go, ‘Let’s bow up to it and let’s go take responsibility and let’s really put our mindset to get this done right.’"
Why was Sunday’s loss different? Why did this one get to Bradley in a way that the previous week’s 16-13 overtime loss to the Andrew Luck-less Indianapolis Colts didn’t?
Because it hit Bradley where it hurts the most: On defense. The Bucs had a rookie quarterback who had turned the ball over nine times in the first four weeks. They had been averaging 107.3 yards per game rushing and just 18 points per game. That should have been an easy setup for a Jaguars defense that, with the exception of the game at New England, had played pretty well in 2015.
The Bucs rolled up 369 yards, including 183 rushing, with 123 yards and two touchdowns by Doug Martin. Jameis Winston threw for 209 yards and one touchdown and didn’t turn the ball over. There were countless missed tackles, and the Jaguars also gave up a 56-yard screen pass on a third-and-15.
There were just as many gaffes on offense, too, starting with Corey Grant’s fumble that was recovered for a touchdown – a play that wiped out all the momentum the Jaguars gained by scoring 17 points on three consecutive drives. It also wiped out the Jaguars’ 24-23 lead with 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Then there was Bernard Pierce apparently forgetting he was on the punt-coverage team and turning around and blocking a Bucs player instead of tackling the ball carrier who ran right by him.
"What do they call it? Grit?" Bradley said. "Where you do it play after play after play after play the right things. And you do it enough that when a mistake happens, you can overcome it. But right now we’ve got too many [mistakes]. We’re not showing the grit needed to sustain things."
That’s why Bradley lit into the players in the locker room. Because he hasn’t done that before, it was a bit of a shock.
"He went in on us," tight end Marcedes Lewis said. "Enough is enough. That’s the message he sent. We can’t keep doing this. It’s old now. The excuses are old.
"It was quiet. We knew he meant business and we understand it. It’s the first time that it felt like that."
The message wasn’t solely meant for the players. Bradley included himself and the rest of the coaching staff in his comments about Sunday’s performance being unacceptable. However, the bulk of the responsibility for turning things around lies with the players. Can they respond to the first serious challenge they’ve faced from Bradley, who might now be coaching to keep his job?
"I’m hoping that this setback shocks us to get things right," Bradley said. "I believe in these guys. The reason I’m upset is they’re capable of better. That’s the reason I’m upset. I’m not upset because we’re not very good. We’re capable of being better and we’re not showing it. That’s what frustrating.
"You say, ‘Hey, Gus, you said this was built.’ It is built. We’ve got enough good players in that locker room do better than what we’re doing on the field today. That’s a fact. I’ve always tried to be honest with everybody, the fans, and you guys, and that’s how I’m feeling. I don’t know -- maybe tomorrow I’ll come back and I’ll go, 'I looked at things [and they weren’t as bad].' But that’s how I’m feeling right now."
It’s how he should be feeling. The players as well, defensive tackle Roy Miller said.
"We all should be pissed off. We all are pissed off,” Miller said. “You come in here, you got a chance? It’s frustrating and yeah, it’s going to make you angry. There’s no excuse. There’s not one excuse.
"No matter how bad you try to mask it, you’re upset. Hell yeah, you’re upset. It comes a point in time you get upset and tired and it’s on us to change that feeling and change the details on the field."