The Jaguars will clinch their first playoff berth since 2007 if they beat the Houston Texans Sunday at EverBank Field.
While the postseason promise is clearly out in the open, Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone isn't interested in talking about the playoffs. His aspirations are even more ambitious with three games left in the regular season and a division title well within reach.
Marrone is treating this week like any other. He doesn't want his team looking ahead.
“You’re not taking me there," Marrone said Wednesday when asked about internal discussions regarding the playoffs.
"Nope. Not doing it. Not jumping. Listen – and I really mean this – like I have said before, we are focusing on what we have to do today. We have a team coming in that is getting players back and an in-division game. They want nothing more than to beat us, as we want nothing more than to beat them. Everything else that goes on around, I’m trying to keep this – because right now I’m trying to keep this team focused on today and preparing today for this team."
At 9-4, the Jaguars own a one-game lead in the AFC South division race. The Tennessee Titans (8-5) are the Jaguars' only real competition left within the division.
Jacksonville can control its own destiny moving forward.
If the Jaguars can knock off the Texans (4-9), they'll be one step closer to the team's first AFC South division championship. That's part of the reason why Marrone wants to focus on one game at a time.
The head coach doesn't want his players thinking about the playoffs just yet. He doesn't want them discussing the scenarios either.
“Not in front of me they won’t," Marrone said.
"I won’t let that happen. It’s not productive to what we want to accomplish. We’re playing a divisional opponent, w’re playing them at home. We want to win this game obviously. That is the most important thing for us and we want to do it in front of our fans. They’re a big part of this.”
The Jaguars have won six of the last seven games. However, losses to the likes of the Arizona Cardinals (6-7) and New York Jets (5-8) have shown the Jaguars need to keep their focus on each opponent.
Jacksonville needs to keep its guard up to avoid a letdown.
“I think our season alone has shown us that we’ve got to be ready come every game," Marrone said.
"We have to be ready to play every single game. I think our team knows that from what we’ve done this year and I think that anyone that has been in this league for a while knows that. It’s this time of year, like I said. I said this before, you can throw those records out. Everyone’s playing, everyone’s a professional, we all know that, coaches always say that, but teams are coming in and knocking you off especially when you have divisional opponents, all that stuff doesn’t really matter."
Follow Mike Kaye on Twitter at @Mike_E_Kaye.