The Jacksonville Jaguars have spent the last few weeks preparing to host the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1 of the 2024 NFL preseason. Even though the game won’t factor into the standings, it will be the first taste of football for Jags fans in months. And it’s not exactly meaningless.
The matchup will help Jacksonville assess its talent, sort out its roster and scan the Chiefs’ roster for potential waivers. Head coach Doug Pederson, on the other hand, doesn’t care about winning or losing. He wants to see how his players perform.
“Yeah, I don’t judge it on that basis,” Pederson said on Day 13 of training camp when asked if he was looking forward to facing the defending champion Chiefs. “But at the same time, I want to see the guys execute. I want to see the guys play hard and fast and just do what we did the first two weeks of training camp. In the preseason, it’s about the result, everybody wants to win the games, right?”
Pederson continued: “That’s the key, but I think it’s even more about evaluating your squad, especially when you have your so-called starters behind you, but when the first group goes up against another first group, yes. You want to see execution, very few mistakes, because you run your training camp games, that’s how things can be easy. And again, you don’t plan a game. Every
go out and do your work.”
Pederson has already said that the regulars will play a series or two before making way for the second team, while Trevor Lawrence, on the other hand, is excited to be back on the field in late 2023 after a number of injuries.
“When you get an opportunity out there and you play, the score is recorded. I’m not wearing a red shirt but I think there’s something special about it. You want to play well, perform and win. That’s the key thing in a pre-season game, no matter what happens, you still want to win and it’s a good challenge for us. They’ll be putting their guys in as well so it’ll be a good challenge for us and we’ll see how we do at the start.”
“Obviously, this is the first preseason. There’s still a long way to go until Week 1, but I think it’s important to compete against the team that has been the benchmark for the last few years. You shouldn’t take it lightly. This is a preseason game, but they’re keeping score, you want to win. That’s the mindset, and coach just mentioned that after practice. So we know what we want to do and what the goal is.”
Now that you know what to expect, here’s how to watch the Jaguars’ preseason game against the Chiefs.
If you’re watching the game at home, you can catch it on CBS 47 WJAX-TV. Brian Sexton will provide live commentary while Bucky Brooks will provide live analysis. Brent Martineau will take over the sidelines. You can also watch it on NFL+ or Fubotv. Both services require a subscription.
Since this is the preseason, games can be played on Saturday, Friday, or even Thursday. They can also be played at night, in which case kickoff is at 7 p.m. ET and 4 p.m. PT.
If you want to hear the game, you can find it on 1010 AM/92.5 XL or 99.9 FM Gator Country. You can also catch it on Sirius XM, channel 814.
