JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Marrone believes turnover margin is one of the most important stats in the playoffs.
That means he's a little concerned with his team heading into Sunday's wild-card game against the Buffalo Bills at EverBank Field. The Jaguars are minus-5 in their last two games, both losses, after being plus-15 in the first 14 games of the season.
"The turnovers -- if I sit up here and say I am not concerned ... I always am, but I am going to keep my focus the same way and do everything we possibly can to make sure that doesn't happen in the future, especially on Sunday," Marrone said.
The Jaguars turned the ball over seven times in their last two games (at San Francisco and Tennessee), including five interceptions by quarterback Blake Bortles. In addition, receivers Keelan Cole and Jaydon Mickens committed fumbles, both of which the Titans turned into field goals.
"At the end of the day, we don't win the turnover battle and we're not able to make any plays, it's very difficult to win," Marrone said.
Nine of the last 10 teams to play in the Super Bowl finished with a positive turnover margin in the playoffs. The only one that didn't was the 2013 Denver Broncos, who were minus-6. That included four turnovers in their 43-8 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Jaguars defensive tackle Malik Jackson played for Denver in that game. He also played on the Broncos team that beat Carolina in the Super Bowl two years later. Denver had the second-best turnover margin in the playoffs that season.
"If you can go out there and not give up any turnovers, take away the ball, I think you have a pretty good chance of winning the game," Jackson said. "That'll be our plan: Have the offense keep the ball; defense, we're going to try to continue to work that ball out and be that dominant defense."