Monday Night Football in Jacksonville: "Focusing on Their Job This Week..."

JACKSONVILLE – The lights will be bright, and the attention will be intense.

Doug Pederson knows this, but the Jaguars' head coach said something else is as important entering the franchise's first Monday Night Football game in a dozen years:

"You're in that lead in the AFC South, but at the same time, you look up at the AFC and there are bigger things for this team," Pederson said as the Jaguars (8-3) prepared to play the Cincinnati Bengals (5-6) at EverBank Stadium Monday at 8:15 p.m.

"Our focus has to be just that."

The Jaguars enter the weekend two games ahead of the Houston Texans (6-5) and the Indianapolis Colts (6-5) in the AFC South. They hold the season-ending tiebreaker advantage over the Texans because of a better division record and over the Colts because of season sweep in the head-to-head series.

They also enter the weekend as the No. 3 seed in the AFC behind the Baltimore Ravens (9-3) and Kansas City Chiefs (8-3). They are tied with the Ravens, Chiefs and the 8-3 Miami Dolphins for the fewest losses in the AFC.

"If you want to talk about the No. 1 seed, we've put ourselves in a situation where that's attainable," Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said. "We're right there in the mix. We're not oblivious to that fact. We're taking it one game at a time and you have to win one game at a time to get there. But we understand that that's a real, that's something that's reachable for us and that we can do.

"It's still early in the year. We're getting towards the back half, but you can't get too far ahead of yourself. We understand what we can accomplish and what we can do. Being in the moment is really big."

The Bengals game will be the Jaguars' first on Monday Night Football since they lost to the then-San Diego Chargers, 38-14, on December 5, 2011. The Jaguars are 8-7 on MNF, 7-4 in Jacksonville.

"It's more cameras and a little more atmosphere," wide receiver Calvin Ridley said. "You don't have to get yourself feeling it. It will be there for you."

The Bengals, who enter Monday with quarterback Joe Burrow out for the season with a wrist injury, have played eight prime-time games in 2022-2023.