Jaguars derive extra motivation from Pro Bowl voting ahead of AFC playoffs

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The Jacksonville Jaguars have new motivation for their postseason run: Pro Bowl snubs.

The Jaguars (11-4), who have won six in a row and seven of eight to clinch a playoff spot, landed just one player on the AFC roster announced this week. And it wasn’t even a positional player. Long snapper Ross Matiscik was the team’s only selection.

“We can’t control those decisions, and we have a lot of players that are very prideful and have done some really cool things,” coach Liam Coen said. “And to be 11-4 and have one (Pro Bowler), that just speaks volumes.”

Running back Travis Etienne, quarterback Trevor Lawrence, linebacker Devin Lloyd and kick returner Parker Washington were voted alternates and still could land spots in the Pro Bowl Games, which will be played the week of the Super Bowl in San Francisco.

Jacksonville considers Lloyd the biggest oversight as the team prepares to play at Indianapolis (8-7) on Sunday. Lloyd leads the AFC and is tied for second in the NFL with six takeaways, including five interceptions.

He had game-changing picks against San Francisco, Kansas City and in the first meeting against the Colts. He also has a career-high nine quarterback hits, including 1 1/2 sacks.

“Obviously as a competitor, you want to get that nod,” Lloyd said. “But, at the end of the day, we’re in a great opportunity to play in the real bowl. So, for us, it’s just about attacking the week-to-week process and doing what we got to do to prolong the season and get to where we want to go.”

The Jaguars can clinch the AFC South and secure a home playoff game with a win this week combined with Houston losing to the Los Angeles Chargers.

They shouldn’t need any motivation, whether it’s real or manufactured, the rest of the way. But Coen would welcome any potential help. The first-year head coach insists his team plays better with an edge, an us-against-the-world mentality.

Last week at Denver, Coen turned an innocuous quote from Broncos coach Sean Payton about Jacksonville being a small-market team into bulletin-board material.

Before the previous meeting with the Colts, Coen put up quotes from NFL analysts seemingly overlooking Jacksonville while talking about Houston and Indianapolis vying for the South title.

Even this week, with the Jaguars in the playoffs and playing as well as anyone in the league, it hasn’t been hard for Coen to find doubters.

Pro Bowl voters are the latest. The teams are decided by fans, players and coaches, with each group making up a third of the vote. Cincinnati (5-10), Miami (6-9) and Jacksonville were the only AFC teams to land just one Pro Bowl starter while the New York Jets (3-12) were the only AFC team shut out.

“You always use that type stuff as fuel,” Lloyd said. “At the end of the day, you got to channel it the right way. … Anything you can use as an edge. I don’t think I was the only one that kind of got snubbed. We’re an 11-4 team, and a lot of guys put a lot of good stuff on tape."

Lawrence leads the AFC with 26 touchdown passes and has seven more rushing. Etienne ranks third in the conference with 13 total touchdowns. Even second-year kicker Cam Little got overlooked despite setting an NFL record with a 68-yard field goal.

“Shoutout to Ross. Kudos to him. He deserves it,” defensive end Josh Hines-Allen said. “But we have other guys on the team that deserve it as well. … It just goes back to the same old, same old thing that we’ve been experiencing. It’s expected.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) greets fans as he runs off field after an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos in Denver, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen looks on during the first half against the New York Jets in an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida over the weekend.

Zelenskyy told journalists that the two leaders will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine during Sunday's talks, and that the 20-point plan under discussion “is about 90% ready.”

An “economic agreement” also will be discussed, Zelenskyy said, but that he was unable to confirm “whether anything will be finalized by the end.”

The Ukrainian side will also raise "territorial issues", he said.

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine “would like the Europeans to be involved," but doubted whether it would be possible at short notice.

“We must, without doubt, find some format in the near future in which not only Ukraine and the U.S. are present, but Europe is represented as well,” he said.

The announced meeting is the latest development in an extensive U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the nearly four-year Russia-Ukraine war, but efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

Zelenskyy's comments came after he said Thursday that he had a “good conversation” with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that the Kremlin had already been in contact with U.S. representatives since Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev recently met with U.S. envoys in Florida.

“It was agreed upon to continue the dialogue," he said.

Trump is engaged in a diplomatic push to end Russia's all-out war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Russia also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.

Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in the peace talks, Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.

In fact, Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.

On the ground, one person was killed and three others were wounded when a guided aerial bomb hit a house in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, while six people were wounded in a missile strike on the city of Uman, local officials said Friday.

Russian drone attacks on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into Friday left part of the city without power. Energy and port infrastructure were damaged by drones in the city of Odesa on the Black Sea.

Meanwhile, Ukraine said that it struck a major Russian oil refinery on Thursday using U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.

Ukraine’s General Staff said that its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region.

“Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was hit,” it wrote on Telegram.

Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said that a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the fire.

Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple the Ukraine's power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Ukrainian officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a media conference at the EU Summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)