JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Leave it to a kicker to steal the headlines of Trevor Lawrence, Travis Hunter and Co.
Liam Coen’s head coaching debut against the Steelers on Saturday night at EverBank Stadium had all the highs and lows of any preseason game, but it will be remembered for the kick of a lifetime for Cam Little.
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Say what, a kicker?
We’ll get to the offense in a moment, but Little provided the headlining play of Jacksonville’s 31-25 loss against Pittsburgh. That’s what happens when a would-be NFL record energizes the home crowd and lights up social media.
They’ll be talking about this night for awhile. Sure, it’s preseason and doesn’t count, but Little’s 4-for-4 night included a moonshot of a field goal.
After Nick Mullens found Bhayshul Tuten on a 3-yard pass, the clock zeroed out for what should have meant halftime. Instead, the Jaguars were able to get a timeout and Coen sent Little, the second-year player from Arkansas, out to attempt a ridiculous 70-yard field goal.
Little lined up for the try on a wet field and let it rip. It started out dead center before losing altitude and slowly curling left. But it had enough juice to not only clear the crossbar but even go a few yards past. It triggered a playoff-winning type of celebration from Little, players and Coen.
“Yeah, it was pretty electric. Credit to our fans. That was pretty sick. We had a really good showing tonight. Obviously fans were really loud. It was so sick. Oh my God, if that was only a regular season game,” Little said.
Had it been a regular season game, Little would be in the record book by a wide margin. Ex-Ravens kicker Justin Tucker holds the record with a 66-yarder against the Detroit Lions on Sept. 26, 2021.
“Cam looked at me and was like yeah, I want it and so gave it a go and, yeah, that was pretty cool to see, huh,” Coen said.
Little also hit three other field goals in the game, a 41-yarder to cap Lawrence’s lone drive of the game, a 40-yarder and a 54-yarder to get Jacksonville within 31-25 late in the fourth quarter.
Coen said all players would see action in the game, and the starters did, albeit not much. Lawrence played the opening drive and looked sharp like he has throughout training camp. He was decisive and efficient, hitting five different receivers and leading Jacksonville to a field goal before heading to the bench.
“So, some of that stuff to clean up, setting us back a little bit, having to get back on track,” Lawrence said. “But I thought there was some good stuff out there. Like always, like I said, there will be a lot of stuff to learn from the tape, and we’ll learn from it.”
Coen’s offense is going to prioritize motion and quick passes and variety, and Lawrence’s work showcased that. Two of Lawrence’s passes went to Hunter, the unicorn of a prospect who won the Heisman Trophy last year and is attempting to become the first full-time two-way player in the NFL since the 1960s.
Outside of trying to lead Jacksonville back to respectability after the franchise imploded under Doug Pederson, Coen’s greatest challenge may be rebuilding Lawrence. Billed as a generational-type of player when he was drafted No. 1 overall out of Clemson in 2021, Lawrence has struggled with erratic coaching (Urban Meyer and Pederson) and injuries.
With Coen trying to rebuild Lawrence from the cleats up (footwork was the head coach’s first priority with his quarterback), his showing in a small sample size against Pittsburgh was a promising first step.
Hunter was OK on defense, too. His biggest impact on that side of the ball came in hanging tight in coverage during his first series in the second quarter, play that led to Dawuane Smoot sacking Mason Rudolph. Hunter did miss a tackle in his limited work.
“Yeah, it definitely settled down when I got that first catch – really when the first play started, it settled down," Hunter said.
The not so good were the penalties, the drops and the defense.
The Jaguars were called for a false start (Anton Harrison) on their first snap of the game. On defense, Jarrian Jones was called for holding on Jacksonville’s first defensive snap of the game. And the drops (at least three in the opening half alone) were notable.
“I think that ultimately, it’s something that takes no talent to do and, you know, we can’t beat anybody,” Coen said. “This is something we have been preaching for a long time since we arrived was, we cannot start to beat people until we start beating ourselves and that has remained pretty consistent since February or whatever it’s been. So, yeah, frustrating for sure.”
The defense’s best play came on a fourth-and-1 stop to open the second half with De’Antre Prince and a defensive front push smothering Kaleb Johnson for no gain. But the starting defense was a bit of a concern.
Pittsburgh, playing without starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers and most of its presumptive starters, sliced through Jacksonville’s starting defense on its opening drive and found the end zone on a touchdown pass from backup Mason Rudolph to Darnell Washington.
“That was a little frustrating to see,” Coen said. “Those are some things when you’re playing a new system, right? They’ve been playing a lot of man coverage over the last year here, and playing a lot more zone coverage, so oftentimes you almost start to do too much the other way where we’re giving up a lot of grass and a little bit of room so I imagine we’re going to want to ask these guys to get a little stickier.”
Depth players saw most of the work. Mullens, who is familiar with offensive coordinator Grant Udinski from their time in Minnesota, got a substantial night of work, and Jacksonville needs him to get in as many reps as possible with Lawrence’s recent injury history.
Some of his best work came after Pittsburgh took a 14-6 lead after Skylar Thompson tossed a 3-yard touchdown to Max Hurleman with 28 seconds before half. Instead of bleeding the clock to get into halftime, Mullens marched Jacksonville from its own 32 to the 48 with a couple passes to rookie running back Tuten, plays that set up Little’s 70-yard blast. Mullens also tossed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Trenton Irwin.
Undrafted rookie quarterback Seth Henigan finished 11 of 14 for 78 yards passing, and led Jacksonville down the field on the final drive of the game with a shot to win before the Steelers closed the door.
