JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Liam Coen knows the team on the other sideline well.
Will that knowledge be enough for Coen and the Jaguars to come away with a win in their home away from home in Week 7?
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Coen got his start under Sean McVay in Los Angeles and has said multiple times how much he took from the infrastructure there. Now, Coen gets his first shot at beating his mentor when the Jaguars (4-2) face the Rams (4-2) in London on Sunday morning at 9:30. Los Angeles is a 3.5-point favorite over Jacksonville.
“And that was the whole thing with the players is the vibe in the building, even when we had a tough stretch was always pretty confident,” Coen said Friday in London.
“It was never like you felt like you were going to live in hard moments for long. You just knew you had to figure out a way to get through tough moments and I thought Sean did a great job handling adversity.”
Knowing McVay like he does (and vice versa), will the paralysis by over-analysis come into play in this game?
“Honestly, that’s something that has gone through my mind over the last probably 24 hours is, man, they know so many things about our system. We know obviously a little bit about their system, man, just let these guys go play,” Coen said. “It’s truly going to be about the execution, the energy, the focus. Being able to just go play and execute at a high level and let these guys just go let it rip.”
Adversity in Coen’s tenure has involved the same thing — penalties, drops and an inconsistent offense. The Jaguars are the second-most penalized team in the league (New England has 53 to Jacksonville’s 52). According to Pro Football Reference, the Jaguars have dropped 20 of Trevor Lawrence’s passes. That’s the most in the league by nearly double (the next closest is 11).
Coen’s message has been the same: if Jacksonville can clean things up and play consistent football, it will be difficult to beat.
“Look, the best that we play is when we’re playing with our hair on fire. With energy, confidence, excitement, getting guys going, flying around,” Coen said. “We’ve got to get back to flying around, whether it’s in all three phases, offense, defense, special teams.”
On the surface, Lawrence’s numbers across the board are on the ascent. In the Chiefs game, Lawrence’s rushing numbers (10 carries, 54 yards, 2 TDs) were a season best. Outside of an interception against Kansas City where a flag should have been thrown for pass interference, Lawrence has four touchdown passes and just the one pick over his last three games.
“I feel like I’m getting more and more comfortable even just being in the pocket again and like moving around. I think the last couple weeks have been better examples of that,” Lawrence said. “And then, there’s a lot of areas that I still can improve a lot on, and I think that’s a good thing about our offense, specifically is just we’re still leaving a lot out there and we can score a lot more points and be a lot more productive.”
The other big issue offensively for Jacksonville has been in the receiving game. Before he went on injured reserve, tight end Brenton Strange was the team’s leading receiver. That’s both a positive and a negative. Much more was expected of Strange after the team let Evan Engram go, and Strange delivered on that aspect. But it’s also an indictment on how poor the receivers as a whole have played. Second-year player Brian Thomas Jr. had his receiving touchdown last week against the Seahawks, but his sophomore year has been filled with drops, at least six of them, and a few more balls that he’s short-armed.
Rookie two-way player Travis Hunter was expected to play as a solid No. 2 to Thomas, but he’s had a relatively quiet start on offense. Hunter has 20 catches for 197 yards. Jacksonville’s coaching staff has yet to find the ideal balance of Hunter in the lineup, be it using him more at cornerback or more at receiver. As the receivers have struggled as a whole (free agent Dyami Brown has underwhelmed, too), the Jaguars are more likely to incorporate Hunter into the offensive game plan.
“Yeah, I’ve just got to continue to be consistent for the quarterback and for the coaches so they can trust me more,” Hunter said.
The offensive line imploded against Seattle, but center Robert Hainsey should return after missing the Seahawks game with a hamstring injury that pushed rookie seventh-round pick Jonah Monheim into his first career start. Monheim played well, but there’s no doubt that Jacksonville operates better with Hainsey in the lineup.
“… Just his leadership, the room, the accountability that he has every single day, that’s really what he helps bring. And then when he is playing and feeling good, he is playing at a high level,” Coen said of Hainsey.
Coen knows that the Jaguars have to be better than they were against the Seahawks to have any sort of chance to top the Rams.
“We know what they can do in so many ways. And look, you’ve got to come ready to buckle your chin strap against this team. That’s ultimately what it’s coming down to for us about this football game,” he said. “Our level of detail, our level of fundamentals, technique, discipline. We’re going to need it because this is a team that typically doesn’t hurt themselves very often.”