JACKSONVILLE – Liam Coen was more than ready to return to work.
And with reason. The Jaguars are solidly in first place in the AFC South. They’re rested, refreshed and refocused – and the second-year head coach’s excitement level was high Monday as he discussed an “opportunity to reset” as October moves into November.
Up next: A home division game, and 10 more regular-season games after that.
“I couldn’t sleep last night,” Coen said.
Coen spoke to the media before practice Monday, with left tackle Walker Little and cornerback Jourdan Lewis speaking after practice. They discussed multiple topics, including an NFL Sunday the day before when the Jaguars extended their lead over all three division teams.
“The AFC South helped us,” Lewis said. “We’re still No. 1 in the division. We’re just trying to make sure we don’t have any skids to where we let anybody get the opportunity to take that from us.”
The Jaguars (4-2), who won three consecutive games before a Week 6 loss to the Houston Texans the week before the bye, now lead the Texans (2-5) and Indianapolis Colts (2-5) by two-and-a-half games and the Tennessee Titans (1-6) by three-and-a-half games.
The Texans, after a two-game winning streak, lost in overtime, 27-21, at home to the New York Giants Sunday. The Colts lost to the Minnesota Vikings, 16-10, and the Titans lost to the Cleveland Browns, 27-24.
“Six weeks in, and you see all the stuff that happens on any given Sunday – specifically within our division – it should only allow you to have a mindset and a mentality to come in here and attack this thing with a division game up this week,” Coen said.
The Jaguars will play host to the Colts at EverBank Stadium Sunday, with the Jaguars winning their last 11 home games in the series.
“It’s one of those weird, quirky stats you see and you go, ‘Whoa, that’s crazy,”’ Little said of the home streak against the Colts. “Every year is a new year and you have to come into it with a mindset of trying to go 1-0 this week. Any team can lose on any given Sunday. No matter how many times we’ve beaten them at home in the past, it’s not going to help us come Sunday.”
The Jaguars, after being 4-3 at their bye week last season, won nine of their last 10 regular-season games to finish 13-4 and win the AFC South.
“Sometimes absence makes the heart grow fonder in ways,” Coen said of moving forward after the bye. “No different in football. Excited about getting back in the building and getting back with these guys and attacking this next 11 games together and really getting after it.”
Little said the bye allows the Jaguars to “regroup” and “get guys healthy.”
“The biggest thing is just mentally resetting and reframing our mindset for this next 11-game stretch to finish the season,” Little said. “It’s one game at a time, but we’re going to try to go on a run here and string a lot of games together so we can hopefully get a chance to play in the postseason.”
Coen cited red-zone penalties offensively and explosive plays allowed defensively as main areas of focus during bye-week “self-scouting.” He said the Jaguars must perform better on punt return and kickoff coverage moving forward.
“Very confident these guys are ready to respond,” Coen said.