Five facts about Jaguars vs. Colts all-time series
The Colts and Jaguars play in Jacksonville with first place in the AFC South on the line. Here are five things to know about this series.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are in the driver’s seat of the AFC South, in December, after their 25-3 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Nov. 30 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn.
And regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts (1 p.m., CBS) at EverBank Stadium, they will likely be in the playoff conversation through the end of the regular season.
Rare air, indeed, for a franchise that has been to the playoffs only four times in the past 20 years.
In the process, the Jags (8-4, and currently the third seed in the AFC) had the chance to fold after two devastating losses: 35-7 to the Los Angeles Rams in London on Oct. 19 and 36-29 to the Houston Texans on Nov. 9.
Instead, they rebounded both times. The Jags are 4-1 since the bye week following the Rams’ loss and have won three in a row since the loss to the Texans.
Other Jaguars teams didn’t respond well to adversity. What’s been Coach Liam Coen’s formula?
Maybe it’s because it’s such a new regime, with more than two dozen new players, that there is no scar tissue from past failures.
“Everybody being fairly new, that there’s a lot of trying to prove … prove it in a lot of ways,” Coen said on Dec. 1 during a video conference with the Jaguars media. “There’s a lot of people that are first-timers and some of their roles and and responsibilities, and then there’s a lot of guys that are have been here … attempting to change the narrative and to create our own.
“How you respond through adversity, how you continue to show up to work every day and get off the mat after tough losses, and come back ready to play,” he continued. “And I think it’s pretty cool to see us trying to go 1-0 every week and see what happens.”
Liam Coen on the team’s leadership
“I think our process throughout the weeks, our leadership throughout in the building, with these guys, the coaches and players to doing it together has probably [had] something to do with that … the collaboration between players and coaches, being on the same page about where we’re trying to go and what our goals are, I think has maybe led to some of the connection and belief.”
Liam Coen on accountability vs. blame
“There’s a fine line between accountability and almost self-loathing, right? It’s one thing to take accountability, but when you start to put too much on yourself, whether it’s a player or a coach, that can go in a wrong direction as well, because then you start to go down rabbit holes that anybody in life will go down when you have maybe bad things happen.
“All right, man, that [loss or bad play] was on us. That was on me. Then let’s just get fixed and move on right? We always talk about trying to coach the play and not always the player. Everybody can learn from a mistake. You’re not going to get benched because you make a mistake. We also need to give ourselves grace through a long NFL season that people can learn from and grow from. I think that’s kind of the important message.”
Liam Coen on Trevor Lawrence working the middle
“It’s not anything new. It was just their coverages. They [Tennessee] played a lot of cover two and coverage typically dictates where you’re trying to attack people. You don’t just go into a week saying ‘we’re going to throw the ball in the middle or throw the ball on the outside, or throw the ball deep, or throw the ball short.’ Coverage typically dictates where you’re trying to attack and what zones and areas of the field you’re trying to manipulate, and it just so happened that they were playing a little bit more soft zone in the middle of field that we were able to take advantage of.
Liam Coen on Trevor Lawrence’s accuracy
“I thought he was much more accurate through the middle of the field, which then allowed for some catch and runs … which we haven’t had a ton of, right? Like a 50-yard pass this year is the longest on the season. So it was great to have some catch-and-run opportunities. We still have some meat on the bone that we need to go and take advantage of.”
Liam Coen on the team’s ‘edge’
“You want everybody’s edge and superpowers to be a part of why we have success or what we do on a day-to-day basis. And I do think you see some of the personalities be able to show and the guys having fun playing with an edge. You see Campy’s [defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile] personality in that defense, and that’s cool to see. There is something to prove. There’s an edge to our team that I think shows up on our tape when you turn it on in all three phases and ultimately that’s what you want as a coach. It’s the best compliment I think you can get as a coach, is that your players play their tails off like. I would rather hear that than, ‘Man, y’all, y’all execute and have great scheme.'”
Liam Coen on the offensive line
“We need to play better up front for us to continue to move forward as a team. But Cole [Van Lanen] stepping in multiple roles, being the Swiss Army knife that he’s been for us has been really helpful.”
Liam Coen on players with ‘Jaguar DNA’
“There’s definitely a mold of players that we are ultimately [are] looking for and hunting up, and we have a lot of those guys in this building [who have] helped us get to the point where we’re at. Height, weight, speed traits [are] always nice to have, but for us, it’s more so about how much does the game make sense to them? How much does the game mean to him? And that’s something that we’ve tried to eyeball when it comes to making some of these decisions. Height, weight, speed, the vertical … that other little part, is a guy a Jaguar football player. Can he play ball, right? Does he? Does he understand football? Does the game make sense? Football feel and athletic traits are different, in my opinion.”
Liam Coen on his friend Jon Sumrall becoming UF coach
“I’ve got so much respect for John Sumrall as a coach, as a man, as a leader, of people, of men, of players, of building. He’s got so much passion and competitiveness. He’s a guy who’s been a defensive coach for a long time, but he sees the game through a big picture lens in all three phases. He understands good football. He can recruit his tail off. I can’t say enough good things. He’s one of he’s one of the guys I look up to, actually, in this profession, have a lot of respect for and, you know, any chance I get to talk to somebody, it’ll be cool to have him here as a neighbor.”