Jaguars’ Liam Coen sees plenty of growth as team enters Week 16
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen was asked about the team’s growth since the start of the season to now.
The Jacksonville Jaguars face the Denver Broncos in a high-stakes game with significant playoff implications.A win against the Broncos is crucial for the Jaguars’ goal of winning the AFC South division.The game will be played at Denver’s Mile High Stadium, presenting challenges with high altitude and crowd noise.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are set to enter a matchup unlike one they’ve played this season — and they’ve been through a lot at this point in their season.
Against the Denver Broncos this weekend, the environment will be louder, the temperature will be cooler and the stakes will be higher.
The Jaguars need a win against the Broncos to help their run and goal of winning the AFC South. If Jacksonville loses to Denver and the Texans win out, then Houston will win the AFC South. Essentially, this week’s matchup will clarify whether Jacksonville will be fighting for a spot in the Wild Card round of the playoffs or one of the two top seeds.
For Jaguars head coach Liam Coen, getting the opportunity to play a meaningful game in December is all his team needs to understand the importance.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to go compete and earn everything we get,” Coen said Wednesday.
Jaguars get set for a unique opportunity, atmosphere at Mile High
Jacksonville has fought through plenty this season to get to double-digit wins for the first time since the 2017-18 season. Early in the season, the franchise got the opportunity to showcase itself on prime-time television, facing the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football in Week 5.
They rose to the occasion and got a win over a team that has won the Super Bowl three times since 2019.
A week prior, the team went to the West Coast and defeated the San Francisco 49ers, their fifth cross-country win in franchise history.
In Week 7, Jacksonville experienced adversity and got blown out by the Los Angeles Rams 35-7 in London. They then turned around and won in overtime against the Las Vegas Raiders, giving them experience in extremely tight games.
A week later, the Jaguars collapsed against divisional rival Houston, blowing a 19-point lead entering the fourth quarter. Still, the team didn’t continue to fumble or let the loss snowball as they were wont to do in past years.
Since that game, the Jaguars have won five in a row, with four out of the five not being particularly close. It’s been relatively easy for the Jaguars up to this point after their Houston collapse, and now they’ll get an opportunity to bring it full circle against a big-time AFC West opponent, proving to everyone (including themselves) that they can rise to any occasion, especially when needed.
Coen acknowledged that the team’s moments this year can be beneficial moving forward.
“It’s good to win in different ways. You learn about your team each week, and adversity is usually how we learn. So we’ve been able to go through some of that,” said Coen, before adding that this week’s game against the Broncos will be the “loudest environment we’ve been in thus far.”
It won’t just be the loudest stadium, though; it’ll be a tough place to play for anyone not used to the elevation. As the name describes, the stadium is 5,280 feet (one mile) above sea level.
With that elevation, there is about 17% less oxygen in the air than at sea level (essentially where Jacksonville, Florida, is). That, of course, can lead to many players having issues breathing or other ailments that require extra assistance.
Earlier this year, ESPN published a story in which 111 NFL players ranked the toughest places to play. Denver was listed in tier three titled: “Altitude, noise and ‘Renegade,'” with the last one being a nod to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Former Jaguars defensive tackle Khalen Saunders, then with the Saints, described playing in Denver as “horrible.”
“I’ve got asthma, and I’m overweight; it’s not a mix to be in high altitude. I made it, but I had to get oxygen and inhalers for sure. But it’s not a fun time playing in Denver, especially not when it’s cold, because the air is even thinner,” Saunders told ESPN.
Coen has only been to Mile High one time, in 2018, when he was with the Los Angeles Rams. He said that the fourth quarter, in particular, was when you started to see players struggle.
“Whether it’s communication issues, whether it’s fatigue, energy, whatever it is. But some teams have had a hard time in the fourth quarter with missed assignments or execution or communication, whatever it is. Then, also Denver being able to utilize some tempo in the fourth and get their rushers going. So it’s going to be a challenging atmosphere for sure,” he said.
Ultimately, it’s another opportunity for Jacksonville to showcase the team and move closer to their goal of winning the AFC South, and potentially securing the top seed in the AFC, something they’ve achieved only once in their history (1999).
Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Demetrius82 or on Bluesky @ Demetrius.
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