How Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen is attacking the bye week
Jaguars coach Liam Coen covered several topics during an exclusive bye-week interview with Times-Union sports columnist Ryan O’Halloran.
Jaguars head coach Liam Coen took responsibility for a bad playcall in a team meeting.The moment was captured in the team’s “The Hunt extras” video series.Coen’s accountability aims to build a culture of ownership among players.
Liam Coen held himself accountable in front of the entire team.
In a new video released by the Jacksonville Jaguars, as part of the team’s ‘The Hunt extras‘ series, viewers got a glimpse into a team meeting held by Coen in front of players, the coaching staff and executives.
Coen began the meeting by going over what’s plagued the team for the last couple of weeks: self-induced errors. He preached details, the mindset and the challenge of playing with strain for 17 weeks, but most importantly, the details.
Coen even referenced what he said to the team following their win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football: “Everything needs to keep elevating.” But while some people may have thought he meant more strain, more effort, what he meant was that, after the pads come off, is when technique and details should be perfected.
Then, he put on the tape.
“This is a dog (expletive) playcall. There’s nowhere really to go with the football,” Coen explained to the team during the meeting.
The play shown was from their loss to LA on fourth-and-7 from the Rams‘ 11-yard line. There was 1:53 remaining on the clock just before halftime with the Jaguars down 21-0. Jacksonville just came off a drive that ended in a missed field goal and was looking for points.
Coen explains that the team did a fine job with protection, the ball doesn’t come out of the quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s hands, and it becomes a scramble of four yards and a turnover-on-down. The play looked like Lawrence’s options were limited at the end of his dropback, and after a couple of ticks, there was pressure that flushed him outside the pocket.
“Guys, this is not my best, by any means,” said Coen. “This is not putting you guys in your best position to succeed on fourth-and-7.”
Then, Jaguars rookie running back LeQuint Allen chimed in: “I got to pick up the corner instead of running by the safety,” he said. On the play, Allen works as Lawrence’s lead blocker when he scrambles. Instead of blocking Rams cornerback Darious Williams, who ultimately made the tackle, Allen passed by him to get further toward the marker to block the safety.
While Coen wasn’t looking for Allen to speak up, necessarily, for a rookie to do so in front of the entire team shows the type of culture Coen is looking to build. One that allows players to feel unafraid of taking ownership, holding themselves accountable. He didn’t hold back in continuing to take responsibility for the play, either.
“I appreciate you saying that, dude,” Coen said. “But I got to be better in this situation regardless. It’s my (expletive) job. I’m going to ask you to do yours, I got to do mine.”
Coen then showed the team successful plays from players who have been criticized for their play over the last couple of weeks, including receiver Brian Thomas Jr., safety Andrew Wingard, in addition to general plays made by the team that showcased their strain, effort and determination to jump off to the team’s 4-1 start.
Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner reposted the clip on social media, saying, in part: “I was just talking about how easy it is to coach based off [sic] winning: coming up with reasons players could do something else [because] what they did in game didn’t work… then there is coaching to be the best, taking ownership of where you/the scheme/the teaching let the players down [and] not blaming them for something [you] didn’t do!”
Coen’s leadership has been echoed by players since the start of the season.
Jaguars have preached transparency for a while
The Jaguars will always strive to be transparent, at least as long as EVP of football Tony Boselli sticks to how he said the team would operate in a sitdown with Jaguars.com senior writer John Oesher not long after he was hired for the job.
“If we can connect with our fans, and give them a little taste of what’s going on, and give them some insight to feel like they’re more connected to us … that’s really important to me,” Boselli said at the time. “It’s important to the whole organization.”
Boselli explained that the exciting part was that Coen and general manager James Gladstone were also on board with connecting with fans, sharing insight into the team’s day-to-day.
While many assumed some of the transparency would end after losses, it hasn’t. The Jaguars have shown postgame locker rooms for all seven games this season, including the team’s back-to-back losses against the Seahawks and Rams.
“It makes it easier for us to do that because we have great people in the organization. … There’s a trust that as an organization, everyone in it is marching in the same direction. They’re trying to accomplish the same goals,” he said.
While the bye-week production doesn’t make up for losses, it does give fans and observers more to chew over before they return to face the Las Vegas Raiders on the road in Week 9.
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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