LONDON — All Liam Coen could do is stand there and smile after Cam Little’s 57-yard field goal cruised through the uprights for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ improbable, stunning and exhilarating 19-17 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
The twists and turns.
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and then doing the opposite.
And overcoming injuries, penalties and some of his own decision-making.
Smiling sure as hell beat grimacing.
Coen deserved a nanosecond to catch his breath and watch his team sprint down the field to celebrate with Little because, well, this wasn’t his best game as the Jaguars’ big whistle.
Had the Jaguars not received a 53-yard kick return by
Ameer Abdullah with one second remaining to set up Little’s field goal, Coen would have experienced a long bus ride back to the Jaguars’ headquarters in Watford, England, a long day-after reviewing each and every player and coaching mistake and a long six days before wrapping up this adventure against the Houston Texans.
The red zone struggles. Some of the play calls. The penalties; oh, those dang penalties. It was stunning to see because you can almost always count on Coen to be the steady hand.
Coen has proven to be a difference maker during his first 21 regular-season games coaching the Jaguars. Motivator. Innovator. Leader. Tone-settler. Calm-down guy. You name, Coen had checked all of the boxes in leading the Jaguars to a 13-4 record last year and a 3-1 start this year.
Coen would have shouldered the blame because that’s what he does. Spread the credit for the wins and take the arrows for the losses. This time, he would have deserved the criticism.
“Unbelievable,” he said when I asked him about the emotions accompanying the aforementioned smile. “Essentially the game was over, right? You’re sitting there sick as a coach. You’re sick because you didn’t feel like you did enough to help your team win.”
But then, as safety Antonio Johnson said, “Ameer Abdullah happened.”
Missed opportunity to finish first half
The Jaguars’ offense faced a second-and-40 and third-and-37 on their first drive of the game. That kind of summed things up for them, didn’t it? They made self-inflicted errors. They dropped a pass. They found the running game difficult to establish. On and on and on.
“A lot of (stuff) to clean up,” center Robert Hainsey said.
The second-guessing of Coen was filling a page in my notebook during the game, something like I said is pretty uncommon. I generally embrace his daring play-calling and aggressive fourth-down decisions. And he’s usually right.
But against the Eagles, there were myriad nitpicks.
Let’s start late in the first half.
The Jaguars trailed 14-7, but chipped their way down the field until an eight-yard catch by tight end Brenton Strange put them at the 1-yard line.
Chris Rodriguez Jr., rush for no gain. Fine. He’s your short-yardage back. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence incompletion. Lawrence incompletion. It was fourth down with a second remaining.
I thought Coen should have kicked the field goal to cut the lead to 14-10 and take some momentum. I also didn’t expect him to kick it. No chance. But the play call left much to be desired. Running back Bhayshul Tuten received the handoff 4 yards behind the line of scrimmage and was stopped for a 6-yard loss when Rodriguez whiffed on his block attempt of linebacker Zack Baun.
The play call was too cute. You’re at the 1; don’t essentially start the play at the 5. I would have been fine with Rodriguez putting his head down and trying to burrow over the goal-line.
More chaos from the 1-yard line
Let’s move to the fourth quarter.
A 27-yard catch by Strange put the Jaguars at the 1 and trailing 14-10.
Cue chaos.
Fill-in left tackle Walker Little false start. … Tuten 2-yard rush. … Delay of game penalty. … Incompletion. … Delay of game. … Parker Washington 9-yard catch. … Lawrence incompletion on fourth down.
My issue started with the initial first-and-goal play. Coen had Lawrence split out wide left and Rodriguez in the wildcat formation. When the flag threw, Lawrence’s frustration was off the charts for him, as if he was saying, “Liam overthought that one.”
The rest of the drive? Brian Thomas Jr. has to get two feet in on the second-and-goal from the 9. That should have been a touchdown. Coen can’t be blamed for that.
“It was like positive, negative, positive, negative,” Coen said. “As frustrating as it is, it still leaves you hope because you’re moving the ball. It just wasn’t really pretty.”
The Jaguars took a 16-14 lead with 3:20 remaining on Lawrence’s 27-yard touchdown pass to Washington, an incredible one-handed catch.
Finally, the Jaguars took over with 1:59 left. Run three plays to make the Eagles use all of their timeouts and maybe see Tuten break one to get a first down? Nope.
Lawrence threw incomplete on second down, which allowed the Eagles to save a timeout. They got the ball back at the 1:35 mark and kicked the go-ahead field goal with eight seconds left.
All was the lost until it wasn’t. Abdullah and Little saved the Jaguars’ day, though.
“It ain’t pretty, but it’s gritty,” Coen said. “That’s what it comes down to. That’s what this team is. I love that group. I have a lot of faith in them. We’re talented, but we’re (also) tough.”
Grittiness won over ugliness for the Jaguars and Coen.
Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com or on X at @ryanohalloran. Listen to Ryan on 1010AM on Tuesdays (6:35 p.m. on “Into The Night"), Thursdays (1:15 on "XL Primetime") and Fridays ("First Coast Football Friday" 4-7 p.m.).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Big plays help Liam Coen overcome lackluster day in Jaguars win
