After last week's loss at Denver, the Jaguars offense is looking to rebound against the Patriots. On Wednesday, Coach Coen saw an impressive sense of urgency from his players.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are entering their Week 3 showdown against the New England Patriots in the unfamiliar position of coming off a loss.
Even the best NFL teams expect a loss here and there, but it is not something the Jaguars have had to deal with in a very long time. Their last regular-season loss was last November 9 against the Houston Texans.
Unfortunately, when Jacksonville lost its first playoff game last season to the Buffalo Bills, there was no game the following week.
That makes this week's contest against the Patriots the first the Jaguars have played after losing the week before in almost 10 months.
How they respond is incredibly important for a team still figuring out how to deal with success. Playing last year's AFC champions means the Jaguars must put last week's loss behind them quickly.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, head coach Liam Coen and quarterback Trevor Lawrence spoke about how they must respond after the loss to Denver, a game that saw the offense's streak of 11 straight games of scoring at least 23 points come to an end.
As reported by Jaguars Senior Writer John Oehser, Coen likes what he sees from his offense.
"There's definitely a sense of urgency."
Coen acknowledged that the Jaguars' practices last week were not up to the team's standard. He stressed the importance of practicing well this week.
"It doesn't always correlate, but you try to stay consistent and remain consistent that practice performance equals game reality, That's something we need to be better at throughout the course of the week. We have to have higher standards with how we practice.
"We have to make plays in practice: Pitch and catch, make good plays, sustain blocks longer, rush and cover better … all that stuff has to improve this week."
Lawrence Expresses Confidence
After the loss to Denver, Lawrence took responsibility for his game-changing interception. Lawrence said he felt confident about the offensive game plan against the Broncos, but the execution wasn't there.
He also said that they will be "ready to go" for the Patriots.
"I feel confident in our group and our plan every week. I felt good about our plan last week. We just didn't necessarily execute it the best. And there's obviously some things in the plan that we will adjust moving forward, but it all ties together.
"We got to make a few more plays and it's not perfect every Sunday. I feel confident in our group and our prep that we'll be ready to go as we move forward."
Lawrence talked about the need to spread the ball around more. Through two games, Jacksonville's passing offense has been the Parker Washington Show. The fourth-year star has 12 catches for 181 yards and a touchdown.
Brian Thomas Jr. has only six catches for 80 yards. Jakobi Meyers has 3-68, while tight end Brenton Strange has 4-40. Both Meyers and Strange have also caught scores.
Final Thoughts
It seems like the Jaguars' offense got off to a good start for Week 3 in practice on Wednesday.
Losing one game isn't any type of season-altering result, but how Jacksonville responds will show what this team is made of. Coming off a loss isn't a situation these Jaguars have had a lot of experience with, but they'll get a chance to show their chops against another AFC powerhouse.
A win over the Patriots will be an impressive result for Jacksonville. And an important one. After New England, the Jaguars have upcoming games against the Bengals, Eagles, and Texans.
