The Jacksonville Jaguars are one win away from their 13th win of the season. Head coach Liam Coen explains the team's mindset entering their last game of the regular season.
While several NFL teams have already captured a playoff spot and will rest their starters, the Jacksonville Jaguars still have lots to play for next week against the Tennessee Titans.
Despite being 12-4, they still haven’t won the AFC South yet, which will come if they beat the Titans. They are also playing for playoff seeding in the AFC.
Head coach Liam Coen was asked during the Jaguars press conference after the game what their mindset was leading into the Indianapolis Colts game Sunday and the game next week against Tennessee.
Several players were sick this week, but still managed to get on the field.
“I mean, that was the message to the guys in the locker room, was we had a bunch of – not that it's an excuse. We had a lot of guys sick all week,” he said. “Guys that came up sick today, and a ton of them were key contributors as well. So, very proud of the group going on the road in the division again, getting a huge win.”
The goals of this team are still ahead of them, and that’s the message Coen gave to his team this past week.
“Yeah, we talked about that on Wednesday that – we didn't even address making the playoffs as a team. We haven't really talked a ton about goals, about the division, playoffs, conference, Super Bowl – like we have not had any of those conversations as a team,” Coen said. “Not really on purpose, more so just because you're really trying to focus on getting better because there's so much to coach off of every week for us, and even through a lot of wins, we're able to coach off a lot of stuff and keeping the mindset pretty singular on 1-0 each week.
"That's just been the mindset, a mentality that these guys have had, and I've appreciated that, and we’ve fed off of each other that way.”
Coen’s message to his team going into next week: Finish the job. He says it’s great to get to 12 wins, but the job is not done yet.
“I feel like what’s so great about this team is we take it one week at a time. Those wins just keep accumulating, but it's because of the mindset that we have week in and week out," Coen said. "So, we just try to get one every week, and it just accumulates."
Coen wants his team to finish strong. He wants them to finish what they started.
“Just finish the job. Just execute, finish the job. Don't get lackadaisical, just come in ready to play," Coen said. "Just be who we have been all season. We can't start looking ahead. We’ve just got to continue to be present. I thought we did a great job of that.”