Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen told his players the three delay-of-game penalties in Sunday’s 19-17 win over the Philadelphia Eagles were “directly on me,” and he plans to speed up and simplify his play calls before the Houston Texans game at Wembley Stadium.
Coen spoke Wednesday from the team’s base outside London, where the Jaguars are staying between their two international games.
“That was probably one of the louder atmospheres I’ve been in a while,” Coen said, pointing to the large Eagles crowd at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium even though Jacksonville was the designated home team. “Especially in those critical moments to where, ‘Hey guys, I can help you out with my playcall.’ Maybe shorten it up, trim the verbiage or call something a little bit more simplified down there where it was in that end zone specifically that got loud and some of those critical downs.”
Two penalties inside the 10
Jacksonville was flagged for delay of game on its opening drive, which helped leave it facing second-and-40 after a holding call and a sack. The two fourth-quarter penalties came within three plays after the Jaguars had first-and-goal at the Philadelphia 1-yard line and a false start had already pushed them back. Trevor Lawrence threw the ball into the ground after the second flag, and the drive ended at the 5 on an incomplete pass to Jakobi Meyers.
Before Sunday, the Jaguars had never been called for more than one delay of game in a single game under Coen and had only four in total during his tenure.
Lawrence: players own part of it too
Lawrence welcomed his coach taking responsibility but said the offense had its own cleanup to do. “It’s always great hearing your coach and play-caller talking about every situation,” Lawrence said, as Ryan O’Halloran relayed from England. “We understand what happened and there were some things we have to clean up as players, too.”
Walker Little steps in at left tackle
The Jaguars will face Houston without starting left tackle Anton Harrison, who went on injured reserve with a knee injury. Coen said Harrison will have surgery once the team returns to Jacksonville because of swelling in the knee, and that Walker Little, a former starter at the position, will take over on Lawrence’s blind side.
“Walker has played a lot of football. I trust him,” Lawrence said. “He’s been locked in the whole season in case his number got called.”
At Wednesday’s practice, left guard Emmanuel Pregnon and tight end Nate Boerkircher worked on stationary bikes, while cornerback Buster Brown (hamstring) and safety Eric Murray (concussion) were in helmets.
Next: Texans at Wembley
Kickoff against Houston is Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET. A cleaner operation in the red zone and on critical downs is the first thing Coen has promised to fix.
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