NFL: How Liam Coen transformed Trevor Lawrence and Jacksonville Jaguars into scary playoff threat
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said he hopes his team 'don't get any respect' while head coach Liam Coen insists he doesn't care about narratives around his side after they dominated the Denver Broncos in a 34-20 victory on Sunday.
Monday 22 December 2025 14:13, UK
Liam Coen's Jacksonville Jaguars have arrived. They care not for your admiration, support or criticism, uninfluenced by outside noise or opinion as they march towards the NFL playoffs following their biggest statement yet.
There is a new-found siege mentality in Duval County, where Coen and James Gladstone have sought to springboard a chapter of ice-cold contention behind a No 1-pick quarterback finally playing like one.
Jacksonville put the league on alert on Sunday as they out-classed the Denver Broncos in a 34-20 victory to end an 11-game winning streak from the AFC's No 1 seed.
While Trevor Lawrence blunted one of football's best defenses, Bo Nix and his Denver attack failed to match the heights of the previous week's win over the Green Bay Packers. The Jags have now won six straight at the top of the AFC South.
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"Trevor Lawrence was the man," said Sky Sports NFL's Jason Bell. "Who knew Parker Washington was going to come to the game like this and ball out?
"If you're going to be a good team, especially in a situation where you're playing the best defense in the game, somebody has to step up and it's not always going to be the star.
"The resilience they had, the preparation to get ready for this game. There was a lot of noise this week, there was a lot of 'hey we know you play well Jacksonville, but this is your true test'.
"Sometimes you can get upset at that and think 'can't you recognise the things we've done well?' or you can embrace the next challenge and that's exactly what they did from top to bottom. They went out there and played a phenomenal game and this is a scary team to face in the playoffs."
In true Sean Payton thinly-veiled jibe fashion, the Broncos head coach had alluded to Jacksonville's 'small market' during the build-up to the game. Coen did not let it slide on Sunday.
"Just thankful that a small-market team like us can come into a place like Mile High and get it done," said the Jaguars head coach.
Lawrence had meanwhile underlined an apparent 'us versus the world' approach while addressing his teammates in the tunnel prior to the game.
Jacksonville's quarterback has thrown for 1,082 yards and 12 touchdowns to no interceptions while also rushing for two scores over the last four games. In his last two games alone he has posted 10 total touchdowns without a turnover, joining Josh Allen, Drew Brees and Patrick Mahomes as the only players to have achieved such a feat.
"All I've heard is how good their defense is. So, I don't give a s***. Whoever lines up across from us is getting that ass beat," mics heard Lawrence saying pre-game.
Fellow No 1 pick Travon Walker would later echo as much while speaking on the Jaguars' post-game show.
"Everybody in this locker room on the Jaguars team, even upstairs, we know everybody's probably going to try to hop on this bandwagon now, but we don't want anybody," said the defensive end. "They can stay where they're at. It's us. It's all about the Jags.
"F*** everybody but us. Excuse my language, dad, grandmamma, but f*** everybody but us."
This is a different version of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and a wildly different proposition to the side that slumped to a 35-7 defeat to the Los Angeles Rams at Wembley back in October. A Jaguars team of the past may have folded into season-fizzling capitulation after such a performance, and so too after blowing a 19-point lead against the Houston Texans in Week 10.
The latter would prove something of a turning point, it seems. Coen has instilled a fresh resilience, while extracting the best football of Lawrence's professional career amid his fifth season in the NFL.
"He's totally turned this organisation around, and to think he almost didn't end up going to the Jags," said Sky Sports NFL's Phoebe Schecter.
"As a head coach and as a player, you don't want to be just comfortable, you want to be in an environment that makes you better and makes the team better, gets the whole organisation to grow and push.
"When your goals are so high in the sky when you trying to achieve things like a Super Bowl, you can't be comfortable because there's no growth with comfort.
"You have somebody like Liam Coen come in and change the organisation and push people in a comforting and empowering way, you bring in Tony Boselli and guys all around changing the organisation."
Coen was asked if a win such as Sunday's one over the Broncos could 'change the narrative'.
"We don't care," he replied. "We really don't care about the narrative. It's only helping us so I want the narrative to keep coming."
Lawrence was meanwhile asked if he felt the Jaguars would finally earn respect across the league in light of their performance in Denver.
"No, I hope not, honestly. Hope we don't get any. Everybody out there, just keep it up, it's great," he said.
Tunnel vision Jags are here.
