The Jaguars are heading into Week 6 with an AFC South test that feels a lot heavier than the records suggest.
Jacksonville will open its first divisional game of the season against the Houston Texans in the second of its two London games, and the setup carries real edge. The Jaguars and Texans split their series last year, every one of their last five meetings has been decided by one score, and Liam Coen isn’t pretending any of that history disappears because Houston has stumbled to a 1-4 start.
“We had two really tight games against them. Obviously, have a have a tough feeling in our stomachs from the last time we played against these guys," Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said Wednesday from the United Kingdom.
"Know that every time that you line up against this team, it's going to be a fight. It's going to be a brawl.
That's what's great about football, that's what's great about rivalries, is that you have a level of respect for each other.”
That tone matched the rest of Coen’s first comments this week on Houston: respect the opponent, but don’t overreact to the standings. Jacksonville has started 4-1 and, as Coen’s team sees it, should be 5-0 if not for the blown second half in Denver. The Jaguars have looked better in the rankings and metrics, but Coen made it clear that won’t matter once the game starts.
Houston’s defensive identity remains the first thing Jacksonville has to deal with. Coen said the Texans are still largely operating the way they have before, even with DeMeco Ryans handling play-calling duties on defense instead of Matt Burke. He pointed back to their tendency to challenge Jacksonville on the perimeter and rely on a front and run defense that have given opponents problems.
“No, it was similar. I mean, they kind of do what they do in a lot of ways.
Have historically played a little bit more man coverage against us at times, to kind of take some of the air out, I think, and not give as much free access and challenge us a little bit on the perimeter," Coen said Wednesday. "He calls what they call, what they do.
Their whole deal is built on the front, the rush, the way that they fly around and play and their run defense is really good this year right now. They've got a group of guys that have some confidence.
Records don't mean anything. We know that in this league and we understand what this team is, what they're about, how they're going to come in and play us.
So, this is going to be a test of physical strain, fight, and that's what it's going to be."
That front could shape the game, but the outside matchups may matter just as much. Jacksonville has to account for Nico Collins, who has already had big days against the Jaguars’ secondary, while also preparing for how Houston might use a new weapon who hasn’t taken a snap for the Texans yet after the Marvin Harrison Jr. trade over the weekend.
Coen said the Jaguars have already studied Harrison and the areas of the field Houston may try to feature him in, even if there’s still uncertainty until game time.
“We showed some of Marvin's clips today in terms of what he's been able to do in Arizona, maybe what areas of the field they may try to use him. It's probably going to be hard to get him into a full game plan, but shoot, we did it with Jakobi [WR Jakobi Meyers] last year, and I know Marvin's smart and he works hard," Coen said.
"So, I would imagine that he's going to be a part of their game plan and C.J. and him have a lot of chemistry and history together. There's some unknown to truly how they'll use him, but their system, they kind of run what they do, and they put the guys in positions to make plays and I think Marvin will probably be no different that way.”
If Jacksonville wants this one under control, the offense has to clean up fast. The Jaguars were blanked on all three of their red-zone trips last week against the Eagles, including two possessions that reached the 1-yard line on first down and still came away empty.
One drive stalled immediately. The other unraveled with false starts, a delay of game and then a fourth-down stop.
Coen owned part of that mess himself. He said the crowd made communication difficult in key moments and pointed to his own play calls as a place to help his team.
“That was probably one of the louder atmospheres I've been in a while, especially in those critical moments, to where, hey guys, I can help you out with my play call," Coen said.
"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. So, I showed the players and coaches a ton of clips of the TV copy, different versions of it to show them, look, we broke the huddle with eight seconds.
That's not giving you a chance. That's not giving you guys the best chance to succeed, and that's directly on me.”
In Other News...
Jaguars Have A Discipline Problem Liam Coen Knows He Must Fix
The Jaguars left their game against the Eagles with the same kind of frustration that has been hanging around them for another week: too many flags, too much wasted time, and scoring chances slipping away. Multiple delay of game penalties short-circuited drives, and Jacksonville finished with 13 penalties in that game after also piling up 13 against the Bengals, a pattern that has become hard to ignore for a team trying to establish a cleaner identity.
Liam Coen took responsibility for the breakdowns and said the answer has to start with simplifying the play-calling process so the offense can get lined up and operate with more urgency. For a staff trying to build consistency, the issue is bigger than one messy afternoon. It is about whether the Jaguars can get the details right before the penalties begin to shape games for them. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Fans Have A Bigger Brian Thomas Jr. Concern Than Trade Buzz
Brian Thomas Jr. has become part of the trade chatter around Jacksonville, but the more immediate concern for the Jaguars is not what another team might offer. It is the quiet, underwhelming start to his sophomore season, which has left the young receiver in an unusual spot after what the team hoped would be a step forward.
Through five games, Thomas has just nine catches for 105 yards and one touchdown, production that does not match the expectations surrounding a player the Jaguars still appear willing to build around. Even with outside interest floating around, Jacksonville has not signaled any desire to move him, leaving the bigger question focused on whether the breakout still comes in time for the season to matter. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars-Texans Could Come Down To What Houston Still Hasn't Fixed
With Week 6 bringing the Jaguars and Texans back into the same divisional frame, the matchup is starting to look less like a showcase for star power and more like a test of which side has done a better job of fixing its own issues. Scott Barzilla of Battle Red Blog dug into Houstons current state, and his read centered on a team still trying to sort out its offense, where scheme and playcalling have been lingering concerns even after another offseason meant to move things forward.
From Jacksonvilles perspective, that makes the trip to Houston feel winnable, especially with Barzilla also pointing to defensive injury effects that have complicated the Texans balance on that side of the ball. He flagged a few under-the-radar names worth watching and still called for a tight game, but his slight edge goes to the Jaguars, which says plenty about how much Houston still has to clean up before this rivalry feels settled again. [Read more 🡒]