There were plenty of things to like about the Jacksonville Jaguars in the preseason opener despite the fact that they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kicker Cam Little's mind-blowing 70-yard field goal comes to mind. Watching running back Bhayshul Tuten steamroll his way to the end zone was also a sight to behold.
On the other hand, the Jags need to work on a handful of things if they don't want to get off to a slow start in the regular season. Finding what went wrong with the defense (and fixing it) should be among their top priorities heading into Week 2. Similarly, the team must cut down on the head-scratching penalties, something head coach Liam Coen talked about in the aftermath of the game.
Liam Coen wasn't pleased with how the Jaguars executed in the loss vs. the Steelers
Following the 31-24 loss to the Steelers, Liam Coen met with the media and said that the Jaguars won't be able to beat anyone until they stop beating themselves, pointing out that penalties held the theme of the game.
"I mean, I did just address it," Coen responded when asked how he addressed the penalty issue (1:25 mark). "I think that ultimately it's something that takes no talent to do. And you know, we can't beat anybody. This is something we've been preaching for a long time since we arrived was we cannot start to beat people until we spot beating ourselves. And that has remained pretty consistent since February or wherever it's been so, yeah, frustrating."
Earlier in the media availability session, Coen said that he was pleased with the overall performance, but the penalties still lingered.
"And it thought it was well executed in terms of the majority of it. And then, the theme of the day showed up for us on that one drive, which was self-inflicted wounds. So you get the first play of the game, you get a false start. Go backwards, overcome it. Move it forward..." Coen said.
And that's the thing, the Jags managed to drive down the field in spite of the flags. Imagine how much better they would've looked if the execution had been cleaner.
Related: 3 winners (and 2 losers) from the Jags preseason game vs. the Steelers
The Jaguars will need to fix the mistakes to make noise in 2025
On their first two offensive drives against the Steelers, the Jaguars were flagged three times, twice for holding and once for having 12 players on the field. The holdings are a question of execution, and the "too many men on the field" could've been avoided with more attention to people. They ultimately ended the game with eight penalties.
Moving forward, Jacksonville cannot let mistakes like this overshadow what could've been a great preseason showing. Of course, the buck stops with Liam Coen, so he'll need to make sure to put a bigger emphasis on execution the next couple weeks.
The good news is that the Jaguars still have two games to hone this kind of thing, and if they do, they will have no trouble getting off to a strong start when they face the Carolina Panthers in the opener.
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