5Qs, 5As with Big Cat Country: Liam Coen giving off ‘McVay vibes’ in Jacksonville

Cheerio, old champs! The Los Angeles Rams are taking a trip to Wembley Stadium in London to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 7. Both teams sit at 4-2 and are making a playoff push in their respective conferences. Anything goes in this oddball of a season.

Before flying to England (in spirit) this weekend, I spoke with Gus Logue from Big Cat Country to get the inside scoop on the culture change Liam Coen has brought to Jacksonville, Trevor Lawrence, the Jaguars’ turnover-hungry defense and more.

Q – The Jaguars are coming off a tough loss to the Seahawks, a rough encore following the Monday night thriller over the Chiefs. Regardless, could you talk about the culture that first-year head coach Liam Coen has brought to Jacksonville?

A – Sunday’s game was certainly a deflating one, but 99% of Jaguars fans would’ve been thrilled about a 4-2 start no matter how it happened. Coen has implemented a culture of physicality and resiliency that has shown up on the field more often than not.

Multiple times during the offseason, he used the acronym F.A.S.T. (Fundamentally sound, Attacking, Situational masters, and Toughness) to describe what he looks for from his team. You can probably check the boxes for “Attacking” and “Toughness”—especially for the defensive side of the ball—but the Jaguars haven’t been “Fundamentally sound” or “Situational masters” on a consistent basis. The offense has had multiple red zone turnovers, the defense has allowed multiple game-winning/clenching drives, and pre-snap penalties have been a recurring issue.

There’s still plenty of work to be done, but with that said, the Liam Coen era has begun as well as we could’ve hoped.

Q – Trevor Lawrence has had some on-and-off performances in his first year with Coen calling the shots. What are some of the things that Lawrence has done well in Coen’s system and where does he need to improve most?

A – Lawrence has always been good at avoiding sacks and executing timing-based pass concepts. That’s carried over this season. In the past two games, his out-of-structure playmaking was very encouraging (and necessary, going against Steve Spagnuolo and Mike Macdonald). Lawrence is starting to use his legs more—he has 20 attempts over the past three weeks—which has helped the offense stay afloat amid a regressing offensive line and out-of-sync receiver room.

The first thing he needs to improve upon is consistency. For as many passes that remind us why he was drafted first overall, there are just as many decisions that make Jaguars fans want to rip their hair out. He also has a handful of blatant misfires each game, with balls usually being thrown too high. And Jacksonville’s downfield pass game has been a disappointment, partly because Coen wants to scheme up deep balls with play action from under center. Lawrence is still much more comfortable operating from shotgun than having to turn his back to the defense.

**Q – The Jaguars went from...