Big Cat Country
Liam Coen is the only first-time head coach in NFL history to win 12 or more games after taking over a team that had four or fewer wins the previous season. Jacksonville has won seven straight games with the league’s best point differential in that span (+119). They’re a win against the 3-13 Titans away from winning the AFC South and clinching a top-three AFC playoff seed.
For the last time this season, we rounded up the latest NFL power rankings to see if the Jaguars are getting the national respect they deserve.
From Mike Florio:
Hopefully, they didn’t peak too soon.
From Pete Prisco:
They are a real threat in the AFC playoffs. They aren’t great in any one area, but they don’t have weaknesses like some of the teams.
From Eric Edholm:
The Jaguars were pretty shaky early against the Colts, fortunate to only be trailing 10-7 at the half. Then the offense got going, the defense clamped down and the better team won — it was the Jags’ seventh straight victory in a breakthrough season few saw coming. What they’ve done since their Week 8 bye has been nothing short of admirable, and they’re as legitimate a contender as just about anyone in the AFC field right now. But there is one area they absolutely can improve in prior to the postseason: the red zone. Their 60% TD rate down there ranks them in the upper half of the league, and their 39 TDs are impressive, but Sunday brought two more RZ turnovers, raising their season total to six. Coughing it up twice in the money zone against Indianapolis is one thing; doing so in a playoff game would be another entirely.
From Josh Kendall and Chad Graff:
Head coach check-in: Worth the trouble
Remember all the fuss in January when Liam Coen sort of snuck out of Tampa Bay under the cover of night? Nobody in Jacksonville does. The Jaguars matched the franchise’s highest win total since 1999, making Coen the only first-year coach in league history to inherit a four-win team and win 12 or more games the next season. Jacksonville has won seven in a row and hosts Tennessee to end the season.
From Nate Davis:
Why aren’t they No. 1 … even though they might wind up there in the overall AFC standings? Their seven-game winning streak, most of those victories of the decisive variety, is currently second only to Houston’s. The Jags are committed to the run, take the ball away and can rush the passer. But as well as QB Trevor Lawrence has played since Thanksgiving, he also remains an unproven commodity − at the professional level anyway − when it comes to January football.
I abandoned all...
