Gang Green Nation
The New York Jets are on the road on Sunday for the 14th game of their 2025 campaign. They will be facing Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars have pulled off a remarkable turnaround this season. Last year the Jaguars finished with a dismal 4 – 13 record. This season the Jaguars sit in sole possession of first place in the AFC South with a 9-4 record. They have won four straight games, three of them by 17+ points. The Jaguars aren’t just winning, they are dominating. With the Jaguars playing their best football of the season and the Jets starting an undrafted rookie at quarterback on the road, this looks like a mismatch on paper.
Previewing this matchup, Gus Logue, site manager at Big Cat Country, was kind enough to answer a few questions regarding the 2025 Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Jaguars have pulled off a remarkable one year turnaround, from 4-13 last year to first place in the AFC South at 9-4 this year. What have been the major reasons for the turnaround?
It starts with Liam Coen. Most football followers are familiar with his achievements as an offensive play-caller and quarterback developer, but when the then-39-year-old was hired in January, the question for everyone outside the Jaguars’ building was whether he had the goods as a culture-setting, people-motivating head coach.
It looks like he’s got it. After a Week 10 collapse in Houston that can only be described as “Jaguars-like”, Coen got his troops to rally with four consecutive wins (three by 17+ points). Jacksonville’s dominant home win over Indianapolis last week moved them into sole possession of first place in the division and started the first public whispers of Super Bowl aspirations from inside the building. The Jaguars are rounding into form at the perfect time in the NFL season. It’s early, but it looks like this long-suppressed squad finally found the right leader.
Brian Thomas looked like a budding superstar last year, but this season he has struggled to get on track. Why has he struggled and do you expect him to return to his rookie level of success any time soon?
Sadly, Thomas has not blossomed into a perennial All-Pro consideration like so many of us expected. His rookie stats put him in rare company with guys like Randy Moss, Odell Beckham Jr., and Ja’Marr Chase, but it now seems that any assumptions of ascension were off base.
Thomas struggled early this season with targets over the middle of the field, partly because he’s not fantastic against zone. He could stand to improve at recognizing soft spots in coverage and working back to the football when it’s airborne. The bigger issue, though, was fear of contact. Thomas developed “alligator arms” and stopped short on routes to avoid getting popped by a defender. His tape in Week 3 was horrific.
Yet as he displayed last week, Thomas remains among the NFL’s most dangerous perimeter threats. Place a defender across from him at the line...
