HC Liam Coen Speaks on Unique Value of Preseason Football

The Jacksonville Jaguars walk away from their second preseason game with a record of 0-1-1. After coming up short against the Pittsburgh Steelers, 25-31, they came even closer to victory in Week 2 but had to settle for a 17-17 tie when the time expired.

Of course, the final record in preseason means little, as do the individual scores of each game. The Jaguars' starters played scarcely in both exhibitions. Against the Steelers, quarterback Trevor Lawrence and the rest of the first-team offense appeared in only one series, coming away with a Cam Little field goal. In their second bout against the New Orleans Saints, the offensive starters got two drives, fumbling one away and scoring a touchdown on the other.

While they have to be taken with a grain of salt, Jacksonville did get some encouraging performances from a few different players in preseason Week 2. Head Coach Liam Coen and the rest of his staff might not be worried about the final score, but they are concerned with how the team got there.

Spencer Rattler, Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL, preseason, New Orleans Saints — Aug 17, 2025; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler (2) scores a two point conversion to tie the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fourth quarter at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

Jaguars fall short on back-to-back potential game-winning drives in 2025 NFL preseason

Against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Jacksonville Jaguars had the opportunity to go down the field and walk off with a game-winning touchdown. Instead, they let the clock expire still down 25-31 after wide receiver Eli Pancol was tackled inbounds with three seconds left in the contest, just 28 yards away from the end zone.

The Jags got a bit of déjà vu against the New Orleans Saints. With nine seconds left and the ball on the opponent's 42-yard line, rather than chance it on a Cam Little 59-yard field goal for the win, Jacksonville elected to run another play. Unfortunately, that snap resulted in Seth Henigan getting picked off after an ill-advised quick slant was bobbled into the air.

Jonas Sanker comes up HUGE with the INT

The @Saints came all the way back in the final minute to secure the tie. pic.twitter.com/B3vZqfTUf2
— NFL (@NFL) August 17, 2025

Head Coach Liam Coen had two timeouts left in his pocket. The Jaguars could have taken a knee or run the ball, stopped the clock, and still been well within Little's massive range.

Both of the Jaguars' failed game-winning drives in the preseason will be valuable teaching moments for Coen and his team. The head coach spoke on the value of getting these situational reps in exhibitions:

"Oh, it's great. They get the two-point conversion, and we are ready to go. We have 20 seconds left and our timeouts. We hit a seam ball down into the plus territory. And, man, you feel like you're right back in it. You know, you got a great chance to go win the game. We're running all slants, a play that just maybe gained five yards. We're in a down, down timeout situation. It was communicated. Those guys were on it."

"You never want to not win, obviously. But the situational football that does show up for us...And another one before the half, where we end up having a two-minute drill that goes across the 50, we get a good completion. We got a slow clock at four on the timeout and executed that at a high level. So, you felt like some good stuff did show up for us, and, from upstairs to downstairs, the communication was much improved.”

Hopefully, the entire organization can take something valuable away from the Jaguars' narrow preseason shortcomings, from Head Coach Liam Coen to quarterback Trevor Lawrence to backup Seth Henigan.

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