Liam Coen Hasn't Avoided Common New Coach Issue with Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars took their second consecutive loss and their third of the 2025 NFL season in Week 7's matchup with the Los Angeles Rams. However, it was the first time that Head Coach Liam Coen was thoroughly outmatched. Heading into the game, the battle between him and his former mentor, Sean McVay, was a huge talking point.

It didn't end up being much of a fight, though, as the Jaguars were blown out in London, 35-7. Jacksonville had lost two games earlier in the year, but their defeats to the Cincinnati Bengals and the Seattle Seahawks were mostly on the players and their poor execution rather than a result of poor coaching.

The Jaguars got plenty of discouraging performances from their on-field talent against the Rams, too, but a large chunk of the blame has to fall on Coen's shoulders as well. He made plenty of questionable decisions throughout the game, including some highly controversial fourth-down conversion attempts.

Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL, Seattle Seahawks, Head Coach Liam Coen — Oct 12, 2025; Jacksonville, Florida, USA;Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen talks with a referee before the game against the Seattle Seahawks at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Travis Register-Imagn Images | Travis Register-Imagn Images

Jaguars must clean up penalties

Even during the Jacksonville Jaguars' 4-1 start to the year, the team struggled with penalties. A lot of it came down to procedural issues, such as illegal shifts before the snap and delay of game flags that repeatedly put the team off schedule and behind the chains.

Against the Los Angeles Rams, the Jaguars had quite a few disciplinary issues as well, including two defensive pass interference calls on safety Andrew Wingard. Jacksonville has to find a way to avoid these self-inflicted wounds across the board. Liam Coen was recently asked why he thinks that new coaches and their teams often struggle with penalties:

#Jaguars Offensive Miscues

65- Flags (Most)
52- Penalties (2nd Most)
34- Off Penalties (Most)
18- PreSnap Penalties (Most)

16- Drops (Most) pic.twitter.com/N1hoG3YQyf
— Daniel Griffis (@DanDGriffis) October 14, 2025

“New. New. New fundamentals, new techniques, new what you're asking them to do, new style of play. I don't know. That's what I'm kind of going off of is you're ultimately all new together and so maybe some of the fundamentals get blurred or that's why I'm saying, 'Guys, we have to simplify.'

The answer for me to fix penalties is to simplify what we're asking them to do so that when you're in a moment of crisis or time of a big play or something, well, you've played this technique this many times, you know exactly what the call is. You are anticipating what your opponent is doing, and now you're playing cleaner. You’re playing cleaner on blocking mid zone, and my hand is not out here."

"My hand is inside the way that we practice it to be every week. I mean guys, there's a lot of teams in this league that don't have officials at practice every day and don't put up the penalties and stuff of the week. And I almost feel like you’ve got to emphasize it — I don't know how to emphasize it more. And that's what I don't want to have, these guys playing in the back of their minds, like if I do this, I'm going to get a penalty.

It's not about that. It's about guys, we’ve got to play cleaner. We’ve got to play cleaner with our hands, with our feet, with our mind. Are we getting fatigued, physically fatigued, which is now slowing down the brain and the legs and now we're reaching and grabbing for straws? We're trying to make a play when you're down 21 or 14 to nothing playing against a good team. A lot of that goes into it, guys. And so, I don't know what that is, but that's my kind of long-winded answer.”

To see if the Jaguars ever clean up their penalties, follow us on X (Twitter) @JaguarsOnSI and @_John_Shipley.

CLICK RIGHT HERE to add us on Facebook and let us know your thoughts on Liam Coen and his team's lack of discipline through seven games.