What Liam Coen Thinks of Travis Hunter's Critical Penalty

The Jacksonville Jaguars know rookie star Travis Hunter will make plenty of memorable plays for Duval.

In Sunday's 31-27 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, it looked like he was on his way to making one of his first.

At first, it looked like Hunter had won the game for the Jaguars. Bengals quarterback Jake Browning targeted Hunter on fourth-down, and Hunter got a hand on the ball to break it up and seemingly wrap up a close road win.

But then the yellow flags came out, and Hunter was called for defensive pass interference. The Bengals were given a huge chunk gain and, eventually, drove down the field for the game-winning quarterback sneak from Browning.

Coen's Reaction

Sep 7, 2025; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen stands on the sidelines during the second half of a game against the Carolina Panthers at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images | Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images

“I think it was the hand fighting that they're probably going to talk about. I think he opened up the gate a little bit at the beginning, which kind of allowed him to get on top of him but there was a little hand fighting going on between the two of them," Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said on Monday.

"What we watched and saw was he did still have the ability to get his head, eyes and hand back to deflect the ball. That's what we saw but ultimately there was some hand fighting going on that they're probably going to say, was it, I guess, I don't know. So, I thought he made a good play on the ball.”

In a lot of ways, the play showed the positive traits Hunter brings to the table. In other ways, the Jaguars can't take that moral victory and add it to the win column.

“Like, not a lot of guys can get their head around at that point and still see it and find it and go make a play on the ball. So, I think definitely some of the natural ball skills, anticipation showed up," Coen said.

"He played obviously a lot more snaps on defense this week and obviously had the penalty, but I was pleased, I was proud of the way he competed. We're going to need more of it. We're going to need him to continue to, to ascend and I was pleased with the way he played overall.”

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