Jaguars' Liam Coen Began NFL Coaching Career with Gutsy Move

There was a lot of speculation about how the Jacksonville Jaguars would perform in their 2025 NFL season debut. This team has a lot of new pieces, both on the field and on the sidelines. Their Week 1 clash against the Carolina Panthers also marked Liam Coen's first game as an NFL head coach.

There were high hopes for what the Jags could do in their first year with Coen at the helm. After his stellar 2024 season as offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he earned a reputation as one of the best play-callers in the league.

It was alluring to think of what he could do with quarterback Trevor Lawrence, wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr., running back Travis Etienne Jr., and the rest of the Jaguars offense.

However, making the jump from a top OC to a head coach isn't an easy one, nor has there been a perfect track record in the history of the NFL. Plenty of brilliant football minds have failed to show the moxie necessary to lead a team, not just with the Xs and Os but also to inspire confidence, develop talent, deploy it deftly, and make the right judgment calls.

Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL, Carolina Panthers, Head Coach Liam Coen, Trevor Lawrence — Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) and Carolina Panthers head coach Liam Coen has words during the second quarter of an NFL football game between the Carolina Panthers at Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium Sunday September 7, 2025. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union] | Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Liam Coen has what it takes

It didn't take long for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Head Coach Liam Coen to come across their first key play of the 2025 NFL season. Just over a minute into their opener against the Carolina Panthers, the team faced a 4th-and-1 at their own 37-yard line, threatened with starting off their new era with a deflating three-and-out.

Instead, Coen and his staff elected to go for it, knowing full well that their opponent would already be in field goal position if they failed to convert. The Jaguars dialed up an end-around run for free agent pickup Dyami Brown, and he got them four yards and a huge first down. Jacksonville media asked Coen about his risky call:

"It’s funny because it was very eerily similar to Pittsburgh preseason [Week] 1, where you’re kind of in a similar situation, similar place on the field. I kind of asked the guys real quick what do we think, and it was very clear from everyone on the headsets it’s a go zone, but yeah, I guess on your first drive calling plays as a head coach, it probably makes it a little more [dicey]. Data and analytics would say it’s a go, I would say very high percentage but had confidence in the call that we had prepared for the moment and the guys executed it, could’ve been a bigger play if we didn’t trip but the execution in that moment, obviously didn’t pay off with a touchdown that drive, but it was still a scoring drive.”

Liam Coen sets the tone early with a huge fourth-down call in Jacksonville territory on the very first drive of his NFL head coaching debut pic.twitter.com/dbzvMkIQFd
— Andy Quach (@NBA_QuachBoy) September 8, 2025

That decision may have given this team the confidence they needed to dominate the Panthers the way they did in Week 1. It surely won't be the last gutsy call from Head Coach Liam Coen.

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