How a Thursday Night Football Loss Gave Jaguars' Liam Coen a Blueprint

Liam Coen knows what the difference between close losses and wins is -- he learned it on Thursday Night Football against the Atlanta Falcons last season.

Oct 3, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Falcons safety Jessie Bates III (3) causes Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving (7) to fumble recovered by the Falcons during the second half at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The Jacksonville Jaguars let far too many games slip out of their grasps in 2024. That is why Liam Coen is their new head coach, and why Coen is set to pour himself into helping the Jaguars get over the hump.

The Jaguars lost an NFL-record 10 one-score games last season, showing a new way to lose in each way. Whether the losses came due to turnovers, missed assignments on offense or defense, blocking mistakes, blown coverages, poor quarterback play, or whatever else came in between, the Jaguars made close losses a piece of their idenitity in 2024.

That is where Coen comes in. Coen knows that his biggest hurdle as head coach will be teaching the Jaguars how to take control of a game and never giving it back. It is a lesson Coen and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had to learn the hard way last season.

"You know, when you're on teams, when they got that -- just sometimes it's luck, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's skills, sometimes it's coaching, sometimes it's players. It's it's all about the players, as we know. But when you have that, it, when you start winning those games, and you see the tide turn," Coen said on Monday.

"Like we had some really brutal losses in in Tampa this past year. We lose on Thursday night to Atlanta in a four-minute drill where our rookie running back, who was a stud for us this year, fumbles the ball. In a moment that, man, like that's such a learning moment. And then we kept -- we had a couple more hard ones that we we didn't get right."

As Coen would note, that is when things began to shift for Tampa Bay -- and it took a concentrated effort to understand how and why the close losses were happening for the Buccaneers to flip the narrative.

"But then we go on the bye. We make like a real effort to truly practice and teach so much situational football throughout the week that, hey, at least we know we could win, we could lose, but our preparation was right, and the teaching of to Bucky in that moment," Coen said.

"How do we teach before that happens? How do we just teach it and prepare them for those moments to now start to win those moments."

Ensure you follow on X (Twitter) @JaguarsOnSI and @_John_Shipley and never miss another breaking news story again.

Please let us know your thoughts when you like our Facebook page WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE