The first year of the Liam Coen era with the Jacksonville Jaguars was objectively a success. They exceeded all preseason expectations, won the AFC South and did so while losing No. 2 overall pick Travis Hunter to a season-ending injury. Their 27-24 wild-card loss to the Buffalo Bills was a tough end to the season, but it still came in a big year of progress for the organization.
Even with all of that being the case, the first-year Jaguars head coach is going to have an entire offseason to think about — and potentially second-guess — some of his decisions on Sunday.
At least, that is what he should be doing.
Liam Coen’s decision to not take the points was huge
The biggest individual decision he might be thinking about is his choice to not kick a field goal in the first half when the Jaguars had a chance to take a 10-3 lead.
Just after the Jaguars scored their first touchdown of the game, they recovered a Buffalo on the ensuing kickoff and were set up with prime field position and a chance to add on to their lead.
But with the Jaguars facing a 4th-and-2 at the Buffalo nine-yard line, Coen opted not to kick the field goal and went for it.
It did not work. Buffalo took over after the turnover on downs, drove down the field for a touchdown, regained the lead and then ultimately won by three points.
On one hand, going for it on fourth down has become far more common and accepted in the NFL in recent years. Coen might have also been thinking that he was not going to beat Bills quarterback Josh Allen with field goals. There might be a lot of truth to all of that, and nobody would be questioning anything if the Jaguars had converted and scored a touchdown.
But they did not convert, they scored no points and they ended up losing the game.
Aggressiveness on fourth downs in the regular season can work out because you have a 17-game sample size to work with. If you miss one in Week 4 and lose the game as a result, you have 16 other games for it to balance out. If you miss in the playoffs and lose, you have to wait until next season.
Jaguars did not utilize running game enough
The other regret Coen should have is not about any one individual play or decision, but more of a philosophical approach.
They simply did not run the football enough. Not only does Buffalo have one of the NFL’s worst run defenses, but the Jaguars were absolutely dominating when they did run the football. For the game, they averaged 6.7 yards per carry, accumulating 154 yards on 23 attempts.
It should have been the primary focus of their offense. But for long stretches of the game, and especially in the middle of the game, they seemed more determined to let quarterback Trevor Lawrence try to dictate the game. While he did throw three touchdowns, he was also intercepted twice and threw a handful of other passes that could have — and perhaps even should have been — intercepted. He was not consistently effective, certainly not enough for the Jaguars to have a run-pass split in their play-calling that favored the pass.
This was a game there was there for the taking. Perhaps a more run-oriented approach, while also taking the points when presented with the opportunity, could have produced a win.