The Jacksonville Jaguars have been one of the strongest teams in the NFL's first month of this 2026 season and unlike in previous years, this feels sustainable.
Jacksonville have enjoyed and suffered many false dawns in the past. They reached the AFC Championship game in 1999 and that was followed by five seasons missing the playoffs.
They got back to the AFC title game in 2017, coming within minutes of Super Bowl 52. That followed with four straight losing seasons. They reached the divisional round of the playoffs in the 2022 season and what followed was two more missed seasons and the firing of Doug Pedersen as head coach.
But these Jags feel different. They followed up a 13-4 season last year with three out of four wins to start 2026 and they are motivated by Liam Coen, their new head coach.
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Coen came on board in 2025 and immediately changed the culture and made this team believe in itself and what he has done is accelerate himself to the very top of the NFL coaching ranks, right up there.
He should be in the same conversation as a Sean McVay and Andy Reid. He won't be Kyle Shanahan yet, but he certainly is moving into that echelon I believe and that will only be helped by further successes this season and beyond. Jacksonville have a real steel about them now because of their head coach.
I've met Coen the last couple of summers, sat down, had long interviews with him. He's a really nice guy, comes across really nice but there's an edge to him. Trevor Lawrence told me during training camp this year that Coen does a great job of instilling that chip on the team's shoulder.
The Jags, by their own admission, left meat on the bone in 2025. They came up short of their expectations given how they were playing at the end of last year so they are a very competent contender as they prepare to take on the Philadelphia Eagles at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday. Trevor Lawrence has truly arrived as an NFL star quarterback.
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He makes plays when he needs to, mistakes have become less a part of his game and he can take off and run. He's still a very athletic player and the Jags should be applauded for how they win games.
At first glance they don't have a 1,000-yard receiver, they don't have a 1,000-yard running back but they can score enough points to win and they have a collection of pieces that can make plays.
Bhayshul Tuten at running back, Brenton Strange at tight end, Jakobi Myers, Parker Washington, Brian Thomas Jr and Josh Cameron the rookie wide receiver coming on board this year. So it's a collection of parts, they are a team and while the stats are misleading because Joe Burrow threw for more than 400 yards, last week's road win in Cincinnati was built on defense and that is a defense that has some players.
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Yes they have some stars like Josh Hines-Allen, Travon Walker, Foye Oluokun, but again it's a team and that's what this Jaguars unit is. They are a team, they're a collection of their parts, they are not star led, they are not star heavy, they have what the Patriots kind of had back in the day when they were winning.
They have a lot of strong middle-class players. Obviously Lawrence is a star but they have a lot of steely determined players who want to win and it all stems from head coach Liam Coen. Tony Boselli has taken over the football side, he was a very aggressive offensive lineman.
Myself and Tony have been friends for 15 years, he'll give me a smile when he meets me but also looks like he wants to kill me. So that's good, they've got proper football people in the right places, the right man at head coach, the right quarterback.
Tell me that isn't a recipe to make a serious run at the Super Bowl this season and in years to come.
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