Liam Coen said the Jacksonville Jaguars are using an additional preparation week to sharpen their approach before opening the 2026 regular season against the Cleveland Browns. The game is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. at EverBank Field. Jacksonville enters the opener after finishing 13-4 and winning the AFC South in 2025, while Cleveland finished 5-12.
Coen, the Jaguars’ second-year head coach, spoke to the media for about 20 minutes Monday. The opener will be his second regular-season opener as Jacksonville’s head coach after the Jaguars defeated the Carolina Panthers 26-10 in the 2025 opener.
“It just becomes more real,” Coen said. “We had a team meeting this morning and seemed like everybody was kind of chomping at the bit, ready to go. The mood in the room was good, and they seemed pretty excited to get going.”
Jacksonville Jaguars use extra week for preparation
The Jaguars played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their preseason finale Aug. 28. The NFL scheduled a preseason bye between the end of the preseason and the start of the regular season, giving Jacksonville additional time before facing Cleveland.
Coen said the Jaguars are using the week to adjust to a later practice schedule and prepare for possible Sunday weather conditions. Jacksonville also held joint practices with the New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the preseason, with Coen emphasizing those sessions after choosing not to play most starters in preseason games.
“So much of training camp is going against yourselves,” Coen said. “You mix it in with the joints, which is great. That simulated work that we got at the joints gives you some glimpse and obviously competing against other teams and quality opponents.”
“The message this morning was using all of this week, this bonus week, to our advantage – knowing what the weather’s going to be like possibly on Sunday and working through it. We’re practicing a little later now, so those guys have to continue to adjust to those things.”
Liam Coen points to higher standard
The Jaguars appeared to gain momentum as training camp and the preseason continued, including strong practice and game weeks against the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Coen said the improvement has involved individual players, units and the team as a whole.
“You see improvement. Last year we saw some improvements made, whether it be individually, per the units, and obviously as a team as a whole. It just raises the standard in the way that the guys operate on a day-to-day basis,” Coen said.
Coen said the standard of performance in the Jaguars’ locker room has elevated. He added that shortcomings in meetings, walkthroughs and practices still must be addressed regardless of Jacksonville’s 13 victories in 2025.
“The standard of performance in the locker room has elevated to where maybe I don’t always have to say, ‘Hey guys, that’s not the standard,’ ‘This is not how we operate. This is not what we want it to look like.’ They know more now in terms of the way that looks,” Coen said.
“I think the standard of performance has elevated in the locker room.”
Jacksonville Jaguars prepare for regular-season opener
Jacksonville is 16-15 all-time in regular-season openers and has won two of its last three. The Jaguars will face a Cleveland Browns team that finished 5-12 in 2025.
Coen said the Jaguars must be ready to adjust, show patience and maintain an attacking mindset. He identified Jacksonville’s execution, effort and ability to respond to positive and negative moments as central elements of the opener.
“It’s definitely a game that we have to be ready to adjust to some certain things and have some patience with but also have an attacking mindset,” Coen said. “A lot of this game, especially in Week 1, is so much about our execution, about our guys, our team. You want to be aware of their players, aware of their game records and some of the things that they do. But it’s so much more about our team, our execution, our effort, and our ability to respond to whatever does occur, both positive and negative.”
Source: Original report