Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said he is confident the team’s offensive line can respond after Denver pressured quarterback Trevor Lawrence in a 20-13 Week 2 loss. Jacksonville will face the New England Patriots on Sunday in Week 3, giving the unit its next opportunity to apply the corrections identified from the Denver game.
“I’m confident in that group and their ability to respond,” Coen said Monday.
Denver pressure exposed protection issues
The Denver Broncos recorded seven quarterback hits and two sacks on Lawrence. Zach Allen and Nik Bonitto combined for four of those hits, with Coen saying Allen disrupted the Jaguars inside while other Denver defenders also had opportunities to affect the game.
“Zach Allen really disrupted things inside,” Coen said. “We all kind of took our turns a little bit upfront. It wasn’t necessarily one guy on, for the majority of the game. I think we all kind of took our turns.”
The pressure represented a tougher outing than Jacksonville’s Week 1 victory over the Cleveland Browns. The Jaguars allowed one sack and three quarterback hits in the 34-10 win over Cleveland.
Coen said the Jaguars’ run game was more effective than it may have felt during the loss. He said the team had some decent movement and handled some movement and pressures well, but the pass protection needed to improve.
“The run game was a little bit better than it maybe felt at times,” Coen said.
Coen said Jacksonville must do a better job of moving the launch point and providing help to the offensive line. He also said the Jaguars need to get the ball out more quickly on longer-developing routes, adding that the protection problems were not the responsibility of one player.
Robert Hainsey stresses technique and communication
Robert Hainsey, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ center and an offensive captain, said the line’s response will begin with one-on-one matchups, technique and fundamentals. He said those details will be central to the group’s preparation for New England.
“After watching, it’s going to come down to your one-on-one matchups and I think your technique and fundamentals,” Hainsey said. “For us as a group, that’s a lot of it.”
Hainsey said the line also must improve its communication, checks and assignments in loud road environments. He described the performance in Denver as solid overall but acknowledged that Jacksonville did not make every call correctly.
“I thought it was pretty solid,” Hainsey said of the offensive line’s performance in the loud atmosphere. “It was a loud atmosphere. We’re definitely having to talk a little bit and make sure we’re on the same page. We didn’t get every call and that’s not really acceptable. It is a tough environment.”
Hainsey said the line must understand what happened against Denver, identify what it could have done better and work intentionally on those techniques during practice. He also said the group needs to keep improving how it operates in the huddle, recognizes checks and moves to new assignments.
New England provides the next test
The New England Patriots are next for the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 3. Jacksonville’s preparation will center on pass protection, launch-point movement, route timing, communication and assignment discipline after the issues identified against Denver.
The Jaguars enter the matchup after a 34-10 Week 1 victory over the Cleveland Browns and a 20-13 Week 2 loss to the Denver Broncos. Sunday’s game will be the next opportunity for Jacksonville’s offensive line to show how it responds to the pressure and communication challenges from Week 2.
FSB Take
Coen’s confidence places the focus on a collective response rather than an individual fix. Jacksonville must address protection, help the line when needed and make quicker decisions on longer-developing plays, while Hainsey’s emphasis on fundamentals and communication identifies the execution required for those adjustments to work against New England.
Source: Original report