The Jacksonville Jaguars lacked physicality last year, and that was reflected in their inability to establish the run. Not surprisingly, new head coach Liam Coen has put an emphasis on the team's play in the trenches. The approach is quickly paying dividends.
Mia O'Brien of ESPN reported that Day 5 of training camp is "the juicest" practice she's seen the Jags run in years. John Shipley of Sports Illustrated echoed the sentiment and noted one day later that the team ramped up the physicality. Here's the skinny.
"The physicality took another step on Tuesday, with there seemingly being much more chippy behavior between the offensive line and running backs and the defensive front seven," Shipley wrote. "After the offensive line won the trenches battle on Monday, the defensive front balanced things out with a nice showing that was highlighted by big stops from Ventrell Miller, Josh Hines-Allen and Foyesade Oluokun."
Last year, the Jaguars ranked 26th in the league in rushing yards and 20th in rushing touchdowns. But this was far from a one-time occurrence. Former head coach Doug Pederson favored the pass, and the running game took a back seat during his stint in Jacksonville. Meanwhile, Coen turned the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into an offensive juggernaut during his stint as their offensive coordinator.
The Bucs went from one of the worst teams at running the ball in 2023 to one of the top 5 under Coen. He's expected to have a similar impact with the Jags.
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Where does the Jaguars running back stand ahead of the regular season
There's still time before the Jacksonville Jaguars face the Carolina Panthers in the opener, but they're currently laying the groundwork to ensure they can run the ball against their NFC South opponent.
Following Day 5 of training camp. Liam Coen met with the local media and said that he was pleased with the physicality the team showed in their first practice with pads of the summer.
Yeah, I was pleased. You know, I thought that the offense came out and kind of set the tone a little bit offensively in the run game throughout the course of the day," Coen responded when asked what the team accomplished in their first padded practice (1:13 mark). Now, there were still some good plays here and there on both sides, but it was pleased to see physicality, but taking care of one another, like it didn't get sloppy or stupid. It was just good quality work."
Coen continued, "We put the pads on. That doesn't mean we have to cheap-shot each other or do anything ridiculous. And I thought it was just good quality work from both sides. And got our first day of pads in."
Later in the media availability session, Coen said that he has seen the team make strides at the line of scrimmage.
"I think ultimately you need to be in a game. I think because, all right, we're not playing tackle, so you don't know when a ball breaks to the second level, are we going to make that safety or corner miss, or are we going to get tackled? That's ultimately what you don't know. But I think you can look at the combinations up front, the communication our tracks, the fundamentals and techniques in which we're approaching it at and see some improvement."
As noted before, there's still plenty of work left, but if the Jaguars build off of their last few practices, their running back will show notable improvement in 2025.