Oct 12, 2025; Jacksonville, Florida, USA;Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen calls a play from the sideline against the Seattle Seahawks at EverBank Stadium.. Mandatory Credit: Travis Register-Imagn Images Travis Register-Imagn Images

How Jaguars Can Start Fast Coming Out of the Bye

Originally posted on Jacksonville Jaguars on SI
By Andy Quach | Last updated Oct 28, 2025 6:00 AM ET

Hopefully, the Jacksonville Jaguars took full advantage of their Week 8 bye. They came into the break with plenty of glaring issues they needed to address. In their last two games before the intermission, they dropped both in discouraging fashion, first to the Seattle Seahawks at home and then against the Los Angeles Rams in London.

In those losses, they couldn't protect Trevor Lawrence, they couldn't generate defensive takeaways, and they couldn't consistently move the chains or capitalize on extended drives. Some teams might prefer to go into their bye with a big win and high spirits, but this reprieve couldn't come at a better time for the reeling Jaguars.

After the break, Jacksonville has a favorable schedule and key opportunities to climb the standings and the AFC South division. They'll want to ensure that they've crossed all the t's and dotted all the i's they need to get back on track. Essentially, the Jaguars will want to start fast out of their bye — in more ways than one.

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Jaguars need to start games better

A big issue for the Jacksonville Jaguars in their last two games has been starting slowly on offense. In their loss to the Seattle Seahawks, they scored just once until the fourth quarter. The defense continually gave them chances to get back in the contest, but the offense just couldn't capitalize.

Against the Los Angeles Rams, it was even worse. The Jaguars didn't score at all in that one until the fourth, when the game was already well out of hand. Head Coach Liam Coen has taken ownership of his team's sluggish starts, stating that the play-calling hasn't put his stars into rhythm. Jacksonville media asked him if he could use scheming to get players going early on:

"Absolutely. We looked at that as well, the starting-fast element and games that we've started fast on offense, we've been able to — I don't want to say control the game, but just have a better feel early, gets our guys in a rhythm early, gets the quarterback confidence early, so we're looking at how can we kind of tweak practice later in the week a little bit to say, ‘Hey, these are the openers guys on Friday.’ Maybe get it to them a little bit earlier, whatever it is, so that hey, they have a little bit better idea of what's going to get called earlier in the game and try to get some of those things repped on Fridays.”

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This article first appeared on Jacksonville Jaguars on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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