What Ex-Jaguars HC Doug Pederson Thinks About Liam Coen's Squad

Pederson Weighs In

"I try to watch, and not, not necessarily a specific team, but I do watch teams that have a new, maybe a new defensive or offensive coordinator, and sometimes even maybe a new head coach, like in Jacksonville, for instance. I mean, because I was just there, you know, last year, and now seeing what Liam's done, and watching his young coordinators, kind of, kind of, you know, what are they doing differently offensively?" Pederson said.

"Is it more zone scheme? Is it more gap scheme? You know, running the football, because they are running the ball at a successful rate right now. What are they doing in the passing game? Are they -- and listen the passing game, everybody's running the same plays, right? There's no magical play. There's no magical defense. Everybody's running the same schemes. It's just, how am I putting my players in position to be successful? How am I using the talent that I have on offense or defense, you know, to go out and win a football game?"

Coen and the Jaguars are just one win away from matching the four wins Pederson and the Jaguars picked up in 2024, the final year of Pederson's three-year tenure with the team. Coen is doing it with many of the same players Pederson coached in Jacksonville, too, with holdovers like Devin Lloyd, Anton Harrison and Travis Etienne all on pace to have career years.

"So how are they using Trevor? How are they using Travis Etienne, you know? How are they using Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker and these guys on defense and so being able to watch that, and then having the success that they're having right now, especially on defense where they're creating takeaways, and that's something we had a hard time doing in Jacksonville, was creating takeaways, but now it seems like they're coming in droves, right?" Pederson said.

"They're coming in abundance. And watching teams like that, watching the teams with new coordinators or new head coaches, is fascinating to me.