Jacksonville Jaguars Head Coach Liam Coen Is Ready For The Smoke And FIRE With His 2026 Team

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. We are one week out from opening weekend for the Jacksonville Jaguars and I'll give you some reasons to be fired up here today on Lockdown Jaguars. You are locked on Jaguars. Your daily Jacksonville Jaguars podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. What up good folks? I'm Tony Wiggins, the host of the Lockdown Jaguars podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by Kowshi. For a limited time download the Kowshi app and use the code Lockdown to get $10 win. You trade $10. I'm glad y'all here today let me let you know where we're going to go with it at the end of the show in the third segment. We'll talk about the narratives and how they will be running while this season right in the middle. Liam won't fold and that is the thing I want y'all to remember when we start the show talking about getting fired up and how easy it is now in 2026.

1:14Very easy when you come off of a 13 win season to be fired up about this team. It's also easy to have trepidation about this team because the Jaguars haven't made the playoffs in two consecutive seasons since they've been here. Right and every single time they get up they go back down. Now in 2023 when they got up and they went nine and eight and went to the playoffs won a game and then lost again they actually went nine and eight again in 2024 but those are two different seasons the ebb and flow of those two different seasons really even though the record was the same they felt really differently right and that's the context of me when I say the Jaguars could have a worse record but be a better team sometimes the record when they get told when this is the perfect example that when people tell you. Numbers don't lie yet they do because you felt the numbers looked down look down at the numbers from 2023. It says 98 look down at the numbers for 2024 it says 98 tell me that tells the whole story.

2:18It doesn't you know why it doesn't because you were there and this is one of the things I try to tell people about having when you when you when you're there the numbers in the stats don't bear out how you felt how agonizing it was for you. In 2024 to go nine and eight after an eight and three start right that felt a whole bunch different than the go nine and eight after like a two and seven start and then go on this run. So 10 years or 15 years from now when you know it all a little kid and you try to tell them about Jaguar stuff and they grabbed their phone like kids do today and go bang bang bang bang well what do you mean 23 and 24 were different because you were nine and eight both times. Yeah you had to be there. That's where we are right now that's this is the perfect example of saying the numbers don't lie but they don't tell the whole truth because those two seasons were totally totally opposite and now we're at 13 wins.

3:19And it's so bad that even me Mr. Positive or me Mr. Practical or me Mr. Logical or Mr. Macro you know these are the kind of things that my wife actually says to me whenever she got me caught in something and I said something and she proves yeah Mr. Macro Mr. I'm just joking but even even I'm sitting here talking about stuff that happened a few years ago you see what that is so it's not just fans it's media. I'm going to tell you right now why you can actually why you can be more fired up because this ain't that that's why it's not it feels different. I'll be the first one to come on here and criticize them if it doesn't show up to be anything different or if it's worse like way worse not just a little bit because things happen to ball will be just some time but yeah don't get mad at me if it doesn't work I'm just telling you why I think it's going to work.

4:21Some people might say that's me sitting on the fence and copying out but what it is is look man I get it I get it from the standpoint of being a grief counselor for years I get it from the standpoint of sitting here and having to try to be positive all of those years when I knew it wasn't anything to be positive about because even though there was going to be progress in the past there was never ever ever going to be the feeling that you're going to be. The feeling that you have now because organizationally they are they weren't where they at now and that is so critical I know in football we love to think that is just about the Jimmy's and Joe's the Jimmy's and Joe's a super important it is on the field about Jimmy's and Joe's but it's not about Jimmy's and Joe's that have ability only it's about Jimmy's and Joe's that have structure that have alignment that are one that are moving on one accord that have a positive culture that comes because it's bread through merit. Bread through merit, talkers and it's also bread through competition and they're yoked to be competitors because that's who they are you're not forcing people into positions that they don't fit you're not subscribing to a substitution pattern that's predetermined before games even start based on one person's assessment that the team was getting tired when they shouldn't have been getting tired see this is what happens in the past in the past they made so many excuses for losing instead of looking in the mirror and taking accountability.

5:48That they started chasing ghosts. Now they're not trying to solve problems they're looking for solutions they're attacking everything and it's not just with words it's with action they just think about the offseason how they had to blind out the noise from consensus boards and people telling them what they should and should not be doing and then it turns out that they have their own consensus staff right. There in the building so they come out with the chest puffed out they come out sure about who they are they come out looking confident and then people call them arrogant so this is all going to set you up as to why you should be very very confident in this team. I'm going to tell you why and then I'm going to explain it in segment two when I talk about Liam and how you want fold. I'm going to tell you why I'm going to give you a little bit of a conversation I had on the sideline at practice with a visitor who played the game who played it at an extremely high level.

6:56And I'm not going to expose the name because some things that we do and it's not it's it's not professional for me to expose who said it when I didn't tell them that's what I was doing so I won't do it but I also won't do it because he's not alone in this assessment because there are other people that are said the same thing and I have seen it and I've heard it so I'm wondering if all of these dudes ever got in the same room together but I asked them how you think the Jaguar is going to do he said they'll be fine. The only thing he said the only thing but he said they'll be fine if and I got a witness to so and y'all know the way y'all know the witness but I'm going to tell you who it is if he hears this he'll go yep I was standing right there. He says if Liam Cohen doesn't think and I'm going to use another phrase than what he said because it's a family friendly show he said if he don't think he all that and that's a paraphrase of what he said what he said I can't say.

7:58He said if he doesn't if Liam doesn't think he's too big that's as close as I can get to it that's what he said and I took it in as his opinion didn't sit there disagree with it did want to argument if you ask somebody's opinion and they give it to you take it in and it's whatever and then I started hearing it other places I heard a one place before that but it echoed something that people were talking about when they were talking about James glass. It's not just a year ago and well it echoes what people were saying when they were talking about a GM and we assumed that it was James glass don't about how they think they're smarter than everybody else when it comes to draft picks you heard it in the consensus board talks you heard it last season doing the trade deadline about maybe people doing fantasy football and not really understanding what it is and this that the third right so it's easy to say that the trade deadline but you don't hear people saying that after you win.

8:58You can't get a third game or the game is a good playhouse because that's too much proof of concept right. They have already cut the noise out and shown you that they don't give one darn about anything that anybody outside of this building says and the players don't either and you've heard players in the past, say that it's only us we don't care about anything but anybody says but normally they were saying that to deflect their failures. but words will never hurt me. Yeah, but you look at that wing column and being two and seven should hurt. And that's the way the fans think. Fans get angry with those guys, be shaking people's hands after they get their brain battered in by the 49ers a couple of years ago, and they out there hugging it. And I don't make no big deal about that because I know what that is. That's just gladiators who all share the same thing, they have something in common, it's good competition or whatever, but it doesn't look the same when you don't win. Fans don't have a problem at all when you win and you shake those guys hands.

9:58So it's all about narratives, but I'm gonna tell you why this, if Liam doesn't think he's all that, is a whole bunch of crop. And second segment here on Locked On Jaguars. What up folks, today's show is brought to you by prize picks, football is finally back and that means Sundays are about to get a whole lot more interesting. Every week brings new matchups, break out players, big performances, and plenty of storylines to follow. And if you like getting even more engaged with players and stats, you're watching there's a new way to make game day more exciting. Prize picks is picking out and bringing out it's best offer yet for kickoff. New users sign up, if you sign up, you get $150 in lineups if they win their first $5 lineup. And prize picks is now available nationwide. I absolutely love it because what you gotta do, man, it's just pick those projections, put them together and you get paid. Week one has a dosy for you.

10:59Sam Donnell needs just one yard against New England the cash is picked. It doesn't get any easier to that. It doesn't, it absolutely doesn't. So here's what I want you to do. Download the app today and use the code Locked On NFL to get $150 instantly in lineups if you win your first $5 lineup. Prize picks, run your game. All right, man, we moving and grooving here. Liam Cohen won't fold. By the way, it says Locked On Jaguars. I'm Tony Wiggins, the host. We thank you for making us your first listen. It is your team every day. So it's also gonna be your minute when I tell you what I mean by Liam Cohen not folding. If I don't care what you think was a person, that's your head coach. And I'm not talking about fans. I'm not talking about fans. I'm not talking about media. I'm not talking about any of that. It's so refreshing to see a coach that's just not standing there bickering

11:59arguing with media all the time. It's so good to see coaches not sitting there making excuses or telling people if I explained it, you wouldn't understand it anyway and all of this stuff, right? It's so impressive to see coaches not saying and press conferences on Monday or Tuesday. Yeah, man, I don't know. We'll just, you know, we're trying everything. Throw everything against the wall to see what sticks. No, there's a plan here, man. There's a proactive plan to be good. There's a proactive plan to do the right thing. There's a proactive plan to do what they want, when they want and how they want to do it. That's what attacking means. There's a proactive plan in place here where the Jacksonville Jaguars to do what they have to do and what they wanna do. That is how I have always described running the football. That is how I've always described, you gotta physically beat people. You can't duck smoke in football and expect to win ultimately. You might be able to duck smoke a little bit and fool people and because of your talent

13:02and because of your ability to make some plays, get to a certain point, but you can't duck smoke. So I'm gonna stand here and say that Liam ain't trying to duck smoke and sometimes what that does is it confuses people and it looks arrogant and it looks too confident, right? Let me give you the flip side of that. If Liam Cohen came up and looked like he didn't have answers, people would use this term and I've heard it in sports a whole bunch. He's in over his head. How many times have y'all heard someone say that a coach is in over his head? It is almost like the second somebody starts losing, he's in over his head. Winning and losing doesn't come down to whether or not a guy is in over his head or not. Maybe he just has a qualifying skill that he needs to refine a little bit. There have been so many coaches that have been one game away from getting fired and then they win that one game and then guess what? They keep winning, keep winning, eventually get a championship. So was that coach in over his head?

14:03Sometimes the most cocky and arrogant people who have ever walked this earth will tell other people that they're too cocky and they're too arrogant. What that is is you're just not understanding that person owning their position sometimes. They're in a position, Liam Cornett's the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguar. He is leading 53 active players, 17 practice squad players, a whole staff of the coaches and personnel people. He is the face of this organization. He's supposed to look like he knows what he's doing. He's supposed to look like that. He knows exactly where he wants this team to go and how he wants to get there and what it's supposed to be. Not what it's supposed to look like, but what it is. He's supposed to carry that. He's supposed to walk around with his chest out. If he hadn't lost weight, if Bacelli hadn't made him lose weight, they'd be really saying, oh, he acts like he's all of that. And then probably call him fat. That's just what people do when they don't understand the assignment and excellence

15:04that someone else is attempting to get to. So he doesn't look like when Liam Corn says that they were looking for at the edge last year when they were admittedly, admittedly, they said, we don't know. You know what it wants to be, but you won't know until you get here. This is our first time that we understand we put this staff together with alignment and with a mission. And they were transparent enough and this to me shows a lack of arrogance. But they were transparent enough to say that, I don't know, we're gonna do the work and how, however, it looks, that's what it is. When it came to Travis Hunter and his usage, it's new to everybody. We got an idea, we're gonna let him be nothing more than himself and we'll figure it out as we go. Let's transparency, man, that ain't arrogance. So once they take a good heart, look at it and they do it with the monochrome of success of a good regular season and, by the way,

16:05an AFC South Division title, I don't mention that enough and I should. Now all of a sudden, these guys are green. I remember people that listen to this show, friends of mine saying, I don't know about the staff, man, maybe they need a grown up in the building. The only grown up they need is those 13 wins and that win column. That shows me the grown up they have in that building, right? Because you had the first time GM, first time he's second to vice president, first time head coach, you're sitting there like, first time defense of court, and everything's first time, first time, first time, first time, right? News flash, every coach has been a coach, the coordinator, every GM that's been a GM, every senior executive vice president have all been at some point no matter how successful they are, they were that for the very first time. The question is, can everybody all at one time be the first time simultaneously together on one staff? Well, you got your answer. And now people are using the words arrogant, overconfident,

17:09thinks he's all that and the words that I can't repeat on here. Without basis, what are you talking about? Show me a coach that is a good leader that doesn't look exactly like he doesn't know what he's doing. Shut up, Mike Norville, I'm sorry, Florida State. And maybe Les Miles will back in the day, he didn't really look like he knew what he was doing. But I digress, that's college. What coach, what leader in any capacity when you're leading a hundred people in a gladiator sport is supposed to stand out there and look, like, I don't know what I'm doing. I just don't get it. When a coach is trying to tell you that he wants to win with physicality, brains, competition, culture, defense, cream rises to the top, whoever earns it is going to get it,

18:11no matter where you were drafted or how much you were played, how much you played, when they on board rookies and they make contributions, I don't understand where this overconfidence comes from. Where does it come from? If it was Dan Campbell, I would get it in high and psych because he goes for it too much on third and fourth down when he should kick field goals. If that's the thing you're going to point at, the one or two times Liam went for it, maybe since in that he wouldn't say it was a full goal or whatever, I don't know. But I find it hard to understand how someone could create a ghost that doesn't exist. Shut up, Sam, dark. Shut up, Sam, Donald. But those ghosts did exist. Those people were chasing him when Sam Donald said that. I'm talking about folks that are creating a situation and I think what it is, it's a preemptive thing to say, it's a preemptive attitude to have just in case things go wrong because the first thing that we're looking for

19:12when something goes off is somebody to blame, right? So even when it hasn't even started yet, those folks have already taken and shaped up their opinions or what they're going to say, just in case if it goes off the rails. And to me, it's crazy. That's wild. I don't get it. Every single thing this man has said since he has been the head coach of this team, has been about competing, has been about physicality, has been about offensive line, has been about blocking, has been about answers, pre-snap, has been about let it rip, has been about put it on his chest, has been, so it's all about competition. If anything, you can tell Liam Cohen grew up in a coach's office with his dad and all of his dad's coworkers watching and listening. By the way, shout out to Liam Cohen too because last night was the first time a quarterback

20:13from UMass completed 80% of his passes and three touchdowns. And they won the game, UMass beat Rutgers. And I saw graphic, I saw a little tweak that says, the last coach, the last player to do that at UMass as a player was Liam Cohen. I hope some more things happen for Liam Cohen. These narratives are going to run wild, man. This is where I tell y'all, don't worry about it relax. Even if things get a little bit off for whatever reason. And there are a number of reasons things could get off. I'll tell you about some of them here in just a second on Lockdown Jaguar. All right, today's show is sponsored, presented, brought to you by Kowshi, man, this prediction market, it is off and running before the season even kicks off. Everybody's making a prediction. Who wins the division? Who makes the playoffs? Who's lifting the trophy at seasons in on Kowshi, America's number one prediction market platform? You can trade those predictions in a live market. Look, some dude came out and said the Jaguars are going to finish third in the division. And he didn't even pick the Texans to win it.

21:14He picked the coats. So yeah, go on Kowshi and whatever that is, go the other way. Because I don't think that's going to happen in my opinion. All right, you can make your own depends, your own choices on Kowshi, your trading against peers in a live market. Meaning there's no house and as the probability changes, you can buy it in and out of your position. Trade the draft, pick the game and more on Kowshi, download the Kowshi app and use the code Lockdown to get $10 when you trade $10. That's K-A-L-S-H-I. Kowshi, trade on anything. You got to be over 18 restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Kowshi products are not available in all jurisdictions, prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see kowshi.com slash regulatory. This is our last Friday, man, that we're going to get together. That is not, I call it beer and barbecue weekends.

22:15We're going to have them until January, hopefully February. Yeah. Grills going, tailgates, drinks and water. Y'all going to need it this year because I think you're going to do a lot of screaming and hollering whether it be good or bad, right? So that means good or bad can possibly happen. This is football. It's a gladiator sport. Of course, it never goes the way you think. That's why I have to play off teams year over year don't make the playoffs. Like you make the playoffs last year. You don't make it this year. Or teams that don't make the playoffs, they make the playoffs and hell, even go to the Super Bowl just like you saw last year with Seattle and New England. People forget, New England picked a head of the Jaguars in the draft last year. They picked behind them, but they were actually scheduled to pick a head of the Jaguars. The Jaguars were fifth. They traded up the number two to get Travis Hunter. We forget about that. The same record the Jaguars had at four and 13. That's the exact same record New England had.

23:16And New England had a coaching change just like Jacksonville. And because that coach kind of replaced the coach that kind of ran the same things he ran because they both played for Bill Billet check. And what happened, I think it was a little bit of an easier turnaround in a division where they were absolutely going to win at the very least, they were gonna win five games in their division, right? Similar to what the Jaguars did. Ended up with a good record too, but had the tiebreaker advantage. So the Jaguars were really, really close to possibly even getting home feel. Maybe if Denver had one that other game too, but the thing is, anything can happen. There were playoff teams that the Chiefs, they didn't even make it. They didn't make it. The Eagles limped in. Anything could happen. So what could happen and the narratives that will come along with it. First of all, no one is gonna be able to tell you

24:18what's gonna happen. If they did, then they need to be telling you to go on Calche, right? And figure it out. But you can guess that injuries can play a part, especially at the quarterback position and along the offensive line, if those things happen and we don't like to talk about those things, because I think sometimes it feels like you're speaking them into existence. I don't anticipate chemistry will ever get off and be a problem here, like it was in 2018. I don't think you'll have a lot of people yelling and screaming at each other. I don't think you're gonna have nobody pulling up in a brinkstruck and all of these things. You definitely won't have this. And this is why I think there's at least gonna be some control other than people who are just reaching for something. Footballers, football, man, they're gonna lose games. They're gonna lose a game. They might lose a game. And I said that it could be a bad kick and climate weather, just a bad day. Just when they lose games, it's gonna be stuff that you can point right to and say nah, they all they gotta do is fix that.

25:19And you may see somebody else in the game. You gonna be able to point to it and they're gonna be able to correct it. And they're gonna move on. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about people saying C, same old Jaguars because this is not the same old Jaguars. What they've shown you last year, and I mentioned this earlier this week, a couple of times, they have shown you that they're really good at being where their feet are. Whether what happened yesterday is good or what happened yesterday is bad. What happened the last quarter, what happened the last drive, what happened the last play. This is the most impressive thing about me outside of the fact that there seems to be alignment and one voice. Even if it's different people talking, they sound the same way. So it tells you that they're on the path to be on the same mission. But the one thing that they have shown me is they get over things really, really quick. So those experiences like the Trevor Lawrence experience or the here we go again, when you used to feel that, not just with Trevor,

26:19but with everybody else, with the defense, with the substitutions, how many times in the past when you were watching the Jaguars and this goes all the way back since, I think since Tom Coffin left, and that was so long, that was 20 years ago, at least, right? It goes back to when you sit there and go, here we go again, man. You could always tell, just like you could tell when the obligatory second down run came on second and 10. There were just things that were Jaguar things that they were gonna do when they were back. Where those things went away last year. You couldn't watch the Jaguars, I couldn't watch the Jaguars game and tell you what they were about to call. The way that I could tell you what they were about to call before, I couldn't sit and watch whether it was at home or in the press box and tell you, well, they're about to be in a funk. There was one time it happened last year, and that was in that fourth quarter against Houston. And after that, they went on a winning streak. That was the only time, and what happened is it gave me the confidence

27:21that when stuff like that shows up, they're gonna be able to move forward. And they almost moved forward in that game. If y'all remember, there was a penalty deck. They almost got across midfield, a kick or field goal, and there was a penalty that brought it back because Cam little would have made that kick. But sometimes your glad things happen because the team has to learn from it. And the feeling that they had last year against Houston, that game could possibly have been the reason why they didn't get home field advantage. And they were up 29 to 10. Because if they finished 14 and three instead of 13 and four, they get a buy. They own the tiebreaker against the Broncos in that situation because they beat him head to head. I think I'm right about that. I hope I am. But this tells you that now there's more to it when they say, nah, we know we left on the field. But they also know that if you don't do the things that you're supposed to do, you'll be feeling that feeling again. The reason why narratives and the things that people say won't matter, because you know it's coming,

28:22just like the disrespect is coming, because people want to be right. That goes to tell you why. I think somebody said what they said, whether the thing I told you at the top of the show, what you need to do as a fan is don't think everything is, here we go again, because it's not. They have been very, very good at moving forward and being focused on the thing that is right in front of them because that's how they're burning this organ, when I say burning, I don't mean in a bad way. I mean, keeping that fire going for what comes next. And also that's why competition is present, because if somebody doesn't get it done, they got somebody else that can do it. When they weren't catching passes, they didn't care that they paid dynamic brown. They didn't care that they drafted Travis Hunter. They didn't care that everyone said that they had one of the best receivers in the league in Brian Thomas, Jr. as a young player. They didn't care that Parker Washington was getting his job done and was doing it at a career level. They went and got Jacobi Myers. You see, this is what I'm talking about. Anytime a team tells you that they're built on running the football offensive line and efficiency

29:23and it does not matter who makes the play as long as they make the play in green rises to the top and it speaks towards meritocracy and not a GM trying to prove that he's right about something or a coach just trying to prove that his way is the best way. I think people forget what arrogance really looks like. Arrogance is your quote, your quarterback getting hit and you're not going on the field. Arrogance to me is telling people after the game when they asked questions about what they saw and they need you to explain it and you can't explain it and the only thing you say you wouldn't understand it for I told you anyway. To me, that's arrogance. It's displaced when you place that on anyone in this organization right now. In fact, it's not arrogance. It's hard work. It's being a football addict and they're going over there and going at it every day and that's all we can ask for. We are one week away next week. We're going to try to have some special stuff for you and have some fun. I can't announce it now because well, I got to make sure it happens, but I think it will. Make sure y'all tune in and lock down Jaguars next week.

30:26I hope y'all are ready too for your fantasy football because it is fun. I'm one of those people, man, I don't mind mixing fantasy with this. Sometimes I'm rooting for the Jaguars and there's some of my fantasy players that are playing against them. I can compartmentalize too. I'm not one of those people that can. But if you're like me and even if you're not like me, maybe you can learn how to do it because I'm on the scene right now until the first ever 24-7 YouTube channel on the NFL and on audio. Check out Lockdown Fantasy Football with Fab's and Marcus for your second. Listen, have a very nice weekend. Enjoy your last weekend of doing the honey do list because if you got it the way you're supposed to have it, man, you will be in front of a TV for the next six months on the weekend. Y'all take care. Hey, NFL fans, I'm Brian Peacock and that is Matt Williamson hosts of the NFL six pack part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every day. NFL six pack brings you the latest NFL news and analysis

31:27and breaks down all of the weekly action. A six pack of takes daily on the playoffs pushed in the 2025 season or if your team's in draft mode, yeah, we'll hit that too. All right, here every day on the Lockdown podcast network, the NFL six pack subscribe on YouTube or everywhere you get your podcasts.