What's the biggest problem plaguing the Jacksonville Jaguars this season?

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What's the biggest problem plaguing the Jacksonville Jaguars this season?

Demetrius Harvey, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union · The Florida Times-Union

Mon, Oct 27, 2025 ·

8 min read

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While the Jacksonville Jaguars have heated rivalries with teams in the AFC South, their biggest rivalry is in the building — themselves.

The Jaguars have dropped two straight games to playoff-caliber teams within the NFC West, but their poor play and self-fulfilled losses have overshadowed much of what the other team did in those contests.

No one cares that Davante Adams got three touchdowns because the Jaguars totaled nearly 100 yards more than the Rams and scored just seven points to L.A.'s 35 .

Los Angeles' 2 of 10 third-down efficiency is quickly overshadowed by Jacksonville's inefficiency on downs played, averaging .4 yards more than L.A. at 4.8 to 4.4, yet reaching the end zone half as many times.

EXCLUSIVE: Jaguars coach Liam Coen 'encouraged' by start, but knows details must improve

The Rams weren't the conversation after the game. Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence was asked specifically if there was anything L.A. did that the team didn't account for, given Jacksonville's struggle to get the ball in the end zone after moving the ball past the 50-yard line.

Eight of the team's 11 possessions last week ended in L.A. territory. The Jaguars punted the ball twice, while they turned the ball over on downs four times, missed a field goal and scored a touchdown on the other opportunities.

"We just got beat today. Didn't play good enough," Lawrence said.

But, the theme of the day was simple: the Jaguars beat themselves — again, and the most damning reason for that is penalties.

Jaguars lead league in penalties

Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Anton Harrison (77) asks a referee if is lined up correctly after getting penalized multiple times during the first half in an NFL football game at EverBank Stadium, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union]

There's no question that Jaguars head coach Liam Coenhas his work cut out for him during the team's Week 8 bye. The Jaguars are not playing as a disciplined unit, and it's costing the team games.

Jacksonville currently leads the NFL in penalties with 65 (9.3 accepted penalties per game). RotoWire uses penalty yards per game and penalties per game to come up with a "discipline score." According to the stats website, the Jaguars rank as the second-worst team in discipline score at 42.4, while Denver ranks first with 45.4.

Coen was quick to take the blame after the game on Sunday.

"It was everything we said we didn't want to do did occur. So starts with me. Got to figure it out. Got a long flight home and some days off to do that," said Coen.

Jacksonville's 65 penalties rank third in franchise history through seven weeks. The only other times they committed more came in 2016 (66) and 1996 (73).

How Jaguars' flags impacted loss to Rams

Here are Jacksonville's penalties during the team's loss to the Rams. The Jaguars were called for 13 enforced penalties, with a 14th offset by the Rams and a couple more declined by LA.

An explanation of how the penalty could have impacted the drive's result is included in the table below:

Accepted penalty No.	(O/D/ST) Penalty	Drive result (drive number)	Explanation
1	D Unnecessary roughness	Rams touchdown (1)	Penalty on A. Wingard resulted in half distance to goal, essentially a three-yard penalty. Almost neglible in terms of impact.
2	O Holding	Jaguars punt (2)	P. Mekari hold nullified two-yard gain, resulted in 2nd-and-20, resulted in seven yards gained on three plays, punt.
3	D Pass interference	Rams touchdown (2)	A. Wingard pass interference gives Rams ball on LA 47 from 21. Rams take one play to get to JAX 30, score on two-yard touchdown later in drive.
4	ST Illegal block above waist	Missed field goal (4)	J. Jones block in back nullifies P. Washington punt return touchdown. Leads to missed field goal on drive down 14-0.
5	D Pass interference	Rams touchdown (4)	J. Lewis pass interference at 50-yard line gives LA ball at JAX 33, in field goal range. Rams eventually score TD.
6	D Illegal contact (offsetting)	Rams punt (6)	Offsetting penalty. Not counted.
7	O Holding	Jaguars turnover on downs (6)	P. Mekari hold nullifies five-yard gain from 50-yard line. JAX recovers to LA 38 before drive stalls at LA 30. Takes almost four minutes off clock in third quarter.
8	D Illegal contact	Rams punt (7)	F. Oluokun illegal contact gives LA fresh set of downs on 2nd-and-4. Rams punt, but take over two minutes off clock in third quarter.
9	O False start	Jaguars punt (9)	P. Mekari false start puts JAX behind sticks, leads to 3rd-and-15, incomplete pass and punt.
10	D Holding	Rams touchdown (10)	M. Brown hold gives LA fresh set of downs on 3rd-and-4. J. Hines-Allen infraction gives Rams 4th-and-1 at JAX 31. Rams score touchdown on next play.
11	D Neutral zone infraction	Rams touchdown (10)	M. Brown hold gives LA fresh set of downs on 3rd-and-4. J. Hines-Allen infraction gives Rams 4th-and-1 at JAX 31. Rams score touchdown on next play.
12	D Pass interference	Rams touchdown (11)	J. Lewis pass interference and facemask on 3rd-and-6 at JAX 29 gives Rams first down from JAX six-yard line. D. Gardeck roughing penalty gives Rams first down on JAX one-yard line. Rams score.
13	D Facemask	Rams touchdown (11)	J. Lewis pass interference and facemask on 3rd-and-6 at JAX 29 gives Rams first down from JAX six-yard line. D. Gardeck roughing penalty gives Rams first down on JAX one-yard line. Rams score.
14	D Roughing the passer	Rams touchdown (11)	J. Lewis pass interference and facemask on 3rd-and-6 at JAX 29 gives Rams first down from JAX six-yard line. D. Gardeck roughing penalty gives Rams first down on JAX one-yard line. Rams score.

While penalties can't be used as an excuse for every score or nullified score, it does give some insight into how difficult the Jaguars have made their lives on both sides of the football. The same can be said about the team's Week 6 loss to the Seattle Seahawks when they were called for 10 penalties, resulting in a 20-12 loss that included a missed field goal and a missed extra point.

Coen recently attributed the team's penalty issues to the newness surrounding the club. A new head coach, staff and players contributed to the team's issues. Though the first-year head coach didn't say that was the only reason the team has been penalized so often through seven games.

"You look at the top five teams in penalties in the NFL right now, four of them are first-time head coaches. Four out of the top five right now in the NFL are first-year teams. So, you've got controllable penalties, you've got some uncontrollable, you've got some calls that may or may not have been, and you've got some really bad luck when it comes to penalties. I'm just talking about in general, right?" Coen explained ahead of the team's Week 8 bye.

According to NFLpenalties.com, including the Jaguars, four of the top six teams in penalties have new coaches ( New England Patriots , Dallas Cowboys , and New Orleans Saints ).

Coen explained that there are "controllables, some non-controllable, [and] there's some bad luck" when it comes to penalties. Cleaning it up is the challenge and until then, it'll be tough sledding for Jacksonville.

"So that's the message and the amount of detail that all I know of how to fix this is to pour into the fundamentals and the details and the basics because it's not like, oh, we've made up some new annexation of Puerto Rico play and we got a penalty on it," said Coen. "It's like we're playing half field and there's a seven-cut and we hit them before the ball gets there. We can control that, so the ones we can control by coaching and practicing and playing, that's on us and we have to control those."

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 29: A penalty flag is seen on the field of the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium on September 29, 2024 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

The Jaguars aren't the most penalized team in the league because they don't address penalties. They have a referee crew join practice during the week every week of the season, something Coen says not every team does. The head coach said he doesn't know how to emphasize it more. At a certain point, that can cause more harm.

"I don't want to have, these guys playing in the back of their minds, like if I do this, I'm going to get a penalty. It's not about that. It's about guys, we've got to play cleaner," said Coen. "We've got to play cleaner with our hands, with our feet, with our mind. Are we getting fatigued, physically fatigued, which is now slowing down the brain and the legs and now we're reaching and grabbing for straws."

Regardless of how Coen wants to address the issues, they must be resolved quickly if the Jaguars want a chance to compete in the playoffs this year.

Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Demetrius82 or on Bluesky @ Demetrius .

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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars must correct penalty issue before returning from bye

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