JACKSONVILLE - A nine-game regular-season winning streak is over, and the Jacksonville Jaguars will have little time to dwell on it: New England’s Super Bowl-caliber Patriots come to EverBank Stadium on Sunday in what head coach Liam Coen is calling a must-win moment for the home crowd.
The Jaguars dropped a close game to the defending AFC West champion Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium, their first loss of the 2026 season. New England arrived in the week’s schedule fresh off a 20-3 dismantling of the Pittsburgh Steelers in Foxboro, Mass., and enters as the reigning AFC champion.
“We have a darn good opponent that played in the Super Bowl last year coming into town that we know they’re going to be a very well-coached, disciplined, darn good football team with a good quarterback,” Coen said Wednesday.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence said the response is what defines a team. “It’s football. It’s how you respond. That is what it is all about. You are going to play some good teams, you are going to have some tough losses, and you have to be able to respond next week,” Lawrence said. “I am confident that we are going to respond and that are going to be ready to go against New England. That’s what teams do.”
Wide receiver Parker Washington, who leads the Jaguars with 12 catches for 181 receiving yards and a touchdown through two weeks - second-most receiving yards in the AFC - echoed that confidence. “We’ll be ready to respond this week,” Washington said. “I feel like that’s what makes this offense, this team, special. No matter what, we move forward.”
Coen has praised Washington’s route-running as a key factor in the early-season production. “He runs routes with urgency,” Coen said. “Every route he’s running, he has twitch, ability to separate, ripping through the middle of the field fearlessly so he can run the routes, the tree in terms of the short, the intermediate and you saw the double move last week that he hit. They have a rapport, obviously, which is nice to have.”
The Jaguars enter Sunday with injury questions at several positions. Defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton, who left the Denver game with a back injury before returning, was listed as limited on Wednesday’s injury report, along with running back LeQuint Allen Jr. (hip), wide receiver Jakobi Meyers (thumb), right tackle Cole Van Lanen (knee) and center Robert Hainsey (elbow/quad/groin). Allen, Meyers and Van Lanen all carried similar designations last week and played. Cornerback Christian Braswell was a full participant with a knee issue.
Coen said the home environment will be critical, noting Sunday’s game is the last at EverBank Stadium until a Week 8 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. “We need a true home field advantage this week,” Coen said. “Obviously, not going to be here for a while and definitely need the community and fan base to come out and support as much as possible.”
“We don’t have enough time to waste looking back,” Coen added. “It’s all of us in it together and that’s the best part of it is we have the opportunity now to respond.”
Kickoff Sunday at EverBank Stadium will mark Jacksonville’s last home game for more than a month.