The Jaguars sank their teeth into a stray comment last week from Broncos coach Sean Payton regarding Jacksonville being a “smaller market.” And it worked.
Jaguars coach Liam Coen mentioned it in his address to the locker room. He repeated it in his post-game press conference. And he’ll likely keep using it to inspire his players for as long as their inevitable postseason run lasts.
On Monday, Payton was asked about the catch phrase he inadvertently gift wrapped for the Duval upstarts.
“It was very complimentary and those guys are playing outstanding football,” Payton told reporters. “That topic came up strictly because, hey, not enough of the country has seen how good these guys are playing. . . . The point is though, listen, that was a good job by Liam. He was looking for a rallying cry. Obviously, if you were listening to the press conference, the intention was strictly, ‘Hey, quietly these guys are sitting here right near the top of the AFC, they’re ready to win their division.’ I spent 16 years at a small market. It was just a way for a coach to take it and use it to his advantage.”
He’s right. And Coen was smart to seize on the remark in an effort to give his team a late-season spark.
Coaches look for anything they can use. It’s part of the job. Finding any actual, perceived, embellished (if necessary), or fabricated (if all else fails) disrespect to fuel the fire.
In this case, here’s what Payton said about the Jaguars last week: “As you look at them and you watch the tape, it’s a smaller market but you see a real good team.”
The fact that the NFL left one of the most compelling games of Week 16 in a 4:05 p.m. ET regional window highlights the reality that the league and the networks still aren’t expecting big numbers for Jaguars games. The failure to nudge the contest to 4:25 p.m. ET (where Steelers-Lions headlined the window) or 8:20 p.m. ET (where Patriots-Ravens supplanted Bengals-Dolphins) proves it.
So don’t be mad at Sean Payton. Be mad at the NFL. Heck, be mad at anyone and everyone who acknowledges the undeniable, objective fact that Jacksonville has one of the 32 NFL franchises despite being the country’s 41st biggest market, just ahead of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
If it works, use it.
The Chargers will not have one of their key defensive players for the last two weeks of the regular season.
The league announced on Monday that linebacker Denzel Perryman has been suspended for two games for repeated violations of player-safety rules.
The NFL’s announcement notes that Perryman was flagged for unnecessary roughness for delivering a forcible blow to the helmet of Cowboys receiver Ryan Flournoy while he was on the ground after making a catch during the second quarter of Sunday’s game. That action violated Rule 12, Section 2, Article 10(b), which prohibits “using any part of the helmet or facemask to butt or make forcible contact to an opponent’s head or neck area.”
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports Perryman will appeal the suspension, which would be heard and decided by Derrick Brooks, Ramon Foster, or Jordy Nelson — the NFL and NFLPA’s jointly appointed hearing officers.
Notably, this is Perryman’s second two-game suspension for repeated violations of player-safety rules. The first came back in 2023 when he was playing for the Texans.
Currently, Perryman is eligible to return to Los Angeles’ active roster on Monday, Jan. 5, the day after the team’s currently scheduled regular-season finale against the Broncos.
The Broncos had gone a long time without a loss before the Jaguars rolled over them for a 34-20 victory in Denver on Sunday afternoon.
It was September 21 when the Broncos last lost a game and they put together an 11-game winning streak over the last three months. That means it has been a while since the Broncos have had to rebound from a loss, but they’ll need to do it quickly with a game against the Chiefs on the docket for Christmas and quarterback Bo Nix said after the game that he thinks the situation could prove to be a beneficial one for the team.
“We got hit in the mouth today, and they played a good game and we let it get away,” Nix said, via the team’s website. “But you’d rather have it hit you now than in the first round of playoffs. I wouldn’t call it a wake-up call, because we were playing well. It’s just one of those that will reset you and put you back in, get you back to where you need to be. It’ll put you in a good mindset if you’ll let it. You can’t let this one linger. We have to move on and attack this week on just a short couple of days.”
The NFL hoped that the Christmas game would feature a pair of teams vying for supremacy in the AFC as the season came to an end. The Chiefs did not hold up their end of that bargain, but it might make them the right kind of opponent for the Broncos to find under the tree as they try to bounce back from Sunday’s disappointing result.
Broncos wide receiver Pat Bryant suffered a scary injury on Sunday on which he stayed down for several minutes, was taken off the field on a stretcher, and put directly on an ambulance. But the news on Bryant Monday morning is good.
Bryant was released from the hospital within hours, according to multiple reports.
Although Bryant was diagnosed with a concussion, he cleared all other testing and does not have a neck or spinal injury, which was an initial concern given his posture when he was knocked to the ground.
Bryant was hit hard by Jaguars cornerback Montaric Brown while leaping to catch a high pass over the middle from Bo Nix on the second-to-last play of the Broncos’ 34-20 loss. Brown led with his shoulder, and while one official initially threw a flag, after a discussion Brown was not penalized for the hit.
Broncos wide receiver Pat Bryant stayed down for a long time after taking a legal hit from Jaguars defensive back Montaric Brown late in Sunday’s 34-20 home loss and he was eventually placed on a stretcher to be carted off the field.
Reporters at the game noted that Bryant was then taken to an ambulance to leave the stadium.
Head coach Sean Payton said at a postgame press conference that it was “encouraging” that Bryant had movement in his extremities. A league source told PFT that Bryant was taken to a local hospital as a precaution and that he is being evaluated for concussion-like symptoms.
Bryant took a hard hit to the chest and shoulder while trying to catch a pass from Bo Nix as the Broncos tried for a last-ditch rally in the final minute of the game. He had five catches for 42 yards before the injury.
