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.
