The Jacksonville Jaguars made a statement in Week 16: they’re more than just a playoff contender.
By beating the AFC-leading Denver Broncos 34-20, the Jaguars helped assert themselves as a real threat to come out of the conference this February — Trevor Lawrence remained spectacular, dicing up a strong Denver defense for 279 passing yards and four total touchdowns.
Postgame, first-year Jaguars head coach even had some fiery comments targeted at Broncos head coach Sean Payton, who had mentioned Jacksonville being a “smaller market” earlier in the week.
Here’s how Coen responded to Payton’s comments on Sunday.
MORE NFL WEEK 16:
Liam Coen takes shot at Sean Payton
The Jaguars took down the Broncos 34-20 on Sunday, snapping Denver’s 11-game win streak. In the process, Jacksonville inched closer to a potential AFC South title, but also kept itself alive in the race for the AFC’s No. 1 seed and a first-round playoff bye.
The huge win seemed to have Coen feeling confident, snapping back at Payton’s comments about the Jaguars earlier in Week 16.
“A small market team like us can come into Mile High and get it done,” Coen said, responding directly to the Broncos head coach’s comments.
“A small market team like us can come into Mile High and get it done.”#JAXvsDEN pic.twitter.com/2V2i8UiKrO
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) December 22, 2025
What did Sean Payton say about Jacksonville?
Ahead of the teams’ Sunday matchup, Sean Payton was speaking about the Jaguars and offered a fairly backhanded compliment, calling them a “good team” but indicating that they were winning despite a “smaller market” in Jacksonville.
“As you look at them and you watch the tape, it’s a smaller market but you see a real good team,” Payton said.
With the NFL having a salary cap and market size being relatively less important than other sports leagues, it struck some fans as an unwarranted criticism of the Jaguars — and Coen certainly heard those comments from Payton.
“it’s a smaller market but you see a real good team.”
never in my life heard a coach mention market size when talking about an upcoming opponent but go off Sean Payton. smh. pic.twitter.com/KNfQ9DY2rt
— Jason Hamby (@Jason_Hamby14) December 18, 2025
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Liam Coen beef history
This isn’t the first time this season that Liam Coen has engaged in some coaching drama. Long before his back-and-forth with Sean Payton, back in Week 4, Coen had a feud with San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.
Saleh subtly accused Jacksonville and Coen of implementing a sign-stealing system leading up to a Jaguars-49ers game.
“Liam Coen and his staff coming from Minnesota, they got legally a really advanced signal stealing system where they always find a way to put themselves in an advantageous situation,” Saleh told reporters. “They do a great job of it. They formation you to just try to find any nugget they can. We have to be great with our signals, be great with our communication to combat some of those tells we might give on the field.”
In the coaches’ postgame interaction in September, tempers then flared. Coen and Saleh had to be separated, likely discussing Saleh’s accusations of a sign-stealing system.
“Keep my name out of your mouth,”
Liam Coen and Robert Saleh exchange after Jaguars win. Saleh used the phrase “legal sign stealing” in news conference last week in reference to Coen. pic.twitter.com/yYcjm1oHIP
— BrentDanStuartMarcelAlivia (@ActionSportsJax) September 29, 2025
Saleh later said he was trying to compliment Coen about the legal sign-stealing, not start drama, but his comments appeared to irk the Jaguars head coach.
