It took overtime and plenty of nerves, but Jacksonville still walked out of Arizona with a 27-24 win and a head coach who refused to apologize for the drama. Liam Coen admitted the game dragged the Jaguars through “multiple emotions,” yet doubled down on the idea that the only thing that really counts on Sunday is finishing with more points than the other team. Style points can wait, in his view, while a playoff push cannot.
Beneath that result, though, one decision raised eyebrows in the secondary. As Ryan O’Halloran noted, cornerback Greg Newsome did not play on defense after the first quarter, with coaches confirming it was a decision based on performance rather than health.
He had appeared on the injury report during the week, still earned the start against the Cardinals, and later logged snaps on special teams, which made it clear this was a bona fide benching, not a medical setback.
For a Jaguars defense that has leaned on its pass rush and opportunistic playmaking, sitting a former first-round corner in a tight game sends a loud message. Jacksonville has been fighting to clean up its coverage on the back end, and Coen’s staff clearly felt they needed a different look as Kyler Murray and the Cardinals kept trading blows with Trevor Lawrence.
Rotating Newsome out early and keeping him strictly in the kicking game underscores how thin the margin for error is on a team trying to firm up its AFC playoff position at 7-4.
Context makes the move even more interesting. Back in October, Jacksonville shipped out longtime starter Tyson Campbell to the Browns in exchange for Newsome and a late-round pick swap, betting that a change of scenery could unlock the former Northwestern standout and raise the ceiling of an already turnover-happy unit.
At the time, the Jaguars were strong in scoring defense but leaky in raw passing yards allowed, hoping Newsome could be part of the solution on the outside.
Now, that same player is the one being pulled for a coach’s decision in a one-score game. It does not mean the experiment is over, but it does underline that nothing in this secondary is guaranteed.
As Jacksonville heads into the stretch run, how Newsome responds to this benching might say as much about the future of the trade as any box score ever will.
