DENVER (AP) 鈥� One man’s flowers are apparently another man’s sours.
鈥淕reat team effort. Just thankful that a small market team like us can come into a place like Mile High and get it done,鈥� Jaguars coach Liam Coen cracked after on Sunday that snapped the Broncos’ 11-game winning streak and tightened the AFC playoff race before the holidays.
Coen used an innocuous comment 鈥� or attempted compliment 鈥� from Broncos coach Sean Payton earlier in the week as a rallying cry for his upstart team, which has won six straight games, vaulting into the mix for the AFC’s top playoff seed at 11-4, a game behind both the Broncos and .
Several of his players repeated some form of what they considered Denver’s diss in the aftermath of Jacksonville’s signature win. But Payton insisted he meant no disrespect last Wednesday when he mentioned the Jaguars hailing from a 鈥渟maller market.鈥�
Asked last Wednesday about the challenge of facing Jacksonville, Payton praised Coen and his staff as well as the Jaguars’ offense, defense and special teams in trying to make the point that they had closed in on the playoff field and seemingly weren鈥檛 getting their proper respect nationally.
He ended his windy list of obstacles the Broncos were facing in the Jaguars with this summation: “As you look at them and you watch the tape, it鈥檚 a smaller market but you see a real good team.鈥�
Which, in fact, are the facts.
The Jaguars are third in the AFC playoff positioning heading into Week 17, and like the Green Bay Packers, Buffalo Bills, New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans, they operate in one of the league’s smaller metro areas and television markets.
Payton didn’t seem bothered by the way the Jaguars had taken this words out of context to use as a motivational tool. He actually admired Coen for doing so.
鈥淢y press conference, it was very complimentary and those guys are playing outstanding football,” Payton said Monday. 鈥淭hat topic came up strictly because, 鈥楬ey, not enough of the country has seen how good these guys are playing.鈥�
鈥淭he point is though, listen, that was a good job by Liam,” Payton added. “He was looking for a rallying cry. Obviously, if you were listening to the press conference, the intention was strictly, 鈥楬ey, quietly, these guys are sitting here right near the top of the AFC, they鈥檙e ready to win their division.鈥�
鈥淚 spent 16 years at a small market. It was just a way for a coach to take it and use it to his advantage.鈥�
After Sunday鈥檚 performance in Denver, .
Yet, Jaguars cornerback Jarrian Jones would just as soon everybody keep overlooking them and keep their compliments to themselves.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 even want it. Keep doubting us,鈥� Jones said. “We want to show up every Sunday and you have to play us no matter where we鈥檙e at. We play in the snow, we play in the rain, whatever you want to do. I think the Jags are going to be ready to play.鈥�
Which was sort of Payton’s point all along.
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