NASHVILLE — Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen started hearing about the franchise’s rivalry with the Tennessee Titans not long after being hired in January.
Pro Football Hall of Fame left tackle Tony Boselli, who came on board in February as executive vice president of football operations for the Jaguars — the team he played for from 1995-2001 during the first seven of his eight NFL seasons — shared some stories.
Coen also previously heard about the AFC South rivals’ battles while he was an assistant at the University of Kentucky, so Jacksonville’s first-year head coach knows Sunday’s game at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium is more than just a divisional matchup.
“Both teams have probably won games they shouldn’t and lost games they shouldn’t,” Coen said of an all-time series the Titans lead 35-26, including the lone postseason meeting. “Whatever it is, it’s one of those games that we understand that anything can happen. Any given Sunday anything can happen, but especially in division games where there’s maybe just that little extra want-to on both sides.”
Jacksonville debuted as an expansion franchise in 1995, and the Jaguars’ first regular-season game was against the Houston Oilers — the franchise that would move to Tennessee after the 1996 season and become the Titans in 1999.