The number of text messages astounded me, and all wanted to know the same thing. “Have you ever seen anything like that?”
It was a great question in the hours after the Jaguars’ unlikely 19-17 win over the Philadelphia Eagles at Tottenham Stadium in London in October. I didn’t think I had, and a few phone calls later I learned that in fact I had not, seen anything like that ending and that no one else had either.
That win was the first time in recorded NFL history that there were two go-ahead scores in the final 10 seconds of a game.
Which is nice, and kicker Cam Little is incredible, but the result of his kick isn’t as important as what it revealed about the Jaguars.
This team is so dramatically different than the one Head Coach Liam Coen inherited when he took over for Doug Pederson in February of 2025.
Those Jaguars wouldn’t have won that game. Those Jaguars fought back from a 22-8 deficit against the Eagles in November of 2024, but when confronted with a chance to win, down 28-23 and in possession of the ball, first and 10 at the Eagles’ 13-yard line with 1:42 to play, they turned the ball over, on first down; they didn’t even give themselves four full shots at the win.
Those Jaguars lost nine of the 10 games in which they either held the lead or were tied in the fourth quarter that season.
These Jaguars didn’t flinch at Tottenham. Not when they trailed 14-10, not when they led 16-14 and obviously not when they trailed 17-16 with eight seconds to play.
These Jaguars, unlike those Jaguars had followed their charismatic young coach to a 16-5 record in his first 21 games because he led them fearlessly into places like San Franciso, Cincinnati and Denver and against the best teams like Chiefs, Texans and Chargers and come away winners.
They weren’t about to flinch, because he wasn’t going to.
The Jaguars practiced exactly these scenarios. Return man Ameer Abdullah knew where the double team blocks were going to be and when to hit gas and burst up the seam and down the field, which he did for 53-yards, looking at the clock knowing he had to get down with at least one second left on the clock.
While the entirety of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium worked to catch its collective breath, the unlikely scenario they had just witnessed, back-up long snapper DaVon Hamilton put his head down and practiced a few more snaps. He didn’t expect to be here at this moment, but they worked on this scenario during training camp and the pre-season and so he was prepared. I asked him about his heart rate at that moment when we talked in the locker room after the game and he said, “It was chill.”
He didn’t flinch. Neither did holder Logan Cooke when the snap wasn’t delivered with the precision of All Pro long-snapper Ross Matiscik, and of course Cam was nonplussed by the whole affair, calmly drilling a game winner and taking off for the Eagles fans in the end zone behind him before he even saw the ball split the uprights 57-yards away.
These Jaguars won’t win every game, but they won’t lose the games that once seemed too big for them. They’ll think they’re in every single one until the clock hits zero because their coach has transformed his team into one that won’t flinch when the moment is the biggest, the lights are the brightest and the stakes are the highest.
Football season is hitting November, which is when the contenders separate from the pretenders … it’s about to get fun in Northeast Florida.
— From Sand Castles, October 2026
