The Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Cleveland Browns 34-10 on Sunday at EverBank Stadium. Under Liam Coen, Jacksonville is now 2-0 in Week 1 contests with a 20 point average margin of victory.
“I was pleased with the way, in general, of starting fast,” Coen said. “[It is] something we’ve been really emphasizing, talking about, working on in different ways. I thought we were definitely a more physical unit.
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence had a strong start to the 2026 season, completing 78% of his passes for 245 yards and four touchdowns through three quarters. Lawrence’s 150.6 passer rating against Cleveland is the highest of his career. He has averaged a 123.2 rating in his last five starts dating back to last season.
“I think that [we kept our foot on the gas] and just being ready to play from the jump,” Lawrence said. “I felt really good about our plan, you know, our prep throughout the week on both sides of the ball.”
Jacksonville’s four touchdowns came from four different receivers, including receiving-leader Parker Washington, Jakobi Meyers, Brenton Strange, and rookie Josh Cameron. The Jaguars offense scored on six their first seven drives of the game, with Cam Little adding two field goals.
For the Browns, Deshaun Watson’s return was disappointing, with over half of his passing yards and his lone touchdown coming in the fourth quarter. On the first three possessions for Cleveland, Watson threw an interception, nearly threw another pick, and recovered his own fumble.Watson suffered his first career loss as a starter against Jacksonville after boasting a 7-0 record against the franchise heading into the contest.
Jaguars linebacker Foyesade Oluokun had the lone interception of the contest and almost had a second on back-to-back drives. Josh Hines-Allen recovered Browns rookie KC Concepcion’s fumble, Cleveland’s second turnover.
“I wanted to hold them to zero all game,” Hines-Allen said. “We stopped the run, eliminated explosives, created turnovers. That’s our recipe for success and we accomplished 89% of it.”
Newly-minted starting linebacker Ventrell Miller led the game with 10 tackles, two tackles for loss, a forced fumble, and added a sack. Jacksonville’s pass rush duo of Hines-Allen and Travon Walker each had 1.5 sacks.
“We trust Ventrell [since] day one,” Hines-Allen said. “It’s definitely been a grind for him knowing the expectations set on him, but for him to just play his game…we knew the type of player we were going to get from him. He’s going to lead the league in punch outs.”
Cleveland was penalized 11 times for 75 yards in the game while Jacksonville showed improvement with only four penalties for 25 yards. In 2025, the Jaguars averaged the fourth-most penalties in the NFL.
Next up
The Jaguars travel to Denver to face the Broncos next Sunday. Last season, Jacksonville was the lone team to beat Denver at Empower Field during the regular season.
Kickoff against the Broncos is set for 4:05 p.m. on September 20.