“I feel like I could go out there and play some more,” he said, adding of playing so much both offensively and defensively, “This is what I want to do. There are a lot of people that I think continue to doubt me, but I just go out there and do my job. I’ll let them say whatever they want to say.”
Jaguars cornerback Jarrian Jones, who played 73 percent of defensive plays in Week 1, sustained a back injury early Sunday and returned to the game later. Coen said the plan entering the game was to play Hunter more than in Week 1.
“Jarrian got nicked up a little bit, so it forced [Hunter to play] a little bit more naturally even though we wanted to get him a little bit more work as it was,” Coen said. “He just keeps competing. I didn’t get a great chance to watch him individually. I just know I don’t think he hurt us.”
Said Hunter: “They told me I would play a lot more defense. I was prepared and ready.”
Hunter, the Heisman Trophy winner in 2024, was involved in a key play late when he was called for pass interference defending wide receiver Andrei Iosivas. The play came on fourth-and-five from the Bengals 33 and gave the Bengals a first down at the Jaguars 42.
The Bengals scored the game-winning touchdown eight plays later on a one-yard sneak by quarterback Jake Browning.
“I can’t leave it up to the ref; I just have to do my job and put myself in a better position,” Hunter said, with Coen adding: “They call a pass interference on fourth down … I’d like to them maybe go earn it, but it is what it is.”