Latest / Press Pass / Press Pass | Liam Coen on Jaguars' Readiness for Week 1 vs. Browns

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Press Pass | Liam Coen on Jaguars' Readiness for Week 1 vs. Browns · Press Pass

0:03
Speaker 1: All right. How did you feel about the team's attention
0:07
Speaker 1: this week?
0:07
Speaker 2: I mean, the energy and practice, was it where it
0:09
Speaker 2: needed to be?
0:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. I thought the guys, you know,
0:14
Speaker 3: went through the process of the work week the right way,
0:17
Speaker 3: game planning, the intentional work, the attention to detail. I
0:23
Speaker 3: thought they did a nice job of working through the
0:25
Speaker 3: work week and kind of getting back into that flow.
0:28
Speaker 3: It's a little bit of a different flow than training
0:30
Speaker 3: camp and obviously OTAs and all that. There's just a
0:35
Speaker 3: lot more detail that goes into each day, a lot
0:38
Speaker 3: more true focus and not being able to just take
0:43
Speaker 3: a rep to take a rep. Every single rep that
0:46
Speaker 3: we take within the course of a week is extremely
0:49
Speaker 3: important and for the guys that aren't getting those reps
0:52
Speaker 3: to be extremely locked in and focused to take those
0:56
Speaker 3: mental reps. I've been pleased with the way the guys
0:58
Speaker 3: have come out this week.
0:59
Speaker 1: Prepare for a little first game.
1:01
Speaker 2: I don't know if anxiety is the right word, nerves,
1:03
Speaker 2: rust from the, from guys.
1:06
Speaker 3: No, you know, I think you assume and understand it's,
1:10
Speaker 3: it's probably not going to always be perfect. Like, you
1:13
Speaker 3: have to go into it knowing that, yeah, it may
1:17
Speaker 3: not always be perfect, but it does have to be
1:19
Speaker 3: violent and it does have to be physical. And to me,
1:22
Speaker 3: you know, we're all going to make mistakes, try to
1:24
Speaker 3: make them at a million miles an hour and go
1:27
Speaker 3: play the next play. Like that's the mindset and mentality
1:30
Speaker 3: is trying not to focus on some of the anxieties
1:34
Speaker 3: or some of the things that could come up where
1:36
Speaker 3: every player, every coach is aware of those things in
1:38
Speaker 3: game one. But you try to just go and let
1:41
Speaker 3: these guys go play and move on. Yeah, absolutely. I
1:49
Speaker 3: think he's really done some nice things over the last
1:52
Speaker 3: few days, especially putting himself into some compromising positions and
1:58
Speaker 3: going through some hot practice days out here and getting
2:01
Speaker 3: some good work in. I've been pleased with him. I
2:04
Speaker 3: know he's confident. He's starting to really feel better and
2:07
Speaker 3: better each and every day, and so We'll definitely take
2:09
Speaker 3: that up to game time.
2:10
Speaker 1: Jacoby Myers, you mentioned to start the offseason that while
2:14
Speaker 1: he was really productive after arriving here, he just didn't
2:18
Speaker 1: know the concepts of the offense. How cool has that
2:20
Speaker 1: process been for you with Jacoby working with him and
2:24
Speaker 1: how well is he done absorbing everything?
2:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's definitely, I think, taking a step in his
2:30
Speaker 3: understanding of the system, breaking the huddle, always knowing kind
2:33
Speaker 3: of what he's doing, where he's going, working through some
2:36
Speaker 3: of the intricacies of each play and concept, the rapport between,
2:41
Speaker 3: you know, he, Trevor, obviously, and then, you know, Parker
2:45
Speaker 3: Beattie and those guys, I think, has been amplified over
2:49
Speaker 3: the last, throughout the entire offseason program. Those guys being
2:54
Speaker 3: on a better page, understanding what they're trying to really
2:57
Speaker 3: get accomplished on each and every play. Yeah, he doesn't
3:00
Speaker 3: make a ton of mental errors and mistakes, which is great,
3:02
Speaker 3: and so you can really truly go focus on the ball, right,
3:06
Speaker 3: and the details of route running, the concepts, the coverages.
3:10
Speaker 3: You can really pour into those things more as opposed to, hey,
3:14
Speaker 3: like this teaching each concept over and over again. He
3:18
Speaker 3: picks it up pretty quick. What part of that do
3:20
Speaker 3: you look for in a rookie this early on just
3:22
Speaker 3: to know that they're meeting that transition, that.
3:24
Speaker 1: Speed of the game?
3:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there's always a little bit of a
3:27
Speaker 3: transition for any rook going in and playing their first
3:31
Speaker 3: NFL game. I think the type of guys that we have,
3:36
Speaker 3: I think they'll be fine. You know, you think that
3:38
Speaker 3: you look at the way they've performed in some of
3:41
Speaker 3: the joints and some of the competition in practice, I
3:43
Speaker 3: think they've, you know, raised their level of competition and
3:47
Speaker 3: been able to kind of rise up and do those things,
3:50
Speaker 3: which is nice. And, you know, when you have the
3:52
Speaker 3: right kind of dudes, the right competitors, they usually rise
3:56
Speaker 3: to the occasion. And so are you counting on every
4:00
Speaker 3: single rookie to make every single play and are you
4:03
Speaker 3: going out and, you know, dialing things up for all
4:07
Speaker 3: of them at all times? I mean, I don't know
4:09
Speaker 3: if that's the way things are going. You have to
4:11
Speaker 3: kind of get it in the flow of the game
4:13
Speaker 3: and make sure that those guys are settling in, but
4:17
Speaker 3: got a lot of confidence in these guys to go
4:19
Speaker 3: out and perform.
4:21
Speaker 1: Is that something you've used with them before?
4:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, a few times for sure. You know, yeah, it's
4:28
Speaker 3: more so like, You go back, like I went back
4:32
Speaker 3: and watched the Carolina game again, and by no means
4:36
Speaker 3: was it perfect, but you can make up for a
4:39
Speaker 3: lot when you play the game violently and you play
4:42
Speaker 3: the game as the aggressor. And typically you can maybe
4:48
Speaker 3: not overthink when you're just going out to play fast
4:52
Speaker 3: and to play violent and to go and be the
4:54
Speaker 3: aggressor Maybe you're taking some of the anxiety out of it.
4:58
Speaker 3: You're taking some of the thinking out of it. And yeah,
5:01
Speaker 3: there may be some mistakes that we'll have to coach up.
5:03
Speaker 3: We all know that. That's why we're here or else
5:05
Speaker 3: we wouldn't have jobs. And so not expecting all these
5:10
Speaker 3: guys to go out and perform perfectly. But the standard
5:14
Speaker 3: in the way that these guys are going to go
5:16
Speaker 3: play will be violent.
5:18
Speaker 1: Is Quinn going to be the backup this week?
5:21
Speaker 3: We're still going to work through that. Yeah, I'm going
5:23
Speaker 3: to still see it today and kind of continue to
5:25
Speaker 3: work through it.
5:28
Speaker 2: Cleveland has a fullback. When you were calling plays in college,
5:31
Speaker 2: did you have a fullback? Why has that really caught
5:33
Speaker 2: on a lot in the NFL?
5:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, I did a little bit at UMass and Maine
5:40
Speaker 3: and actually at Brown we had a fullback. You know,
5:43
Speaker 3: I think that you watch last night's tape of San Fran, right,
5:47
Speaker 3: and see them use use check and some of the
5:50
Speaker 3: different things that you can do to create an extra
5:52
Speaker 3: gap in the run game specifically. You know, it's a
5:56
Speaker 3: different body type, which in some of the with the
5:59
Speaker 3: kickoff and kickoff return, like that body type can function
6:03
Speaker 3: on in those areas now, whereas before it it was
6:06
Speaker 3: starting to go away a little bit because of the space, right?
6:10
Speaker 3: The amount of space that they're playing in and some
6:13
Speaker 3: of those body types, I think that they can continue
6:16
Speaker 3: to fit. I know that a lot of teams like
6:19
Speaker 3: to use a fullback to elicit maybe a run defense
6:24
Speaker 3: in order to throw the football, right? I mean, Buffalo's
6:27
Speaker 3: used one for years now. They continue to find different
6:31
Speaker 3: body types to use in those settings and I have
6:35
Speaker 3: an appreciation for the position for sure, but we just
6:38
Speaker 3: don't really have that exact body type on our team
6:42
Speaker 3: right now that I'm hunting up using. I prefer to
6:46
Speaker 3: take a tight end and maybe put them back there
6:48
Speaker 3: and be able to use some of those similar skill sets.
6:53
Speaker 3: I definitely think with the kickoff rules, you can get
6:57
Speaker 3: a true fullback out there to play on special teams.
7:00
Speaker 3: I think Seattle's got a damn good fullback that's like
7:02
Speaker 3: their best special teams player for those guys in their phases.
7:06
Speaker 3: So I think that's where it starts. Like, can the
7:08
Speaker 3: guy play in space? Can he play on teams while
7:11
Speaker 3: also being able to contribute to the offense?
7:14
Speaker 1: You talked about managing anxiety and nerves for players, but
7:18
Speaker 1: is there something specific you do to.
7:20
Speaker 2: Manage your own anxiety.
7:21
Speaker 1: And nerves going into this season?
7:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think my typical routine on Fridays,
7:28
Speaker 3: like today after we're– we cut out of here for
7:32
Speaker 3: the day. I mean, I'm going to go in the ocean.
7:35
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm going in the ocean. Like every Friday
7:38
Speaker 3: in the evenings, five o'clock, six o'clock, I'm going to
7:42
Speaker 3: usually be out there. And that's kind of my woosah time.
7:46
Speaker 3: That's a little bit of the time to go hang
7:48
Speaker 3: out with my kids and go for a swim, go
7:51
Speaker 3: hang out and get away from it a little bit.
7:55
Speaker 3: And usually that kind of helps me get a little
8:00
Speaker 3: bit centered and to be able to wake up on
8:02
Speaker 3: Saturday morning and just feel fresh, feel confident, feel calm.
8:08
Speaker 3: I would have already had my meeting with Trevor. We
8:10
Speaker 3: do that today after practice to kind of go through
8:13
Speaker 3: the priority calls, go through the call sheet, go through
8:15
Speaker 3: what we really like, maybe want to hold for second
8:18
Speaker 3: half calls, whatever it is. Once I have that meeting
8:21
Speaker 3: done with him, that's when I feel like, okay, I
8:24
Speaker 3: can maybe take a deep breath go relax with the
8:27
Speaker 3: family and then kick it off tomorrow.
8:30
Speaker 2: How important is that, kind of taking that time to kind.
8:32
Speaker 3: Of ground yourself?
8:34
Speaker 2: It is.
8:34
Speaker 3: I think as an assistant, probably did not do it enough.
8:40
Speaker 3: You know, didn't get away from my desk enough throughout
8:43
Speaker 3: the day, you know, to go work out and to go,
8:47
Speaker 3: you know, take a walk, like go bop around and
8:50
Speaker 3: just kind of keep moving a little bit as opposed
8:53
Speaker 3: to you can get stuck in front of a screen
8:56
Speaker 3: watch too much football and watch too much tape, there
8:59
Speaker 3: is such a thing. And so I think as a
9:02
Speaker 3: head coach, well, you make the schedule, you make the time.
9:05
Speaker 3: If you don't do it, there's nobody else to blame.
9:09
Speaker 3: There's nowhere else to look. So I think that that's
9:12
Speaker 3: been a positive for me personally because you can, especially
9:17
Speaker 3: as the head coach and play caller, you can live
9:19
Speaker 3: and die by every call. That was a You can
9:23
Speaker 3: just pour yourself into it a little bit, especially when
9:26
Speaker 3: you're a coordinator, regardless of being a head coach. You
9:29
Speaker 3: put a lot on yourself to help put these guys
9:31
Speaker 3: in a position to succeed. And when it doesn't work, yeah,
9:34
Speaker 3: you take it personal. And so to be able to
9:37
Speaker 3: take the time is necessary without question. I don't really
9:42
Speaker 3: believe in balance, but I do believe in the priorities
9:45
Speaker 3: of what you do believe in and what can help
9:47
Speaker 3: you maybe come to a little bit more of a
9:49
Speaker 3: centered mindset. What can you say just about what Cole
9:52
Speaker 3: and the training staff have kind of done this offseason
9:55
Speaker 3: this summer to put him in position to practice this
9:57
Speaker 3: week and not be considered? It's huge, man. I think
10:00
Speaker 3: our training staff, strength, athletic training, sports science are second
10:04
Speaker 3: to none. And they have worked tirelessly throughout this offseason
10:09
Speaker 3: with Cole, both obviously on the grass while they're doing
10:13
Speaker 3: some of the work in the weight room, in the
10:15
Speaker 3: training room. But also, you know, in the mindset part
10:19
Speaker 3: of it and continuing to encourage, to be honest when
10:23
Speaker 3: necessary and needed, you know, to obviously have him potentially
10:28
Speaker 3: available at this time is huge. I mean, it's a
10:32
Speaker 3: testament to the work that he's put in, but also
10:36
Speaker 3: to the support staff that we have that I truly
10:40
Speaker 3: believe in. And I think that these guys, they do
10:42
Speaker 3: it at a high level.
10:44
Speaker 1: Concepcion uh with all that speed the Browns even like
10:47
Speaker 1: gave him direct handoffs in preseason games and stuff like
10:50
Speaker 1: that how on guard do you guys have to be
10:53
Speaker 1: for just manufactured touches.
10:54
Speaker 3: For absolutely that was a part of our team meeting
10:57
Speaker 3: you know this week in terms of just hey where's
11:00
Speaker 3: he at and what are the possibilities of what you
11:02
Speaker 3: what you could get and just um you know you
11:05
Speaker 3: don't know quite where they're gonna put them all that
11:08
Speaker 3: stuff but you know, all right, he's in the game.
11:10
Speaker 3: Let's have an alert for what could possibly come. Am
11:14
Speaker 3: I to his side? Am I away from his side?
11:17
Speaker 3: What could be the possible gadgets or different ways that
11:20
Speaker 3: they try to get the ball in his hands? You know,
11:23
Speaker 3: I have a lot of respect for him as a
11:25
Speaker 3: player coming out of A & M. I mean, we
11:26
Speaker 3: had a lot of like for him personally and in
11:29
Speaker 3: this building. So I have a lot of respect for him,
11:33
Speaker 3: hopefully as a pro, right? I think, you know, we
11:36
Speaker 3: got to be aware. We absolutely have to be aware.
11:39
Speaker 2: Most growth from Duke since you got him in the building?
11:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, just with, I think, first and foremost, body language
11:47
Speaker 3: and demeanor starts there. Like, any rook usually, you know,
11:52
Speaker 3: comes in, unless you're LaQuinn, you know, a little bit
11:55
Speaker 3: more head and eyes down. Like, you know, you're just
11:58
Speaker 3: trying to stay in your lane in ways and not
12:01
Speaker 3: necessarily get, you know, always be in the mix. And
12:06
Speaker 3: I think that's what I mentioned to him this spring
12:09
Speaker 3: was like, I just see him walking around the halls
12:12
Speaker 3: more with his head up and saying hello to people
12:15
Speaker 3: and being engaged. And then I thought he had a
12:18
Speaker 3: really good spring. Um, and the last two joints really
12:23
Speaker 3: is where I've kind of seen the growth of do
12:26
Speaker 3: just when you hit it and you hit the hole
12:29
Speaker 3: and it might not always be perfect in terms of
12:31
Speaker 3: what it looks like, but when he just sticks his
12:33
Speaker 3: foot in the ground and goes, uh, good things usually happen, right?
12:37
Speaker 3: I mean, he's strong. He's got a center of gravity
12:39
Speaker 3: that I appreciate. And he can roll. I mean, he
12:42
Speaker 3: can flat out roll. So when he is playing decisive
12:47
Speaker 3: and firm and doesn't second guess himself or overthink it,
12:51
Speaker 3: that's where I've seen some growth out of him is,
12:55
Speaker 3: and really schematically as well. I mean, in the protections
12:59
Speaker 3: and understanding the run concepts and some of the schemes
13:02
Speaker 3: and the motions and things that we ask our backs
13:06
Speaker 3: to do. I think Chad does a great job coaching
13:11
Speaker 3: those guys up, but I've been very pleased with Tootin's progression.
13:16
Speaker 3: Just getting the running.
13:17
Speaker 2: Game more consistent a lot as a goal this offseason.
13:20
Speaker 2: Now that week one is here, where are you at
13:23
Speaker 2: with that?
13:24
Speaker 3: How confident do you feel in that? I'm confident in it.
13:27
Speaker 3: I think that these guys are eager to get it
13:30
Speaker 3: going again and to go put it on tape, like
13:33
Speaker 3: some of the adjustments, things we've done over the offseason,
13:35
Speaker 3: the course, whether it be fundamentals, techniques, scheme, concepts, whatever
13:39
Speaker 3: it is. At the end of the day, it takes
13:42
Speaker 3: all 11 to run the football. Everybody's got a role
13:46
Speaker 3: to play in that. Our receivers need to go put
13:48
Speaker 3: it on tape. Our tight ends need to go put
13:50
Speaker 3: it on tape. Our quarterback's got to continue to put
13:53
Speaker 3: us in and out of the right calls and get
13:55
Speaker 3: us into some of those positions. And I'm eager to
13:58
Speaker 3: see what it's going to look like, right? I mean,
14:00
Speaker 3: I think you always are going to have to have
14:02
Speaker 3: and strive for balance and whatever's working, you want to
14:06
Speaker 3: try to go with and continue to work with. But,
14:10
Speaker 3: you know, I'd like to be able to stay, you know,
14:15
Speaker 3: balanced throughout a course of a game. Whatever's happening, let's
14:19
Speaker 3: keep staying the course. Just keep staying the course and
14:23
Speaker 3: not bounce around. Okay, that didn't work. Let's move on
14:26
Speaker 3: to the next, right? Like, hey, man, what was the
14:28
Speaker 3: reason why it wasn't as successful for whatever reason, and
14:33
Speaker 3: let's get it fixed and come back and continue to
14:36
Speaker 3: reload it. So just having more patience as well.
14:38
Speaker 1: With the stadium under construction, is there anything in terms
14:42
Speaker 1: of shadows or sight lines at 1 o'clock that you
14:45
Speaker 1: guys have kind of worked on, or is it pretty
14:47
Speaker 1: much what you're accustomed to seeing?
14:49
Speaker 3: I think it's very similar. You know, it was great
14:51
Speaker 3: yesterday being out at practice. You know, it was 1230
14:56
Speaker 3: or so, so it was very similar to kickoff time.
14:59
Speaker 3: You know, the sun– on some of the kicking games
15:03
Speaker 3: specifically were things that we were working on and talking
15:06
Speaker 3: through yesterday, you know, specifically on the punt returns in
15:11
Speaker 3: that way. So we typically try to, especially early on
15:15
Speaker 3: in September, October, practice at a similar time to when
15:19
Speaker 3: game would be kicked off. I haven't noticed anything or
15:22
Speaker 3: heard anything from the stadium that would be much different,
15:26
Speaker 3: but the guys were aware of it, especially yesterday.
15:30
Speaker 1: Is your offensive plan for Travis a lot more fluid
15:33
Speaker 1: this year?
15:34
Speaker 3: Um, yeah, I would think so. I mean, I think that, um,
15:38
Speaker 3: you know, you're going to continue to try to get
15:41
Speaker 3: them in positions that he can do things that he's
15:43
Speaker 3: good at, right? Like that's what we're trying to, uh, do.
15:46
Speaker 3: I mean, those are, those are, um, different ways of
15:50
Speaker 3: getting him the football while also letting him just go
15:52
Speaker 3: play too. It doesn't always going to go scheme to
15:55
Speaker 3: him when he's in the game, right? Like he's a
15:57
Speaker 3: damn good blocker. He can run routes in terms of
16:01
Speaker 3: maybe the ball is not schemed up to go to
16:02
Speaker 3: him and still get open and still have a chance
16:04
Speaker 3: to play. I'm not obviously having a count in my
16:09
Speaker 3: head with how many plays and what we're exactly going
16:12
Speaker 3: to do with them, but he definitely will play both.
16:16
Speaker 1: Based on how the game is going, you don't have
16:18
Speaker 1: a feeling like we have to get him in? No,
16:20
Speaker 1: not at all.
16:22
Speaker 3: I think you do, but we don't. Yeah, yes, I don't.
16:27
Speaker 3: You know, I have a lot of confidence in Travis
16:30
Speaker 3: to go out and compete for us. He hasn't played
16:32
Speaker 3: a lot of football since, you know, he got hurt.
16:35
Speaker 3: And it's really, at the end of the day, this
16:37
Speaker 3: is about winning football games. Last one.
16:41
Speaker 2: Parker Washington, your all-situation returner. What is his value on offense,
16:45
Speaker 2: maybe defensively, make.
16:46
Speaker 3: Him a situation return yeah he's he's the guy right
16:49
Speaker 3: now absolutely um you know we've messed around with a
16:52
Speaker 3: couple other guys being able to catch uh punts back
16:55
Speaker 3: there and be able to do some different things um
16:58
Speaker 3: you know at some point here travis will get some
17:00
Speaker 3: of that stuff too you know like we have to
17:02
Speaker 3: continue to um put him in positions to get the
17:06
Speaker 3: ball in his hands and see what that looks like
17:08
Speaker 3: and um you know right now it's parker though absolutely