Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / 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 · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 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