Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Press Pass | Liam Coen on Importance of Depth, Challenges in Week 9
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Hey, Liam.
- 0:01Speaker 2: Trevor said earlier that he thinks he's playing the most
- 0:03Speaker 2: consistent football of his career. He credited it with how
- 0:08Speaker 2: differently he prepares now. Just from your perspective, what's the
- 0:12Speaker 2: biggest change in terms of how he prepares, processes the
- 0:15Speaker 2: game since you first got together?
- 0:18Speaker 3: Yeah, I would agree with that.
- 0:20Speaker 4: I think he's a very intelligent person, first of all,
- 0:27Speaker 4: so it's like He can retain and take in a
- 0:29Speaker 4: lot of information, study it, memorize it, but also then
- 0:35Speaker 4: visualize it as well.
- 0:37Speaker 3: And he's just got such.
- 0:41Speaker 4: A feel for what we're doing, what we're trying to
- 0:45Speaker 4: get accomplished because of the work that he puts in,
- 0:47Speaker 4: but also because he is able to see it and
- 0:49Speaker 4: visualize it throughout the course.
- 0:50Speaker 3: Of the week.
- 0:52Speaker 4: From the run game plan, the amount of checks, cans
- 0:57Speaker 4: that are on his plate, the pass protection system, the
- 1:01Speaker 4: entire things on his plate, and then to just go
- 1:05Speaker 4: play quarterback and to read coverages and to do those
- 1:09Speaker 4: things are also on his plate.
- 1:11Speaker 3: So we wouldn't.
- 1:14Speaker 4: Ask him to do those things if we didn't believe
- 1:16Speaker 4: he was capable mentally. And then, like, as you go,
- 1:20Speaker 4: things get easier, right? Like, some parts of the game
- 1:23Speaker 4: get easier that you start to anticipate and understand.
- 1:27Speaker 3: When you truly understand the.
- 1:29Speaker 4: Why behind, like, run cans or pass protection, then you
- 1:34Speaker 4: can start to see it faster on the grass. And
- 1:38Speaker 4: you can see it maybe before it starts to develop
- 1:41Speaker 4: and occur.
- 1:42Speaker 3: And he puts in.
- 1:45Speaker 4: ton of time throughout the course of a week that
- 1:48Speaker 4: is not just spent like with us throughout the course
- 1:51Speaker 4: of a work day he's here well after we're done
- 1:55Speaker 4: with him in the quarterback room with the quarterbacks with
- 1:59Speaker 4: the other guys going over the plan walking through talking
- 2:02Speaker 4: through and so I think he's able to go play
- 2:06Speaker 4: freely on Sunday a lot of it because of his
- 2:09Speaker 4: preparation and.
- 2:13Speaker 5: We'll go to Gary, then to O'Halloran.
- 2:19Speaker 4: Hey, Coach, how you doing?
- 2:20Speaker 3: Good.
- 2:21Speaker 1: Hey, this Spignano kid from Baltimore, they decided to go
- 2:24Speaker 1: in that direction, and they signed a veteran this afternoon,
- 2:27Speaker 1: Austin Reed, at least more of a veteran than Joe is.
- 2:31Speaker 3: I know you weren't looking for a quarterback, but is
- 2:33Speaker 3: this kid ever on your radar?
- 2:35Speaker 5: Because of the main connection, you probably knew about him.
- 2:38Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
- 2:39Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 2:42Speaker 4: My buddy recruited him to Maine. The coaching staff that
- 2:46Speaker 4: I originally worked for at Maine signed him there. And
- 2:51Speaker 4: I remember following him while he was at Maine. And
- 2:54Speaker 4: then when he transferred to UConn, I followed them as
- 2:58Speaker 4: well because my buddy was the offensive coordinator there at
- 3:01Speaker 4: UConn and then evaluated him and watched him coming out
- 3:06Speaker 4: this past year in the draft. We were definitely interested
- 3:10Speaker 4: in him.
- 3:11Speaker 3: Liked him.
- 3:12Speaker 4: He's got some baller in him. He's got some gamer.
- 3:14Speaker 4: He sees it well. He's got great anticipation and he's accurate.
- 3:21Speaker 4: So obviously was thrust into a difficult situation this past Sunday,
- 3:27Speaker 4: but with a week of preparation, I would fully anticipate
- 3:32Speaker 4: him to come out and be able to play a
- 3:34Speaker 4: little bit more confident than maybe the situation he was
- 3:36Speaker 4: put in on Sunday. And You know, hey, look, they
- 3:40Speaker 4: got a great runner and they got some pass catchers.
- 3:43Speaker 4: They got a big offensive line. And so I'm sure, hey, Joey,
- 3:47Speaker 4: you know, they'll ask him to run it, try not
- 3:49Speaker 4: to turn it over, and they'll go play and get
- 3:51Speaker 4: the ball in the Zay Flowers' hands and those skill players.
- 3:54Speaker 4: So definitely going to be a test for us.
- 3:57Speaker 2: Thanks.
- 3:58Speaker 3: We'll go to O'Hara.
- 4:01Speaker 5: And then to D-Rock. Hey, Liam, can you confirm that
- 4:07Speaker 5: Devon Hamilton is out for the season?
- 4:09Speaker 1: And if that is the case, what kind of reinforcements
- 4:13Speaker 1: do you.
- 4:13Speaker 5: Have confidence in behind him?
- 4:14Speaker 4: Yeah, so Devon Hamilton and Eric Murray both had season-ending
- 4:22Speaker 4: injuries yesterday, unfortunately. You know, they will go to IR
- 4:28Speaker 4: here in the next few days. You know, disappointing for
- 4:33Speaker 4: sure for both of those guys. You know, DeHaan played,
- 4:39Speaker 4: Eric was on the first play of the game, and
- 4:41Speaker 4: DeHaan played 11 snaps when that occurred. So, you know,
- 4:47Speaker 4: challenging for sure, but, you know, great opportunity for, you know,
- 4:53Speaker 4: Matt Dickerson, obviously Eric Armstead, Rook, Regis. those guys are
- 4:59Speaker 4: going to have to step up. Obviously, we signed Austin
- 5:02Speaker 4: Johnson today to the practice squad that was with us
- 5:05Speaker 4: all year last year, and on a short week, we've
- 5:09Speaker 4: got to have those guys step up to play. I mean,
- 5:12Speaker 4: Regis has gotten better and better over the last few weeks,
- 5:15Speaker 4: specifically giving us fits on the show team, has made
- 5:19Speaker 4: our offense align better over the last few weeks on
- 5:22Speaker 4: the show team, and Now is going to be a
- 5:25Speaker 4: great opportunity for him to step up and give us
- 5:28Speaker 4: some quality snaps. And Dickie's been playing well. Rook's been
- 5:32Speaker 4: playing well. Eric had a really good game yesterday. And
- 5:34Speaker 4: so those guys, it's going to be by committee. You know,
- 5:38Speaker 4: those guys are all going to have to play meaningful
- 5:40Speaker 4: snaps for us and, you know, help us stop a
- 5:44Speaker 4: darn good run game and running back in Derrick Henry.
- 5:47Speaker 5: Do you expect Antonio Johnson to be available Thursday night?
- 5:51Speaker 3: We'll see.
- 5:52Speaker 4: You know, that one, it's going to be harder. We'll
- 5:55Speaker 4: be able to do a little bit more tomorrow than
- 5:58Speaker 4: we'll be able to do today on the grass. Won't
- 6:01Speaker 4: be able to have an answer for you today on that.
- 6:03Speaker 4: Hopefully tomorrow when we actually jog around and move around
- 6:08Speaker 4: more out on the grass, hopefully have a better feel
- 6:11Speaker 4: for that tomorrow.
- 6:12Speaker 5: Thank you.
- 6:13Speaker 1: We'll go.
- 6:15Speaker 6: To DRock, then to Brent. Hey, Liam, have you been
- 6:21Speaker 6: impressed with how Brian Thomas has sort of handled all
- 6:25Speaker 6: this stuff going on the last several weeks, the trade
- 6:28Speaker 6: talk and disappointment with drops and, you know, not playing
- 6:32Speaker 6: in the second half there and how he kind of
- 6:34Speaker 6: rebounded last week or yesterday?
- 6:36Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
- 6:38Speaker 4: I mean, he's a young dude that he's, but he's
- 6:44Speaker 4: very mature, right? Like he's not an immature guy that you're,
- 6:48Speaker 4: you know, emotional and gets too high and too low.
- 6:51Speaker 4: And he said it, I think, last week, right? He's
- 6:54Speaker 4: going to continue to come out and do his job. And,
- 6:58Speaker 4: you know, I think I said at some point last
- 7:00Speaker 4: week that he was going to make plays for us
- 7:01Speaker 4: in this game. And we all had belief that that
- 7:04Speaker 4: was going to happen. And we're going to continue to
- 7:07Speaker 4: believe that. We're going to continue to work with him
- 7:09Speaker 4: and continue to try to get the most out of
- 7:12Speaker 4: every player, you know, especially BT.
- 7:14Speaker 3: But I have been impressed.
- 7:16Speaker 4: With the way that he's able to block out the noise,
- 7:18Speaker 4: continue to be integrated with everybody.
- 7:20Speaker 3: I was proud.
- 7:23Speaker 4: I was very happy for him to see him make
- 7:25Speaker 4: that play on the first drive of the game on
- 7:27Speaker 4: a critical third and goal to go.
- 7:29Speaker 5: Thank you.
- 7:32Speaker 6: We'll go to Brent, then to Jamal. Liam, every coach wants,
- 7:40Speaker 6: I think, their football team to be player-led.
- 7:43Speaker 3: We always hear that, at least.
- 7:45Speaker 2: Is this one, at this juncture, player-led, do you feel?
- 7:49Speaker 3: And how do you know that?
- 7:52Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think it's definitely a lot closer
- 7:56Speaker 4: than it's probably been in a lot of ways. You know,
- 8:00Speaker 4: I think that the cool thing about what we have
- 8:04Speaker 4: is we have a lot of belief in each other,
- 8:08Speaker 4: like players and coaches and staff members. There's a lot
- 8:11Speaker 4: of trust. There's a lot of accountability. And so when
- 8:14Speaker 4: like mistakes are made, we all kind of can take accountability,
- 8:20Speaker 4: coaches and players alike. And it allows us to move
- 8:23Speaker 4: on from those maybe difficult conversations or mishaps or mistakes.
- 8:29Speaker 4: We can move on from them without lingering effects, right?
- 8:34Speaker 4: Like we're not really moved on, but we're moved.
- 8:36Speaker 3: On kind of thing, right?
- 8:38Speaker 4: Like we're able to honestly assess mistakes honestly be accountable
- 8:43Speaker 4: and move on in the right direction.
- 8:46Speaker 3: I do believe we have really good leadership.
- 8:48Speaker 4: It's going to be tested now more than ever with,
- 8:51Speaker 4: with D ham and Eric Murray specifically to veteran football players, starters,
- 8:57Speaker 4: but not only that, but unbelievable human beings and leaders
- 9:01Speaker 4: on this football team. And so, you know, it's got,
- 9:05Speaker 4: we're going to be tested this week for sure. Our
- 9:08Speaker 4: metal will be tested. Our, our group collaboration connectivity will
- 9:13Speaker 4: be tested, but fully anticipate this group to be able
- 9:17Speaker 4: to connect and stay together.
- 9:19Speaker 2: Thanks.
- 9:26Speaker 1: Hey, Liam.
- 9:27Speaker 5: I know you always talk about next man up mentality.
- 9:29Speaker 3: That's one of those things.
- 9:30Speaker 5: How important is it to get kind of that impact
- 9:33Speaker 5: from young players throughout whether it be practice or in
- 9:37Speaker 5: select spots in games to kind of help their growth
- 9:40Speaker 5: and know they're ready for this big opportunity if they
- 9:42Speaker 5: have to fill in for injuries.
- 9:43Speaker 3: Yeah, it showed up on Sunday in a number of ways, right?
- 9:48Speaker 4: You know, Branson Combs had a heck of a game
- 9:52Speaker 4: on teams and on defense. Rayon Lane, you know, arguably
- 9:55Speaker 4: played one of his best games as a Jaguar takeaway.
- 10:00Speaker 4: Even the, the interception pick six was a phenomenal play
- 10:03Speaker 4: and all, but his communication throughout the game, getting us,
- 10:08Speaker 4: you know, helping with checks, getting us in and out
- 10:10Speaker 4: of things. He was, had this almost strip sack, you know,
- 10:14Speaker 4: the strip that we ended up challenging as well at.
- 10:17Speaker 3: The end of the game. And so, those are critical, right?
- 10:19Speaker 4: Those players are so critical and that experience is so critical.
- 10:23Speaker 4: Jalen Husky getting in, you know, later in the game and.
- 10:26Speaker 3: Having a sack.
- 10:27Speaker 4: And so anytime you can get young players, NFL experience,
- 10:33Speaker 4: it's just so valuable. It's such a long season and
- 10:37Speaker 4: you have these injuries pop up, whether it was going
- 10:40Speaker 4: to happen now or right in week 12, it's going
- 10:44Speaker 4: to occur, right? Everybody kind of goes through something like this.
- 10:47Speaker 3: And so that's the reason why you do this.
- 10:52Speaker 4: It's the reason why you try to have depth and
- 10:55Speaker 4: try to draft and acquire the right type of people
- 10:58Speaker 4: that can stay the course, even when they're maybe not
- 11:01Speaker 4: getting as much playing time as they would like early on,
- 11:04Speaker 4: they stay the course and good things usually happen.
- 11:07Speaker 5: Appreciate it, Liam. We'll go to Mark Long and Justin.
- 11:15Speaker 3: Two-parter, they kind of go together.
- 11:18Speaker 1: But how rewarding and maybe relieving was it.
- 11:22Speaker 4: To, uh, hit on the screen passes and then secondly,
- 11:26Speaker 4: pump return, obviously switch some things up back there. Is
- 11:29Speaker 4: that kind of the next step that you guys would
- 11:32Speaker 4: like to see it much like the, uh, screen tested?
- 11:35Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 11:36Speaker 4: Um, it was, it was definitely rewarding to get some
- 11:39Speaker 4: of the screens popping. Um, they were rushing, obviously, you know,
- 11:43Speaker 4: at times pretty well, they got us on a few things. Um,
- 11:47Speaker 4: the way the game was unfolding, right, you weren't trying
- 11:50Speaker 4: to throw it too much, you know, outside of downfield,
- 11:53Speaker 4: it was raining a little bit, we're up, and so
- 11:55Speaker 4: to get the screen game going, and what I was
- 11:58Speaker 4: pleased with the screens was not only, you know, the
- 12:01Speaker 4: guys making a play, it was very well executed, they
- 12:05Speaker 4: executed them at a very high level, the details that
- 12:09Speaker 4: go into screens, like screens are so much feel, right,
- 12:12Speaker 4: like the O-linemen's feel of when the stop blocking the
- 12:17Speaker 4: rusher and get up to the second level, um, staying, uh,
- 12:22Speaker 4: down the line of scrimmage and not going over and
- 12:25Speaker 4: the timing like screens. Sometimes you can not practice screens
- 12:30Speaker 4: and be really good at them. You can practice them
- 12:32Speaker 4: all the time and be bad at them. Um, I'm
- 12:35Speaker 4: definitely thankful and, you know, pleased to see a part
- 12:39Speaker 4: of our offense come to life as we've been working on.
- 12:43Speaker 3: Um, and, uh, What was the second part? Oh, the
- 12:47Speaker 3: punt return. Yeah.
- 12:48Speaker 4: So definitely trying some guys back there and obviously want
- 12:52Speaker 4: to try to continue to find ways of getting Travis
- 12:55Speaker 4: the ball in his hands. And that's something we're going
- 12:58Speaker 4: to continue to work through and continue to look at and.
- 13:02Speaker 4: see if there's ways to, you know, create some more explosives.
- 13:05Speaker 4: That's why, you know, why we did that was to
- 13:07Speaker 4: try to mix it up a little bit. And we
- 13:09Speaker 4: got to be better with some of our sustaining blocks,
- 13:13Speaker 4: but I thought we did some better things on the perimeter.
- 13:15Speaker 4: And hopefully it's something that can kick in for us
- 13:18Speaker 4: so we can get, not necessarily always explosives, but like
- 13:22Speaker 4: the hidden yards, right? Like stealing hidden yards and getting 12-
- 13:26Speaker 4: and 14-yard returns are important in.
- 13:29Speaker 3: The field position battle.
- 13:31Speaker 4: So it's something we're working through and trying to see
- 13:34Speaker 4: what that can look like.
- 13:37Speaker 1: We have time.
- 13:38Speaker 4: For three quick ones.
- 13:39Speaker 3: We're going to go.
- 13:40Speaker 5: Justin, then to Shipley, then to O'Halloran.
- 13:49Speaker 1: Hey, Liam. I think it was after Tootin's second touchdown,
- 13:53Speaker 1: Hainsey ran over to the sideline and gave you kind
- 13:56Speaker 1: of a chest bump, and it knocked your headset off.
- 13:59Speaker 1: And then on Lane's pick six, I think they clocked
- 14:02Speaker 1: him going 21 miles. You were probably going.
- 14:05Speaker 3: 12 miles down the sideline.
- 14:07Speaker 1: How did you guys establish this culture of celebrating everyone's
- 14:13Speaker 1: success no.
- 14:14Speaker 3: Matter who's making the play?
- 14:16Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, look, it goes back to this is
- 14:18Speaker 4: a game– that we're extremely fortunate to play, coach, work
- 14:29Speaker 4: with for a living, right? And we're so fortunate to
- 14:34Speaker 4: be in this position. And it's something that from the
- 14:38Speaker 4: very start of us all being together here last year
- 14:41Speaker 4: was something that we talked about a lot was like
- 14:45Speaker 4: celebrating and bringing energy, right, is momentum swings. Like when
- 14:52Speaker 4: you have that and you feel that, it can be,
- 14:57Speaker 4: what is it, you know, it can compound. You can
- 15:00Speaker 4: feel that, right, whether you're on one side of it
- 15:02Speaker 4: or the other. And so that's something we talked about
- 15:06Speaker 4: coming into this game especially was, You know, celebrating success
- 15:10Speaker 4: and not taking it for granted, right? Like, totally with
- 15:14Speaker 4: be a pro, been there before kind of thing, too,
- 15:17Speaker 4: and completely agree with that at times, but when guys
- 15:20Speaker 4: make huge plays and game changing plays, right? Like you
- 15:24Speaker 4: want those guys to feel the freedom to go celebrate.
- 15:27Speaker 4: This is entertainment as well. And so, and look, you
- 15:31Speaker 4: want it to be fun, right?
- 15:32Speaker 3: I mean, it is a game, right?
- 15:34Speaker 4: It's a game that we've been all playing and doing
- 15:38Speaker 4: since we were young.
- 15:39Speaker 3: And you don't want to.
- 15:40Speaker 4: Ever take that joy away from celebrating positive things occurring
- 15:46Speaker 4: in a game because it's, It's the NFL. Everybody does
- 15:50Speaker 4: so many good things, and it's hard. It's hard to score.
- 15:54Speaker 4: It's hard to win in this league, and you want
- 15:58Speaker 4: the players especially to enjoy it, and the coaches as well.
- 16:02Speaker 4: They put a lot of time into this thing, and
- 16:04Speaker 4: so Sunday is the day to go cut it loose
- 16:06Speaker 4: and do that.
- 16:07Speaker 2: Thank you. Hey, Liam.
- 16:12Speaker 1: Thanks for doing this.
- 16:13Speaker 2: You mentioned last week the idea of getting Buster back,
- 16:16Speaker 2: how he can just help you guys do different.
- 16:18Speaker 3: Things at corner.
- 16:19Speaker 1: Did you feel like that kind of played out how
- 16:21Speaker 1: you wanted to, just with Jaron.
- 16:22Speaker 3: Kind of getting more reps and signals on that? Yeah,
- 16:24Speaker 3: it did.
- 16:25Speaker 4: I think Buster just a heck of a competitor, stable,
- 16:29Speaker 4: just does.
- 16:31Speaker 3: So many good things for us all around. And so.
- 16:36Speaker 4: We were able to kind of settle things down in
- 16:38Speaker 4: the back end, I thought. you know, played it pretty clean,
- 16:42Speaker 4: had the one bust down in the red zone that
- 16:44Speaker 4: we need to clean up, but, you know, Buster just
- 16:48Speaker 4: brings such a confidence to the group. He's just consistent, confident, tough,
- 16:54Speaker 4: and so it definitely helped having him back, that's for sure.
- 16:58Speaker 4: It just gives us more flexibility to do different things
- 17:01Speaker 4: with Jarian and J. Lou and Travis as well, so
- 17:06Speaker 4: you know, you can only, you need corners. They always
- 17:09Speaker 4: get nicked up. It's just the name of the game.
- 17:12Speaker 4: It's the nature of how it goes. And so you
- 17:15Speaker 4: can only, you can never have enough good corners in
- 17:18Speaker 4: this league.
- 17:18Speaker 3: And so really glad to have Buster back. Absolutely.
- 17:21Speaker 2: Thanks, man.
- 17:25Speaker 5: Hey, Liam.
- 17:26Speaker 3: I'm glad you mentioned Derrick Henry earlier.
- 17:27Speaker 1: Probably one of the two or three players that come
- 17:30Speaker 1: out of this area.
- 17:31Speaker 5: Except for weeks you're preparing to play for him, how
- 17:33Speaker 5: much do you enjoy the.
- 17:34Speaker 4: Way he plays this game Yeah, I actually saw Derek
- 17:38Speaker 4: at TPC Sawgrass this spring at the players and got
- 17:44Speaker 4: to talk to him for a little while. Yeah, just
- 17:48Speaker 4: a total stud. He's built like nobody I've ever seen
- 17:56Speaker 4: before at the position. And when you see him in person,
- 17:59Speaker 4: it's even more impressive. And what's really, I think, goes
- 18:06Speaker 4: unnoticed is his ability in the pass game, in the
- 18:09Speaker 4: screen game, check downs. He can run every run that's
- 18:15Speaker 4: out there, right? He can run perimeter toss cracks, wide zone,
- 18:20Speaker 4: where he can circle the defense and go, and he
- 18:24Speaker 4: can also level it off, stick his foot in the
- 18:27Speaker 4: ground and go. Then you get to the gap schemes. Well,
- 18:31Speaker 4: he can keep the gap schemes tight and downhill when
- 18:34Speaker 4: it presents, But also, if he needs to bounce, like,
- 18:38Speaker 4: you know, press it, get everybody sucked in, and then bounce.
- 18:42Speaker 3: It, he can do that too.
- 18:43Speaker 4: Because if he goes one-on-one with cornerbacks, it's very challenging, right?
- 18:48Speaker 4: And so I've got a tremendous, tremendous amount of respect
- 18:52Speaker 4: for Derrick Henry. I think he's a pro's pro. Appears
- 18:56Speaker 4: as if he's just a great teammate. I mean, he
- 19:00Speaker 4: takes shots throughout a season. and gives a lot of
- 19:05Speaker 4: them out as well. So huge challenge for us this week.
- 19:09Speaker 4: Our tackling will be challenged this week. Our angles will
- 19:14Speaker 4: be challenged this week. Getting off blocks, not staying blocked.
- 19:18Speaker 4: Our swarm will be challenged. And so anytime you play
- 19:22Speaker 4: one of the NFL's elite, you've really got to be
- 19:26Speaker 4: on the screws as a group and understand what kind
- 19:29Speaker 4: of game it's about to be.
- 19:29Speaker 1: Thank you. Mm-hmm.