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Press Pass | Liam Coen on Team Mentality Entering Week 4, Continuing to Respond · Press Pass

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Last year this time the team had i think the
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: fourth most penalties this year third fewest just could you
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: speak to the discipline and what that sort of means
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: like yeah i mean i think year two helps right
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: just being in the same system on both sides of
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the football really all three phases um especially with some
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: of the pre-snaps, motions, shifts, cans, going from one play
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: to the other, having more continuity and chemistry within that.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: And then players, just from a leadership standpoint and knowing
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: that that was a huge emphasis going into training camp
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: was the self-inflicted wounds and some of those things that
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: ultimately we have a hard enough time lining up and
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: beating an opponent that, you know if we consistently put
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: ourselves at a disadvantage that we're obviously not giving ourselves
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the best chance to be successful on Sunday so yeah
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: happy with it through three games obviously you know know
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: that it's a long season and we have to remain
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: disciplined remain consistent with our communication and doing those things
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: but yeah it's nice to not obviously hurt yourselves when
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: it comes to some of those things for sure Parker's
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: not the biggest guy Is it unusual for someone his
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: size to have that big of a catch rating? Yeah,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: I think it's definitely a little bit of an outlier
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: for sure. When you've looked at his history though, I
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: remember Monday night or Thursday night here, Cincinnati, where he
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: made the acrobatic catch in the back of the end zone.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: He's kind of got That trait, which, yeah, it's definitely
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: a little bit in the outlier world when you're looking
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: at catch radius, ability to make contested catches. We know
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: that he's been great over the course of the last
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: year in terms of, like, after the catch, what he
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: can do with it because he's built similar in a
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: lot of ways to some runners. And you look at
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Jamar Chase, I mean, obviously not 6'2, 3, But the
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: ability to obviously do all this stuff and like you
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: look at Jamar Chase's lower half, it's like looks similar
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: to Parker in a lot of ways. Like that thick
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: lowers that are explosive, strong, physical. Yeah, I would say
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: it's a little bit of an outlier for sure. I mean,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Amin Ra, you'd say is probably similar in a lot
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: of ways in terms of being able to twist and
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: torque and turn his body. I think what's cool about
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Parker is like the strength at the catch point, you know,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: is like being fearless through the catch point and having
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: a mindset, a mentality of like when the ball is
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: in the air, it's mine. And like you can't always
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: teach it. You can't always coach it. It has to
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: come from within. It has to come from doing it
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: out there. practice as we've all seen Parker do pretty
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: consistently and so I think that's why like in critical
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: situations and stuff.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: In that you know a third and long where he just.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Scored a touchdown previously on the zero that Trevor's got
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: the confidence and Parker's got the confidence to go and
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: make that play.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: What makes Dexter Lawrence such a problem? Has he changed
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: the way Cincinnati plays their defense? Yeah, absolutely.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: You look at the defense last year, you look at
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: it this year through three games, and you can see
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: how much more patient their two inside linebackers are because
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: of what's happening in front of them. Not obviously just
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: with Dex, but with Allen and Mafe. you know, that
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: that's really helped, but also like Slayton and BJ Hill,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: like those two, those are two darn good backups and
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: rotational players too. So it's like, you can tell their
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: linebackers are so much more patient. They're not biting quite
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: as hard on play action as maybe they did at
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: times last year. When you have a front disruptor like,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: like Dex, um, It makes everybody's job easier. He's essentially
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: handling multiple gaps on his own. It's challenging to back
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: block him. It's challenging to obviously when you get him
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: in a zero nose to one-on-one block him, whether it's
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: on a run or a pass. Yeah, there's a reason
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: why he lines up so close to the ball. and
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: tilts himself because he knows how challenging that is on
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: a center who's got one hand here, the other hand
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: on the ball, where he has to snap it and
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: now go get his hands on him. I mean, that's
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: such a challenge in and of itself. So yeah, I've
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: always had a lot of respect for him when it
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: comes to game planning. We played him in 24 when
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: I was in Tampa at New York. And I just
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: remember going through that game plan process. And it's definitely challenging.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: A little bit about Jamar Chase, just how much of
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: a challenge is he on the set there? It's like
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: you can talk about any lockdown corner in this league
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: and it's still, right, he's still going to get his.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: I don't know what he had exactly stat line against Houston,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: but we all know Derkston Lee is a really good
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: player and he's going to get his. It's very difficult
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: to say he's just not going to catch balls this week, right?
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: And so Um, it's for our guys, it's all right. Hey,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: can gotta be physical. We obviously have to have a
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: plan in terms of, uh, awareness situational. Where's the, where
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: are they going with the football in certain situations, but
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: also tackling them, right? Like we have to be at
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: our best with our pursuit angles, our clamp tackling, um,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: are strained in effort to the football, like when they
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: just dish them out a little flat route, I mean,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: that could go to the house. So they obviously have
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: a ton of chemistry and continuity together, a lot of trust,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: a lot of, you know, accumulated reps in not just
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: practice but in games. And, yeah, it's hard to find better.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Is it tough on a DB for a.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Guy like that where you can do everything.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Right, you're in just the right position?
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah. you still end up on a highlight page.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, goldfish mentality, right? I mean, that's what it has
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: to be, though. Like, you know he's a potential Hall
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: of Famer, right? And so is he going to make
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: some plays? Absolutely. It's just, again, so much of this week,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: similar to last, is it's about our response.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: It's about the way that.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: We bounce back and the way that we continue to respond,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: both collectively as a team and then individuals throughout the game,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: It's like, man, all right, he makes a play.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: All right, let's go. It's about the next one.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Strap up and line up and play the next one
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: because you don't know what that next one could be,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: and you don't know how that next one could impact
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: and affect the game. And so that's really going to
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: be the message all week, again, is less about them,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: more about us. in terms of what the Steelers did
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: offensively against back to the Bengals' defense? I guess what
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: was more impressive, Aaron Rodgers having an Aaron Rodgers-type day, back.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: To kind of what we've become used to over the last.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Two decades, or the fact that Warren really broke out
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: on the ground?
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it was a good combination.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: I thought they mixed it well, had some explosive runs,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: had a long one called back because of a hold.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, Warren's a really good runner, and I thought
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh did some nice things schematically that put– you know,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Cincy in some tough spots to have to make some tackles.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: And when you strain and connect longer in blocking, it
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: usually leads to more success. And I thought that that
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: was some of the things Pittsburgh played hard. They mixed
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: it good in terms of run pass. We're able to
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: stay balanced, which always helps so you don't get into
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: a one-dimensional type game. And so, you know, I think
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: obviously we watched Pittsburgh going in for New England and
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: then see them respond. And it's just, it's truly what
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: this league is. It's any given Sunday, anything can happen, uh,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: regardless of record and, and, and past histories and, uh,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: everybody's pretty good. And so you've got to have your, uh,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: you know, you gotta have a game plan, but your guys,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: we gotta go play. And it's about blocking longer. tackling, fundamentals,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: but also our best players and our guys, we got
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: to go make some plays too, which you did see
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh do, specifically the guys you just mentioned. When you
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: watch Burrow, what stands out about his game and what
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: do you like about Joe Burrow's skill set? Yeah, just
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: the down-in, down-out accuracy that you just take for granted,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: I think, in a lot of ways. Challenging throws, under duress,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: under pressure with somebody bearing down on him, and the
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: ball just, like, lands in the spots that.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: You know, he can put the ball wherever he wants.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: And the elite guys, the guys that are playing at
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: a really high level, can usually pick and choose where
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: they put the football and don't miss too often. And
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: then you take the ability to extend, which I think
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: is so challenging about his game, is, like, the down's
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: just never over.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: And so.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: You're playing the down. You might think you have him covered.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: You might think you have him bottled up. And then
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden he extends, breaks out, and now
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: there's a whole other play that occurs. And you have
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: to rush and cover relentlessly through the echo of the whistle.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: And that's what it has to be. And so, yeah,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: a ton of respect. for Joe, a ton of respect
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: for the way that he's played throughout the course of
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: his career, the plays that he's made, the games that
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: he's won. Yeah, anytime he's across from you, you know
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: that they have a chance.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Sunday night late pass interference call in that game. I
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: swear this has nothing to do with last year's game
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: with the Bengals too, but would.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: The head coach be supportive of bringing back challenges for
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: defensive pass interference?
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, I just think it's, especially in critical moments,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: to get those, just make sure we get them really right.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: And hey, it's Whatever it comes out to be, whatever.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: The outcome is, it is what it is.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: But just, I think, to make sure some of the–
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: and I've been on the other end of it.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Too, right?
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Like 2018 New Orleans playoff game. Like I've been on
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: that end of it too. And look, at the end
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: of the day, you want it to just be fair.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: You just want it to be consistent. And whatever the
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: outcome is, is. And you've got to go live with
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: the outcome, as Sean mentioned. It's like we're not going
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: to live in that. and make an excuse for it.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: So whatever they decide, it is what it is. It's
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: just in some of those moments you just want the
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: players to earn it. Like you want whatever team wins
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: or loses the game, in my opinion, you just want
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: it earned. You want it in the players' hands to
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: win the game, not anybody else's.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: We talked about this in different circumstances with Denver, but
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: how much do you go back to that week two game?
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Last year? Oh, yeah. I just watched it. Yeah.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: It's so long ago, obviously, that both teams are very
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: different in so many ways. But you can go and
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: look and take a peek at, obviously, do they look similar?
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Are there ways we can run similar things, different ways
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: to dress it up? um and also to see how
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: far you've come too or to see where uh where
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: you're at in terms of that and then it's more
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: about personnel too like seeing their personnel the match-ups um
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: you know where you can maybe take advantage of them
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: or what what have you so I did you know
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: I buzzed it that was the first time I buzzed
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: it since um you know this week has started so
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: really try not to go back that far um I've
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: obviously watched a lot of their stuff from last year
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: but there's so many changes that they've made from a
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: personnel standpoint that have changed the way that the game
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: is played for them in a lot of ways. So,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: you know, and they've got, you know, injury to the
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: nickel this, you know, this week. So we've got a
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: couple of things to look at there. So, you know, it's,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: I thought we moved the ball well and did some
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: good things offensively. It just didn't really finish the game
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: the right way. So, But just watching, I mean, guys
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: were making some plays. Parker made a great catch. I
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: thought Trevor was playing really well. Yeah, so I'll go
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: back and take a look.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think just like those guys made some plays.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: It was a back and forth game. It's like, all right,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: who kind of has it last?
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: And they obviously put together the long drive there to
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: go win it. And it's just, you know, you can
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: draw on a learning moment and similar to last, you know,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: week two Denver, it's like, all right, 60 minutes and anybody,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: you know, starting fast, it's really about the finish and, and,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Everything in between is about just going.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: And playing fast and playing hard.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: But being at our best when our best is required
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: is going to be something we need this week. And
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: knowing that these are four-quarter football games in this league,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: and that was a great reminder. Chris, what does it
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: say about his mindset when it doesn't look like it's
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: there but he's still able to get three yards?
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: That's him, right? That's his style.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: I know he was a little frustrated because, like, look,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: the way he runs, it's, it's awesome. And especially in
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: those situations, I think he was a little frustrated with
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: maybe hitting some things and missing some.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: Runs, you know, in the first two weeks.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: And I didn't really think we gave him a ton
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: of room in the first two weeks to get going either. Um,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: I thought we did a better job when he was
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: in this past week of just creating a little bit
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: more room and momentum so that he can get going
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: and get to the second level, which is when he
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: does get his shoulder square and gets downhill.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: You know, he's.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: Typically going to fall forward in a lot of those moments,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: but we got to help him get going and to
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: get there.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: And so that was nice.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, the first and five run after the turnover was,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: was blocked really well up front, and then he's able
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: to go finish in the end zone and then had
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: the other, you know, tight zone lob that we had
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: where he kind of punished the nickel. You know, the
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: nickel was trying to, Jacoby was going to block him,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: and it's just like, He's got a full head of
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: steam and momentum going downhill, which helps. I think he
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: took some confidence from this past game. Getting going, getting
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: himself downhill, getting a touchdown always helps. Hopefully we can
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: keep building on that. You guys are fifth in rushing
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: success rate. What do you put that down to, and
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: how much more lethal does that make the offense this
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: season having that? Yeah, it's something you guys know we've
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: emphasized for a little bit here.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: Just when you can run the football.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: The pressure it takes off of the quarterback and obviously
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: the skill players in ways to where it's like, OK,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: not every down is so critical. Not every throw is
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: so magnified that, you know, the quarterback has enough critical
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: downs throughout a game. He's got so much on his plate,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: you know, with. the overall system, the game plan, but
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: like third downs, red zone, two minute, like those critical
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: downs that we all know are so important in this
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: league and you need to have elite quarterback play in
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: those downs in order to be successful as a team,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: to be able to run the football and take some
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: of that off of him and the O-line, right? Like
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: in pass pro, I mean, if you're just sitting back
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: there dropping back 50 times, you're putting arguably the two
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: hardest positions on offense in harm's way, right? And it's
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: hard to say they're going to just go and execute
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: that flawlessly for that many times. So I think it's beneficial.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: It's something obviously we've worked at, we've worked hard at,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: and it takes all 11.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Coach, thank you.