Press Pass | Liam Coen on Jaguars Mindset, "Killer Instinct", Heading into Week 18

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

We can start with Gary, then go to Mark Long.

Gary (0:06)

Hey, coach, how you doing?

SPEAKER_1 (0:07)

Good.

Gary (0:08)

Hey, Liam, this week may not be the time for it, because you got a game that, you know, obviously still has some implications. But do you have or have you talked to the younger guys about how playoff football is different? Or do you think that the preparation for the playoffs is going to be significantly different than then during the season?

Liam Coen (0:31)

Yeah, we haven't had any of those conversations.

I agree with what you're saying. I've felt that 2018, we played the Dallas Cowboys in a playoff game, which was my first ever playoff game experience in the National Football League. And I felt from the box a different speed, physicality, all of that in a playoff game versus a regular season game in a lot of ways. Now, I think that the last X amount of games have been, in a lot of ways, around the league, you watch playoff caliber type games, not quite there. I mean, you watch that Rams-Seahawks game, a couple, what was it, last week or whatever was, that was a playoff football game. And you watch a lot of these games around the league. And so I think it's trending that way towards the end of the season as you're playing meaningful games in December and January. And this week for us will be no different. I mean, we're playing for a division. We're obviously playing for a number of things. And for us to go and execute at the level we need to, it needs to be trending towards playoff football. And I think a lot of these guys will understand that this week.

Gary (1:51)

Thank you.

Mark Long (1:54)

I know it's hard to win in the league, but how big was that win in terms of road game after a road game? You're down a starting cornerback, down 2-0 starting offensive lineman, guy's sick. You know, that kind of situation is really hard. And how basically proud of your team are you with that kind of adversity?

Liam Coen (2:16)

Very much so. You know, that's the warrior mentality we've been talking about for quite some time since Houston was getting the job done regardless of the circumstances and regardless of, you know, guys being at 100 percent or, you know, the amount of people we had sick during the week or the amount of guys playing in different spots they hadn't played or whatever it is. And getting the job done regardless, that's what I'm proud of, is no excuses, no flinch, no blink. Just keep competing, especially down 10 on the road. I mean, that was a Super Bowl contending team, right, a few weeks back with what, a different quarterback.

So that's still a pretty good, a damn good football team, a well-coached football team. And, you know, I thought they actually had a pretty good crowd for being in the circumstances there. And so, you know, that's a good win. That's, any of these are good, but, you know, to not play great in the red zone offensively and to have a little bit of a slow start as a team, I thought it was a greedy win for our guys.

SPEAKER_1 (3:27)

Thank you. Mia, followed by Justin.

Mia (3:32)

Hey, Liam, now that you've watched the tape back, knowing you had those two offensive linemen, starting offensive linemen out, obviously Walker has started a bunch this year. How would you evaluate the play of that front five?

Liam Coen (3:42)

I thought they actually did some really good things. You know, threw it, what, 36 times, I think, and he got hit some, but they were, they were pressuring, they were dying, they were mixing it up with three-man, four-man, five-man, six-man pressures. They did a lot. Excuse me, I thought Trevor and the guys up front handled a lot of the things they were doing well. We beat the Blitz a lot. And then he just, they just kept bringing it. So you're gonna get some hits on the quarterback and that's the way it is. So I thought those guys played well. I thought we ran it better. Like we blocked better in the run game.

Still some hidden yards that we're missing, that we need to take advantage of, whether it's at the running back position, tight end, whatever it is, we can clean up some of that. But with multiple players playing, you know, without a ton of reps, I was, I was proud of that group.

Mia (4:41)

So you can let Grant know that I do have the stat, thanks to Action Sports Jacks from Dan Griffiths. 43% of Trevor's drop backs, excuse me, he's been blitzed over the last month, and he's had a 65% completion percentage, five touchdowns, zero picks during that time. So do let Grant know we have the stat. My question for you, because last week I asked him if he had it and he didn't. My question for you is, why do you think teams continue to blitz him even though he's had success against it?