Liam Coen, Jacksonville Jaguars coach, speaks after defeating 49ers
Liam Coen spoke with reporters after the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the San Francisco 49ers 26-21 in NFL Week 4.
- The Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the previously unbeaten San Francisco 49ers, improving their record to 3-1.
- Jaguars coach Liam Coen had a heated postgame exchange with 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.
- Jaguars players stated Saleh’s comments provided “free fuel” and motivation for the game.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — More than three hours and eight minutes against a supposed Super Bowl contender, the guys in teal jerseys and trousers showed the NFL they aren’t the same, old Jaguars. They will handle adversity instead of collapsing under it. They will go on the road, win a big game and not be surprised. And they won’t live in the franchise’s mostly-woeful past.
And their coach showed the same thing moments after Sunday’s 26-21 win over the previously-unbeaten San Francisco 49ers.
Liam Coen isn’t going to back down to anybody.
Liam Coen is going to stick up for himself, his coaches and his players.
And Liam Coen isn’t going to pass up a chance to tell an opposing defensive coordinator to shove it.
Who wouldn’t want to run through a wall for this guy just four games into his head-coaching career? Just give these players a helmet and a mouth-guard and they’ll raise their hands to try it.
This was a motivated group that flew to the Bay Area and 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh’s comments last week only added what quarterback Trevor Lawrence called, “free fuel.”
Saleh was trying to praise Coen and his staff’s ability to decode the defensive signals, but was clumsy in doing so, saying the Jaguars are “almost elite” in “stealing” signals to get into a better offensive play. He added it that it was done “legally.”
Well, if that’s not questioning another coach’s integrity, show me a better example.
After the game, Saleh approached Coen and Coen blew by him. Coen then turned around and yelled according to footage by Action Sports Jax, “Keep my name out of your mouth.”
Tight end Quintin Morris, center Robert Hainsey and a Jaguars security man intervened before Coen calmed down enough to give executive vice president Tony Boselli a bear hug.
Oh to see Coen’s eyes behind his sunglasses. They had to be burning with anger and burning with pride. His team — the new Jaguars — had won in San Francisco/Santa Clara for the first time ever. And he had defeated Saleh.
What Coen said, didn’t say
Coen bounded into his postgame press conference like he had just received multiple B12 shots or downed six cans of Dr. Pepper.
But then Coen took the high road. Don’t you just hate the high road sometimes? It’s so boring, but professional. It’s so mundane, but mature.
Coen was given three chances to give his side of the postgame interaction.
“It’s not a big deal. Just keeping that between us.”
And …
“I’m going to keep that between us.”
And …
“We’re just going to keep that between us right now. That’s it.”
What I wanted Coen to say …
“Hey, I’m not coaching the ‘Same Old Jaguars.’ We’re not going to be bullied by another team’s defensive coordinator. Those days are over. I was sticking up for my program, my organization and my locker room.”
What I really wanted Coen to say …
“I told Saleh where he could stick it. I wasn’t interested in anything he had to say after the game. You question my integrity, I don’t need to hear another word out of your mouth.”
That would have been awesome, right? I wanted him to gloat. This story isn’t going anywhere as much as the Jaguars try to stomp it out. His measured remarks gave it legs for another day or three.
If Coen wasn’t dishing on what this win meant, my next stop was the Jaguars’ locker room. The players connected the dots. Their head coach was ticked off about Saleh’s comments.
“You saw after the game what this meant to Liam,” Hainsey said. “Liam is (bleeping) fiery and he’s emotionally invested in the game and this team and he cares so much. Obviously, this meant a lot to him. A lot.”
Hainsey helped escort Coen off the field.
“I was in the area and I just saw him yelling and I was like, ‘I’ll get in there because Liam is my (bleeping) guy,’ and I got him out of there,” Hainsey said.
Hainsey just joined the Jaguars this year, following Coen from Tampa Bay. If he wasn’t the closest player next to Coen after the Saleh deal, other players would have stepped in.
“We’re grateful as a team to be able to do that for him,” Hainsey said. “No one is going to talk about us like that.”
Settling it on field
At the other end of the stadium, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan lobbed his own volley toward Coen.
“I don’t think he should be that sensitive about it,” Shanahan said.
Says who? The guess here is Shanahan would have broiling behind the scenes if the roles were reversed.
Saleh wanted to compliment the Jaguars’ decoding effort, but my decoding of his words goes something like this: It was as if he was saying, “Yeah, the Jaguars’ offense is moving the ball, but come on, they’re the Jaguars — they have to be doing something off-board.”
Anybody who has followed the Jaguars knows other teams and players take pot shots at them. That means they are taking pot shots at you, city of Jacksonville and all Jaguars fans. It gets old, I imagine. And Saleh should have known better since he coached for the Jaguars from 2014-16.
But this Jaguars team did something about it. They stood up for their coach by forcing four takeaways and scoring touchdowns on a 48-yard run by Travis Etienne and an 87-yard punt return by Parker Washington. They took the lead 19 seconds into the second quarter and didn’t give it up.
Don’t you already like the mindset of this Jaguars team? They give no quarter. They won’t get pushed around.
These Jaguars, these 3-1 Jaguars, these takeaway-producing Jaguars, these able-to-overcome-multiple-starters-getting-injured Jaguars might just be for real. They enter October tied atop the AFC South with the Indianapolis Colts and you can see their confidence level rising with each win.
They have a defense that has produced 13 takeaways in four games after nine all of last year. They have an offense that is still leaving way too many points on the field, but can at least run it (151 yards). We are on the cusp of this becoming an enjoying next few months.
This is a team that doesn’t need extra motivation, but won’t turn it away, either.
“When your character is called out by somebody, it gets under your skin,” Jaguars receiver Tim Patrick said. “We settled it on the field.”
Contact Ryan O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com