HEAD COACH LIAM COEN
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2025
(On the size of the crowd for Monday night) “Huge. Like I said, the guys have worked their
tails off since, really, we got here. These guys have done everything we’ve asked them to do
from that standpoint, and to have the support of the community at the game, making it as
loud as humanly possible will be awesome. I mean, it’s just a great op for our city, for our
organization for sure.”
(On the guys who may have to step up with DE Travon Walker missing two days of practice)
“Yeah, I think those guys know they may have to step up. There are multiple guys who have
played in those opportunities within the flow of games. A guy like [LB] Dennis Gardeck
continues to play better as well. Ogbah [DL Emmanuel Ogbah], Smoot [DE Dawuane
Smoot], those guys have all done a nice job. [DL] BJ Green [II] got going a little bit last week,
so it’ll be a little bit by committee, but I have a lot of faith in those guys up front.”
(On the flexibility Gardeck gives the defense) “Yeah, a ton. I think he’s getting more and
more comfortable each week, within obviously himself and within the system, and playing
with those guys, playing the style of football that ultimately we’d like to be able to play and
making some plays. I mean, his energy and all that we’ve all been appreciative of, but he’s
also made some plays for us, and I think the guys really like him.”
(On if DE Travon Walker will play on Monday) “We’re going to go right down to the wire with
it. We will. I mean, it’s just as much as he can keep getting the swelling and all that stuff. It’s
just a matter of that. So, I trust that if he says he can go, then we’ll go.”
(On how to prepare for DL Chris Jones) “Yeah, you’ve really got to be cognizant of him with
the slide first and foremost, and then helping each other out. If you have nobody to block in
your moment, let’s maybe take a look at where 95 is. Tight ends, running backs, everybody
has to be involved, and not that the quarterback needs to think about that, that’s more so
just the way we try to get the ball spit, it’s a little different with the way that they play on the
backend is very sticky. There’s not a hitch on the field to throw, there’s no free access,
there’s no get out of jail, man, let me just go get a completion, take a deep breath and throw
an Omaha. Those don’t exist on the field. So, we’ve got to be great with our DTA – decision,
timing, accuracy – receivers getting off press, that also helps impact and effect 95.”
(On the importance of keeping the Chiefs offense off the field) “Yeah, they want every
opportunity they can get to get a possession, especially end of the half, you really look at
how aggressive they are using timeouts and trying to get the ball back to their offense,
regardless of how much time’s left. So, definitely want to be able to control it if we can.
That’s the goal. The more ops we can have offensively to keep the ground game going, to
keep the balance going, that’ll definitely help us out in a game like this.”
(On if QB Trevor Lawrence is taking the correct shots down the field) “I think there’s that fine
line of making sure that we’re being, obviously, smart with the football, but taking
advantage of some of the ops down the field that maybe we’ve missed right now. And that’s
just seeing some of the concepts and being a little bit more aggressive with some of the
mentality, which I think he’s done a nice job of taking the underneath, and we’ve converted
a lot. Now, it’s like, okay, let’s go take some of those opportunities. Let’s let our guys go
potentially go make some plays down the field. Especially because we’re going to have to
beat them. Like I said, there’s no hitches, so there’s very little that can exist outside the
numbers within five yards, so you’ve got to get it in the holes back here, the middle and a
little bit further down the field. They do play a lot of two-high, Cover 2, but they mix it with
man, so you can get some runaways and try to push the ball a little bit more towards that
20, 25, 30-yard range. We’re going to need to do that to be able to say our guys can go by
you. You have to be threatened by this and not just load up and say everything’s going to be
caught 20 yards within. So yeah, big week for that.”
(On if he likes the quarterback to call plays using the armband) “I mean, we’ve talked to him
about it. We’ve asked him if he’s wanted to use it, and he doesn’t want to use it right now.
He just feels like it’s helping him, even though there’s been some issues with motion,
personnel, whatever it is, it’s a process, and we have to clean that process up as coaches
for sure. The players have an accountability to it, but it’s on us as coaches to make sure
we’re not putting too much on their plate, and he feels like when he hears it, he starts to
visualize it better than hearing wristband 15. You have no idea what that play is, and the
first time you’re starting to visualize it is when you’re reading it off the wristband to the
players. So now you’re going, alright, ‘zemo to south, red, closed F shore 17 tiff insert can
16 zip,’ and then you’ve got to go break the huddle and process that as opposed to hearing
it while he is outside the huddle, now he can start to visualize it. He says it one more time,
he’s then again visualizing what he has to do. That’s kind of been the process, and hopefully
we can clean a lot of that up because that has been something we’ve struggled with.”
(On if he is against the quarterback armband) “No, I’m not against it at all. I did it all at
Kentucky. That was how we called plays. It was all off wristband, so I’m not against it by any
means. Yeah, that’s been more of a collaboration decision between all of us.”
(On whether there is another level of physicality or they want to sustain their level of play in
that area) “I think that’s likely to be the case. I mean, they are playing very violent, like the
strain and finish is not really something we’re pointing out on our film on a weekly basis that
isn’t showing up. We don’t have a ton of guys being graded for loafs on the field. So, it’s this
part [motion to head] that we need to continue to take the next step and I’m not saying we
can take a dip in terms of the way that we play the game, the violence, the finish, the strain,
but I think you clean up some of the pre-snap stuff, you clean up some of the
communication, in all three phases, and now we can just go and not hurt ourselves and try
to really go focus in on beating the opponent with that violence, physicality, toughness,
strain and finish that we’ve been playing with.”
(On WR Dyami Brown embracing his role as a leader) “Yeah, I think—obviously missed
having him this past weekend, but I thought he was great on the sidelines with the guys,
communicating what was being seen out there, talking them through it. Obviously, when
we did hit some negative stretches there, I know he was on the sidelines with those guys
trying to just be as present as he could be. Dyami has in so many ways, I think, impacted
the room where he’s always been since we got here, at 6 a.m., get in, do his weights, rehab,
prehab, treatment. He’s all last week getting ready to go play with that shoulder. I mean,
Ferg [Vice President of Player Health and Performance Jeff Ferguson] was saying he did
everything in his power. He wanted to play so badly. He did everything; he lived here. So,
that’s a great thing for those guys to be able to continue to feed off each other with. So
yeah, he’s been great.”
(On if the team plays with a chip on their shoulder) “I think that’s definitely become a little
bit part of who we are. Look, to gain and earn respect, you have to go take it, and we can
do—there’s just not much you can say besides your tape being your resume and earning
respect obviously in the way that we play and the style in which we want to play the game
with. But also winning, going and taking wins, is also really important. So, I think that these
guys are confident but also understand that we have a great opponent coming in, but this is
truly about us. Let’s go take the next step as a team and see what happens.”
