HEAD COACH LIAM COEN
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2025
(On LB Foye Oluokun’s play and impact on the run defense this season) “I’ve mentioned
this a few times, a pro’s pro off the field in terms of the way he handles his business but
playing at a high level. The energy that he brings every Sunday. Running around the field like
a madman, yelling, screaming, just great energy but also making plays. Defending the pass
as well. That’s one thing about his game I think that’s been pretty impressive to see is taking
that accountability at that second level of the defense whether it be in zone or man match
coverage, getting his hands on balls, playing with anticipation and understanding of the
scheme. But not only the preparation of maybe what’s coming in these down and distances
and just tackling, getting guys to the ground. That’s so much of this game, you go back to
youth football, it’s running, tackling and hitting and he’s done it at a high level for us this
year.”
(On if the preparation over the last couple of months has been player or coach driven) “It
think it all starts with our players. It’s a collaborative effort that you continue to try to put
your players in a position to be most successful throughout the week while challenging
them as well during the week to give them certain difficult situations that can come up, so
that maybe Sundays are easier. That’s the goal, it’s what you’d like to do as a coach. I think
our players and some of the leadership, the way that they’ve gone out on Wednesday’s,
when we’ve taken some of the speed off of practice, their intentionality, the discipline of
how they’ve approached Wednesday, specifically, because that’s your first day of the work
week. And these guys have handled it the right way and then you go out on Thursdays and
we’re able to go faster and they’ve practiced hard. It’s not like our guys are out there
throughout the week trying to take plays off and looking for vet days, and guys to take reps
off, at all. Our guys have practiced hard and it starts with the leadership.”
(On QB Trevor Lawrence appearing on the injury report on Wednesday) “Nothing really. He’s
fine.”
(On how it feels to have most of his players participating in practice in some capacity) “It’s
great. It’s great to get as much of your full team out there as we can have. Makes mamba a
little bit more exciting as well just because you’re able to get more guys reps, get the tempo
of practice going a little bit, so it’s great to have a little bit more of a fuller unit, I guess you
could say. It’s continuously creating competition within our own building each week
against your opponent, but we’ve got to compete for a jersey and helmet on Sundays and
that’s what you’re ultimately looking for in your team.”
(On what the mamba period of practice entails) “It’s just a good-on-good period that we’ve
been doing. Ultimately, really throughout all of training camp is when we kind of started
doing it. I guess maybe we did some in the offseason program as much as you can without
pads, but it’s all based on competition and it’s all graded out. I guess you could call it
scored, it’s usually racks of three, best of three wins the day. And I think that’s something
we did a lot of in training camp, whether it was third-down mambas, red zone mamba, two-
minute, four-minute, and you’re just trying to heighten the sense of competition throughout
the season. It’s usually a faster period, which I like, it’s three plays and then it’s over, but
you’re getting a little bit more full speed competition. We’re not trying to necessarily
scheme up each other. It’s five-man rush, cover one on defense, and it’s playing football on
offense. We’re not trying to run runaways and picks and meshes. It’s really just, ‘Hey, you
guys beat each other’ in a lot of ways. And so, we’ve been doing that for quite some time all
the way throughout the whole season. We were doing it on every Wednesday and every
Thursday, a period each day. But now, because we’re not doing much on Wednesdays, it’s
become more of a third down emphasis, man coverage, go play and go win on offense and
block one-on-one up front, so it’s scored, it’s competition. That’s what it’s kind of rooted
in.”
(On if he did mamba periods previously) “In LA. That’s where it’s rooted from.”
(On the importance of time of possession) “Yeah, I think anytime you can control the
football in a game, I think that’s something that you look to try to do in most games. Now,
look, there’s opportunities to be more explosive and have those four or five-play drives or a
sudden change where we get a turnover and we score on the first play. Yeah, you want to
have those, those are very necessary and important to our explosiveness as an offense, but
also momentum in a game. But the sustained drives, the executing better on third downs,
moving the chains, keeping the clock moving, well it ultimately helps your defense out as
well and just keeping those guys off the grass. Limiting the amount of snaps that they can
play offensively and just ultimately controlling the game.”
(On what players have become leaders through the season) “Yeah, I think the whole group
of captains has done a great job of keeping the team. The hindsight, just understanding
what the goals are. Non captains, [LB] Devin Lloyd’s one guy that comes to mind for me and
my mind on defense where he doesn’t have a C on his chest, but he brings energy. You can
hear him talk to the players on some of his mic’d up stuff and then making plays and rising
in some of those occasions. T.J. [RB Travis Etienne Jr.] on offense is a guy that got a number
of votes to be a captain this year and has let ultimately his play speak for itself and brings it
every day that he comes to work. So those are guys that come to mind right off the top of
your head without getting too much into the weeds.”
(On how important it is to ‘not be stubborn’ as an NFL head coach) “I’ve been stubborn
many a time and you do typically look back at some of those decisions, whether you
mention it as a play caller, a situation, a personnel grouping, a personnel decision on game
day, whatever it is. And usually when you kind of go totally against the grain or you’re being
so stubborn that you kind of know in the moment that it may not be right, but you’re trying
to, whether it’s a value, whether it’s something that you value as a play caller or as a system
or as a coach, you have to make those decisions. And I think when you are able to get other
people’s opinions as well to make some of your decisions, I do believe that that’s
important. Because when you’re left to your own devices and your own thoughts and you
don’t listen to anybody else or you’re not able to take some hard truths, I think that that’s
kind of where stubbornness can come into play. But yeah, it’s definitely a constant battle
that you’re fighting as a coach for sure.”
(On if most coaches are stubborn) “Yeah, I think probably because you have to also stick to
your guns too. It’s the balance. Whether it’s culturally, whether it’s the message that you’re
sending to your players on a week-to-week basis, change of schedules. Things like that and
having the flexibility to do what you think is best versus we need this, we need this. And so,
when you have a good group of guys around you, people around you that you’re able to
bounce ideas off of and take some things in to be able to ultimately make the best decision
that you think at the time, that is the balance for sure.”
(On how players may react when a coach admits to being stubborn in a situation) “I don’t
know. I think that if you’re constantly putting the program and the organization first, from
our team roles of protecting the team. At the end of the day, if the players feel that you’re
doing what is in the best interest of the Jacksonville Jaguars to go win, I think that those
decisions typically get okayed as a player. If you’re in the building and you believe that, the
decisions that you make maybe not all work out and maybe not all are exactly what’s best,
but for maybe an individual for the staff, whatever it is, for a side of ball, it might affect in a
negative or positive way differently. But at the end of the day, if they believe that you are
truly doing what’s in the best interest of this organization to go win games on Sunday, I think
it usually plays out alright.”
(On how DC Anthony Campanile and OC Grant Udinski have grown this season) “Yeah,
that’s part of the profession that is exciting is giving people opportunities to grow within
new roles and what that looks like. And the only way you can truly grow is with those
opportunities. And so, you’re going to fail, you’re going to succeed, you’re going to have
good and bad moments throughout. But I do believe that, really all three of our
coordinators have done a really nice job this year. Adjusting to personnel, putting the
players first, and trying to make the game as fast as possible for these guys to be able to
play as fast as possible on Sundays. And you can see Campy, obviously the personality, the
way that you want those guys to run and hit and show up on tape is something that
obviously I was really excited about when I hired Campy. And then the detail of Grant, if you
really look at the amount of time that he obviously puts into this thing, but also the amount
of extra that we’re constantly trying to push our players to do. I think that that shows up in
some of the level of detailed execution and situational football.”
(On the challenges of facing the Jets pass rushers) “Pain in the butt. Seriously, it’s almost
every week that you’re talking about darn good pass rushers that we’re constantly seeing
and preparing for. And our players have had the opportunities to rise to those challenges.
McDonald’s [Jets EDGE Will McDonald IV] slippery, fast, he’s got one of the better spin
moves out there, speed, the power, rush, really has some ability there. And then [Jets
EDGE] Jermaine Johnson, Briggs [Jets DL Jowon Briggs] has played at a high level this year
for these guys and then their linebackers, they do a nice job of activating them in some of
the rush and being able to get them on linebackers and they’re fast and explosive. So, I
know they’re top five in third down for a reason, and it’s usually if you can rush and cover
connected wise, in a lot of ways, you can be a good third down defense. And so that’s
something that they’ve done a nice job of and their front is a huge reason.”
(On how he identifies who he wants to hire on his staff) “First of all, how important is
teaching to them? Coaching and teaching go hand in hand, but it’s guys that I think can take
what they know and be able to get it to these players, but not every single way is going to be
the same. You’ve got to be flexible in your approach to teaching, in my opinion because
they’re all different. Every player’s different. They receive, gather and execute information
all differently. I think being a great coach is being a great teacher. And the ability to have a
relationship and be able to impact and affect these guys on more than that of a
professional level. Having the connection with players to be able to have an honest and
open conversation, whether it’s about their player or whether it’s about their personal life
and how to reach them is the goal. And if they typically think you care about them a little bit
more than just the X’s and O’s and the results, I think they’ll play hard for you. Looking at the
group of guys that we are with as a staff, hunger is another part. Fat and happy usually
doesn’t typically get it done in my opinion. Just guys that maybe want to prove something,
have an edge, first time responsibilities or hey, coming off of a different unique experience
that they want to go and provide this insight into this new role and responsibility. I think that
those are typically some qualities that we look for.”
