HEAD COACH LIAM COEN
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2025
(On the challenge of losing CB Jourdan Lewis to injury and what is now expected of CB
Jarrian Jones) “Always hard when you lose a leader, elite communicator, guy that brings
energy and focus and playmaking to our defense. So that’s always hard, but he’s handled it
like a pro. He’s been extremely confident with the guys around him, continuing to try to
pour into them as much as possible, and Jarrian [CB Jarrian Jones] with every opportunity,
he’s continued to get better and has made some huge plays for us this year. His play energy
is always something that I appreciate and he’s tackled at a high level, especially in space.
So, continuing to get him moving in the right direction and we’re going to need him down
the stretch.”
(On if Lewis could play late in the postseason) “Yeah, I’m not sure the exact timetable, but I
wouldn’t expect too much this season.”
(On the confidence he has in the secondary to step up) “Yeah, a lot of confidence. I think
Milo [Secondary Coach Ron Milus] and Perk [Defensive Backs Coach Anthony Perkins] and
those guys have done a really nice job of preparing that group in the back end with both at
the corner, nickel and safety position. We’ve had a lot of guys play and be fortunate enough
to play and to get depth throughout some of those injuries. And so, in the moment, you’re
obviously trying to continue to build the chemistry, but also knowing that in the long run,
that depth will help us and it has helped us. So, counting on those guys in the back end,
obviously to continue to play at a high level and as you go towards the end of the season, it
doesn’t really matter who’s out there, it’s just, ‘Hey man, this is a job that we have to do.
This is a responsibility that we have to all know the game plan, communicate at a high level
and go make plays.’”
(On if Lewis can contribute to the team with his presence off the field) “Definitely. Already
has to be honest with just his positive energy, being in the training room, just no long face
and woe is me, just not the type of guy that he is. He’ll definitely help us. There’s no
question throughout the stretch and as we go, so the guys all trust him, they all believe in
him. He’ll have great guidance for all those guys that are playing in the back end and be
able to continue to contribute that way.”
(On how OL Jonah Monheim has picked up the operation with QB Trevor Lawrence) “Yeah,
he has done a great job, really all through training camp. And then when he had the
opportunity to go play against Seattle, he actually graded out really, really nicely. So, a lot of
confidence in in Jonah and if he ends up having to go, I think there’ll be good continuity and
it’s just an on the road environment, a little bit different, so we’ve just got to have to see
how he handles it. I have no question about how he will, but he’s done a nice job, and those
guys up front have done a nice job preparing him too.”
(On how he views OL Walker Little and what positions he could play) “Good football player
on our team, seriously. It’s just being in this position before in 2022 in L.A. where it was a
tough year of a lot of different roster assignments up front and having to pull people off the
street, and that was a challenge. And so, to have the depth that we do have on the offensive
line was something I think we did a good job in the offseason attacking, whether it was
through pro free agency or the draft, and then continuing to work and develop with the guys
that were here already. That’s something that you never want to be in that position of not
having depth and talent upfront. And so, Walker’s been able to continue to contribute to
that and appreciative of that.”
(On if what he went through in L.A. with the offensive line affected his construction of the
unit as a head coach) “Yeah, it wasn’t so much as when I’m a head coach, but it was more
of just not wanting to be in that situation again, regardless of what position I’m in. And then
just so happened that James [General Manager James Gladstone] had been through that as
well in ‘22, and Tony’s [Executive Vice President of Football Operations Tony Boselli] an
offensive lineman, so it was not a difficult sell and we were all on the same page about
where we needed to add depth, where we needed to really strongly work on the
development and how much time and resources need to be put into the offensive line
position. We have three coaches in there. So, that to me is always going to be of top
priority.”
(On the importance of veteran leadership) “I think that the last thing you said, the standard.
Upholding the standard when you have a new player come in off the street or somebody we
just signed. Well, it’s our veterans’ and leaders’responsibility to show them what the
standards are every day of preparation, practice and then performance ultimately on
Sundays. And so that’s no different for young guys stepping into a little bit more of a
focused role as a contributor or somebody that we’re elevating off the practice squad to
come and play on Sunday and get a helmet. I do believe that our veterans, they understand
what we’re trying to get accomplished. They’re able to voice that message to the locker
room and that we’re all on the same page. I think that’s really what it comes down to. If our
standards as coaches are higher or lower than our players, that’s not probably a great sign.
And so, us understanding as staff, coaches and then also the players understanding what
the standard is and upholding everybody to it on a day-to-day basis is a sign of growth.”
(On his excitement after signing eight players in free agency) “Yeah, we were excited about
the group that we were able to put together. I think a lot of people were questioning, well,
what’s this? How is this one not important? And hey, it just comes down to trusting the
process and understanding that we wanted to continue to elevate this place and the
people around us and those guys, a number of them are captains. A number of them have
been key contributors to our season. And I think it’s just a great blend of the pro free agents,
the veterans that were here, guys that were here on this roster, collaborating on making this
thing to get where it is today. And so, I think that those guys all get along really well. The
guys that we wanted to bring in here were football guys that football was very important to
them and their lives and their careers, and so that’s blended pretty nicely.”
(On how the tape reviewing process changes over the season) “Mentioned to the players, I
think it was yesterday or two days ago, when you play a team so close together in weeks or
days, if you will, it’s the team that—hey, how much can we know our opponent and what
they did against us in the first game, what worked, what didn’t? And okay, what’s the next
chess move? And starting to anticipate either your next chess move or theirs. And that’s
how much you have to study, understand your own plan first and foremost. And then, okay,
what are the next steps that could occur as players and coaches for all of us to understand
some of those things? And that is the beauty of game planning towards the end of the year,
especially when you’re playing somebody this close again is plays off plays, making sure
that you’re not straying away from too much of what you do well. Even though maybe it
worked two weeks ago, three weeks ago, whatever it’s been, is making sure that hey, we
want to still be able to do things that we do well, but we may have to dress it up differently
or whatever it is. Or, hey, maybe we wanted to attack this certain coverage, didn’t get as
much of it against them the first time, but they’ve played more of it recently. Whatever it is,
you’ve got to go into archives still. I was just watching 2023 [Colts Defensive Coordinator]
Lou Anarumo. So, you go deep and you look and you search.”
(On what he accomplishes from reviewing tape that far back) “More flow, play caller,
situational calls, things like that that may show up against maybe like teams and stuff like
that. So, you try to go not too far, it’s just more so if you don’t have enough inventory of
something or you just want to see maybe how a coach or their defense has evolved or
played differently or what are the improvements in things that maybe they’ve made as a
defense. And so yeah, different players and all that, but you can still see and find anything.”
(On if he is looking that far back because he’s already played the team) “That’s more what it
is, yeah.”
(On if the Colts are watching 2024 Buccaneers tape) “Definitely, absolutely. Yeah, they’ve
100 percent watched Bucs film, there’s no question. So yeah, because look, you only get so
many short yardage plays on a season or third-and-seven on the sevens… You don’t have a
ton of those even throughout our season this year, maybe short yardage more, yes, but like
third-and-nine on the nine, 12 on the 12, end of half, end of game, two-minute situations,
four-minute, you only get so many of these plays, if you will, to put into a grouping. And so,
you just want to make sure you have a sample size and you can pull outliers out and be able
to then kind of move different tendencies either up or down based on some of that data but
you’re not exactly saying, man, we’re going to attack this all the time because that was two
years ago.”
(On if he has a ‘photographic memory’ when recalling plays as a coach) “I’m not Sean
[Rams Head Coach Sean McVay] by any means like that. But you usually have a better feel
for things that you’ve called. Like when you’re calling it and you remember play calls a lot
differently than when you weren’t calling it if you will. So yeah, I think a lot of the situations
and plays that I’ve probably called, I can go back on and have a pretty clear memory of, but
Sean’s kind of a freak that way.”
