HEAD COACH LIAM COEN
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2025
(On what it would mean for OL Robert Hainsey to play Sunday) “Yeah, having Hainsey out
there is not always just the physical. It’s obviously the mentality, the toughness, the
physicality of the leadership, the standard and command that he continues to push.
Having him out here there would be really important for us this week. I thought Jonah [OL
Jonah Monheim] played really well last week. I have a lot of confidence in Jonah. He’s
continued to get better week in and week out, but having Hainsey would be really important
for us.”
(On the biggest thing that he took from Rams Head Coach Sean McVay on building a
culture) “I think sometimes that collision communication at times and not always insert
yourself but making sure that you’re communicating with everybody as much as you can in
the building, not just the players, the coaches. So much of that—you live in that world so
often that you’re with those guys—is making sure that you’re being intentional about your
relationships or just communication with everybody in the building, the video staff, the
equipment staff, the training staff. That was something that I thought he knew everybody’s
names. He understood what it meant when you told people they did a good job, or you
appreciate them being in the building and what that did for people every single day. And not
just, as I mentioned, the players and coaches, everybody in the building feeling excited to
come to work every day. And that was the whole thing with the players is the vibe in the
building, even when we had a tough stretch was always pretty confident. It was never like
you felt like you were going to live in hard moments for long. You just knew you had to figure
out a way to get through tough moments and I thought Sean did a great job handling
adversity.”
(On being himself and genuine as head coach after seeing it from McVay) “Absolutely.
Feeling that from—I remember like the first team meeting being in was just different than
anything I’d ever been a part of in terms of the way he communicated, the way he
interacted, but also the honest. Like his ability to stand in front of a group of dudes, take
ownership when maybe things didn’t go our way, or making sure the players knew like I can
do a better job as a coach, putting you in a position to be successful. Yes, you need to
execute better or we’ve got to make that play. But I have a responsibility as the coach for
ultimately, the whole thing. So much of his accountability, whether it’s in the media,
whether it’s with the players, whether it’s with the coaches, anytime we would go through
adverse situations typically he would point to himself first and I always respected that a
ton. And the juice in the building, you felt it for a long time that I was there. You felt it every
day you came to work, so he was pretty consistent that way.”
(On what he has told the team to expect from the Rams defense) “Yeah, we’ve tried all
week. Look, these guys all watch the tape. They’re in meetings, in their individual meetings
watching tape. They’re in unit meetings, watching tape, they’re in special teams. There’s a
lot of film being shown of their good players or things that we can attack and exploit. We’ve
really just tried to focus so much more on ourselves as opposed to, alright, [Rams OLB]
Jared Verse or these guys. We know what they can do in so many ways. And look, you’ve got
to come ready to buckle your chin strap against this team. That’s ultimately what it’s
coming down to for us about this football game. Our level of detail, our level of
fundamentals, technique, discipline. We’re going to need it because this is a team that
typically doesn’t hurt themselves very often. One of the least penalized teams in the
National Football League. We’ve got to do a good job of winning the field position and the
turnovers. We’ve got to get better in that. If we can win that and use some of the field
position to our advantage based on what the elements are going to look like on Sunday,
that’s what it’s going to be about for us.”
(On the message he is trying to relay to the team) “Look, the best that we play is when we’re
playing with our hair on fire. With energy, confidence, excitement, getting guys going, flying
around. We’ve got to get back to flying around, whether it’s in all three phases, offense,
defense, special teams. Flying to the football, not staying blocked on defense. Offensively,
better combinations in coming off the rock, throwing our hands in pass pro. There are so
many things that we can improve upon as a team to focus on that will serve us well going
into this football game. So, our style of play, we talk about F.A.S.T. – fundamentally sound,
attacking, situational masters, tough. This week is a great opportunity for us to really
display how fundamentally sound can we be and really for us, the last part is the mentally
tough. The handling adversity, responding to a loss, and being mentally tough in our
preparation and in our play on Sunday.”
(On the confidence that Hainsey brings to the offense) “Robert last year in Tampa before we
had drafted anybody, he was our starting center. He was our center competing all the way
through training camp. So, I had so much interaction with him. And him and Baker
[Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield] are like this [close motion]. So much of our collaboration
on working through an offense was run through Hainsey. Even when he wasn’t the starting
center for us throughout the entire year, you’re bouncing protection ideas off of him, run
schemes, ways of targeting runs and how he sees defensive structures. We had a lot of that
collaboration and communication last year, and that was what made it pretty easy to say,
‘hey, let’s bring him on in pro free agency.’ And since then, just his leadership, the room, the
accountability that he has every single day, that’s really what he helps bring. And then when
he is playing and feeling good, he is playing at a high level.”
(On the importance of not overthinking things when facing a former colleague like McVay)
“That’s right. That’s a great point, honestly. It’s not ever about me and him, that’s not what
it’s about. But when you can get into some of that, like there’s a play out at practice
yesterday and I’m like, ‘They’re not going to run it like that’ and I’m like, ‘Wait, shut up.’Just
doesn’t matter, we all run plays and so you can kind of get into that, ‘well, they’re not going
to do that out of this or maybe will they could do this out of that.’ And you start maybe
overdoing some of the information, overcooking it. That’s a great point. Honestly, that’s
something that has gone through my mind over the last probably 24 hours is, man, they
know so many things about our system. We know obviously a little bit about their system,
man, just let these guys go play. It’s truly going to be about the execution, the energy, the
focus. Being able to just go play and execute at a high level and let these guys just go let it
rip.”
(On the most valuable lesson he has learned in his first six weeks as an NFL head coach)
“Man, that’s a good question, really good one. I think trusting your staff, trusting the people
around you. We’ve got a really good coaching staff that I believe in that have done a really
nice job so far. We’re learning more and more about each other every week about us as
coaches working together and working with the players. And what works, what doesn’t,
how people respond, how we’re coaching and teaching details every week and you’re
constantly trying to evaluate that as a head coach. What’s working, what’s not, how’s the
communication between each other and the players? And I think they’ve done a really nice
job of getting our guys prepared every week and bringing energy at practice every day. I
think they’ve done a nice job with that. So just trusting the people around you and knowing
that when you make decisions to hire people be firm on those.”
(On what he believes to be the best way to prepare for an international game) “Yeah, we
talked about this the other day. Look, we went through this all in the spring and decided,
okay, let’s get the information, let’s get the data. Got with [Director of Performance
Science] Chris Bach and [Vice President of Player Health and Performance Jeff Ferguson]
Ferg and [Director of Strength and Conditioning] Eric Ciano on our strength staff and sports
science, and we got all the data right that supports both ideas. To either come early or to
come later on and it’s always been Sean’s philosophy whether it’s going from the east coast
to the west coast or just travel in general, they’ve kind of gotten to the point where it’s
spend the least amount of time as possible in that time zone so that when you do come
back, it’s not as effective on you. So, I don’t know if it’s going to truly matter. I don’t know. I
think this was an easy decision for me because of the Jaguars have done it so many times
here and done it at a high level, been successful, great opportunity for us as a team to
come together and spend some time together as family. So, I don’t know if it’ll be an edge or
not.”
(On why he thinks RB Travis Etienne Jr. is having a bounce back season) “I think he had the
skillset this whole time. You’ve seen the skillset and sometimes maybe based on the things
you’re doing and emphasizing in the run game or pass game, it might not work to
everybody’s [ability] or somebody has a down year. It happens, sometimes other guys
ascend and end up doing some good things. I think he came in with the right mindset and
mentality right from the beginning, man. Like there was some days early on that, ‘Hey man,
you’ve got to get your butt in this facility and come meet with us.’ And he did and credit to
him, he spent a lot of time with our coaches, with [Running Backs Coach] Chad Morton all
throughout this whole off season. They talked as much as humanly possible, and I think
they’ve got a really good relationship. T.J. [Travis Etienne Jr.] has really been on the screws
with the details of our offense, the why and then you’re seeing it show up in his play. And so,
I think he’s excited to get back, get some more carries, get some things going, keep going in
the pass game and get those guys going in the running back room.”
(On the parity in the NFL this season) “Man, there’s a lot of good coaches. There’s a lot of
good players in this league. Like you talk about, I remember in 2020 when I was with the
Rams, we were a darn good team. We ended up winning the division that year and we
played at home and lost to the 0-13 Jets that year. At home. Any given Sunday in this league,
anything can happen. Anybody can win. You have all these just fantastic athletes and
football players, got a lot of really good football coaches in this league. And so, I think it’s
sometimes you say, when your creatures get a little bit better sleep than my creatures,
sometimes good things happen. So, it’s the way it works. It’s this league. I think it shows
how good this league is and how competitive this league is. You look at last night what
[Bengals HC] Zac Taylor was able to do with the Bengals. Had a text with him this morning.
That was a pretty cool win for those guys. And so, [Falcons Offensive Coordinator] Zach
Robinson, another good friend of mine in Atlanta two weeks ago, they’re all calling for his
job and now he’s lighting everybody up. So, it’s just this league, man.”
(On when he first thought about the Jaguars’ London connection) “Yeah. Especially with,
obviously the stadium build, and I knew that fairly early in the process that was something
that Shad [Owner Shahid Khan] had communicated was a part of the plans and something
that he felt strongly about in terms of the presence here and the ability to play here and
how seamless, I don’t want to say seamless because these guys make it look easy with the
operation. So, I thought that was really cool. Like I said the other day, my wife’s favorite city
is London, aside from Jacksonville right now, she loves London. She loves this whole
country. She took some time here, I think after college, she spent some time here or maybe
during college. So, I think it’s a cool opportunity. Like as a human being, take away the
coach part of it, the operation, the process, just as a human being to be able to travel and
see different parts of the world, I think that’s really cool to have that opportunity as a
person and having these guys be able to have the same opportunity.”
