HEAD COACH LIAM COEN
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2025
(On comments from 49ers Defensive Coordinator Robert Saleh about the Jaguars
participating in “legal signal stealing”) “Yeah, I’m not going to speak on that fully right now,
have a huge game for us coming up this weekend. We’ve got a great defense that we’ve got
to go and attack and that’s where our whole mindset and mentality is right now.”
(On if he was surprised by Saleh’s comments) “Again, we’re really trying to focus on a darn
good defense that we have to go and try to go attack and offensively get better, about us
getting better, putting it together for four quarters and trying to create some explosives in
the pass game, some of those things that we’re trying to get better at as an offense. So,
that’s where the focus is right now.”
(On if figuring out signals is a part of coaching) “Yeah, I mean, we have kind of typically by
formation, by game plan, by working really hard as a coaching staff throughout the week,
trying to get indicators by your formation, motion, shift, pre-snap, those are the things that
you’re trying to do as a coach if you’re trying to put your players in the best position to be
successful, whether it’s attacking man or zone coverage with your formations, motions and
concepts. So, it’s a lot of hard work that goes into game planning and trying to put your
players in the best position to be successful.”
(On what he has seen from the team in practice regarding explosive plays) “I think we were
a little kind of banged up early in the week, and just in terms of soreness, getting some of
the soreness out playing two weeks of kind of down-to-the-wire ball in a physical game last
Sunday. So, we tried to take care of these guys a little bit throughout the week, but man,
they practiced hard again. I mean, they practiced their tail off. It was hot as heck out here,
but they practiced hard. We did connect on a few down-the-field throws to some of those
guys. That was nice to see, and like we’ve talked about, it has to occur in practice for it to
truly come to life on Sundays. So, excited about the opportunity, have a lot of confidence in
these guys to go out and make plays on Sunday.”
(On the week the WRs have had) “Yeah, I think it was solid. I think we’re trying to take the
right steps moving forward. They’re doing a ton of extra in the walkthroughs. They’re doing a
ton of extra post-practice to ultimately go and put ourselves in a position to make those
plays on Sunday. It’s just building their confidence to go out, and we’ve all seen these guys
make great plays and make the routine ones routine. And then also, man, this is the NFL,
we do have to go up and make plays, and the quarterback’s got a responsibility, the O-line’s
got a responsibility in the pass game, but I’ve got a lot of confidence in these guys to go out
and do it on Sunday.”
(On the challenge of the 49ers on third down on both sides of the ball) “Yeah, I think if you
look offensively, they do a nice job of using their eligibles in the pass game. So, if they don’t
think they’re maybe getting a pressure between a certain window, they do a nice job of
getting five out, maybe having the illusion of a six-man or a seven-man protection, but then
free releasing those guys and putting a little bit more stress on the back end. Then the
coverage, obviously, if Purdy [49ers QB Brock Purdy] plays, he can extend on third downs
and use his legs as well. So, definitely a challenge and then offensively, I think for us, they
try to get home with four, but then they will send some blitzes and play some coverage in
the back end that is like a little bit more five-man in coverage and then will play some man
and get hands on in man coverage when they do want to rush a little bit more. So, huge
week for us to improve. Obviously, I thought last week we took a step defensively on third
down. This week, we’ve got to take the step as a team on third down and really try to win
situational football.”
(On preparing for a team that creates its passing game through RBs) “Yeah, it’s definitely
interesting. I think getting [49ers WR] DeMarcus Robinson back will obviously continue to
help that. Pearsall’s [49ers WR Ricky Pearsall] doing some good things out there as well.
And when you’ve got [49ers RB Christian] McCaffrey, ‘Is it six-man pro, is it five-man where
he is free releasing? Is he out at the receiver position?’ How they motion him out where he
is almost in between a receiver and a running back spot. I mean, that’s a challenge to know,
especially if you have anything from a coverage standpoint or a blitz standpoint based on
where the back is located. That definitely presents those challenges, and then as a player,
he’s talented, so when you get the ball in his hands and maybe short of the sticks and he
ends up making somebody miss or breaks a tackle, I thought, like I said, we took a step last
week in terms of tackling as a team. We’re going to have to be great at it again this week.”
(On developing relationships with the players since becoming head coach) “I think so. I
think our guys have been very open since we got here as a team to building relationships,
honestly. I think it’s something that we did put an emphasis on as a coaching staff to, look,
I’ve said this numerous times, we’re not going to just get their respect just because we’re
coaches. They do have to understand that there is more to it. They have to feel that, I think
as players, and also respect the situations you’re putting them in in games and if you’re
putting them in advantageous situations in the game at times and they know that, I think
there’s just a little bit more buy-in in relationships to knowing that man, look, we are truly
trying to get the best out of all you guys for the betterment of the team, but we want to see
every player have success, whether it’s for the next contract, whether it’s for their career,
for their family, for their personal goals. Those all mean something to us, but at the end of
the day, it is about the team, and I think our guys have done a nice job of trying to do this
[interlocking fingers] with not just themselves, but also with us as coaches. It’s been fun to
coach them so far.”
(On the usage of TE Brenton Strange) “Yeah, very pleased with Brenton. I mean, he plays his
tail off. I mean, it’s like a car accident every time he’s out there, whether he is catching it
and getting hit and staying on his feet and going and competing to get more, or in the run
game when he is blocking and able to spring some of those runs to get some more
explosives that way. I just very much respect the way he plays the game. He kind of
embodies so many of the things that we want to be as an offense and as a team, and I
think, as he continues to go and gets more comfortable within the role that he’s in, I do
believe he’s just going to continue to go in the right direction and get more and more.”
(On the athleticism of OL Anton Harrison) “Very, very talented, very gifted. He has finished, I
think, better, he has strained more. He has played for himself, his pride, but also playing for
each other and playing for his teammates, and look, man, when he’s playing and moving,
it’s hard to get past him. I mean, he definitely has really good feet. He can anchor down,
speed, the power, whatever those rushes are. I think he does a nice job of using his toolbox
as well. It’s hard to just say it’s raw talent because man, he’s put a lot of time, I think, into
working with those coaches, working on his individual and getting the details of how he
wants to set somebody each week and what maybe is going to be the counter set to those
things. Been very pleased with Anton so far.”
(On whether the preparation for the 49ers is unique, given his experience coaching against
them) “Yeah, and especially off the heels of Houston, because there are so many
similarities there. Not just structurally, but the way they play. Their style of play is very
similar to the group in Houston that we just played and so from a mindset, you know going
into it before you even turn the tape on, it’s going to be a physical, violent football game,
and that’s got to be our mindset going into every week. But especially these games that you
know what their intent is in all three phases, which is to play physical and violent and get
after you, and what we have to do to continue to take those steps as a team, and there’s a
little bit more, yeah, we’ve played against them a bunch. We definitely have, we played
them last year in Tampa, so there are definitely some things you can draw back on a little,
but also every year is a new year. Every team’s a new team and it’s just definitely interesting
that you play them twice a year in LA so you get to kind of know each other, what are the
routes that we like against their coverages, but then they also start to see those and
combat that and so it’s that chess match really in all three phases that we can kind of draw
back on some experience, but try not to look too far behind.”
(On his relationship with 49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan) “Yeah, I did get to talk to Kyle a
little bit at the owner’s meetings. He was very supportive and really tried to–over my years
being in LA, you’re always watching and watching them, not just when you’re playing them,
but I was responsible for breaking down the opponent’s explosives that they had or just
around the league where you’re watching, around the league, their explosives, whether it’s
in the run, the pass, the screen, whatever it is and you have a lot of–there’s a ton of respect
for the way that he formations things to scheme up and attack specific coverages that he’s
thinking he’s going to get. Built on being physical in the run game, which is something I
really appreciate and have learned probably through watching so much of the way that
they’ve played and the way that we tried to do things in LA at times. And yeah, I’ve got a lot
of respect for Kyle and shoot, he’s won so much there that you know you’re going to have to
be on your Ps and Qs in terms of the details, the scheme, but also the way in which we play
is going to have to all come to life this weekend.”
(On if Shanahan coached with Pass Game Coordinator Shane Waldron in Washington)
“Yeah, but I don’t think Kyle was. Kyle maybe had just gone to Atlanta before I think, but
there was so much there from whether it was, his dad being there prior, and Kyle being
there, there was so much of the–you look at their playbook from Washington to when we
went to Los Angeles to what it was in San Fran, the playbook, so much of it’s the same from
like early installs. When you talk about installs one through five, whatever it is, there were a
lot of similarities. It’s maybe some things called a little bit differently, but the concepts in
the pass and the run, it’s almost, you could say it’s a carbon copy and then over the years,
both of those guys, whether it’s Sean [Rams Head Coach Sean McVay] or Kyle kind of, you
start to diversify and do things that ended up fitting your personnel a little bit differently but
the foundation of both of these systems is eerily similar.”
(On how he has seen WR/DB Travis Hunter develop as a receiver) “Yeah, I thought last week
he definitely made a play with the ball in his hands, and I think we can continue to get the
ball in his hands as much as it allows from a formation, motion, the concept, the coverage
sometimes dictates where the ball goes. It was very nice to see him on a second and long, I
believe it was, catch a five-yard pass and go do something with it. That’s so much that’s a
part of this game, and it’s not something you can necessarily always coach them to do. So, I
think as we continue to go, his usage will continue to go.”
