HEAD COACH LIAM COEN
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2025
(On his impressions of Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan) “Yeah, I was impressed with T-
Mac’s [Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillian] tape and knew Jedd Fisch (former University of
Arizona Head Coach) pretty well, that had worked with him at Arizona, just really good
athlete, can be darn good hooper, volleyball, whatever he kind of wanted to do he was good
at. We watched him throw a ball, that was pretty impressive too. Got to be ready for any
trick play situations whatever it is but he can go up and make one-on-one contested plays,
a big long frame that has a large catch radius, and I think he’s going to be a darn good player
in this league.”
(On the challenges the Panthers WRs will present) “We’ve got to be able to make it harder
on them with changing the picture because they are younger and try to give them different
looks potentially so that everything, they’re seeing is exactly what they’re expecting to get
at times. Doing a good job within our zones, getting hands on re-routes, things like that.
When they’re bigger dudes you worry about at the catch point at times because of the size
and the frame. So, we’ve got to do a great job playing through their hands when we are at
the point of attack, playing through our hands, playing with great technique but those guys
probably have to take that a little bit personal in the DB room.”
(On the RB room and if you can have four RBs active on gameday) “Yeah, you can. I mean
they have to contribute on [special] teams. That’s the big part of it is, the special teams
availability and dependability and those things. Then obviously what’s the role. Does that
mean we’re going to rotate four backs getting carries? I can’t say that but you can if they’re
productive on teams and help us in those areas and then also have a role within the
offense so that’s the kind of challenge we’re working through right now is getting through
some of that stuff but it’s definitely doable, it’s just is that the best thing for the team.”
(On WR/DB Travis Hunter taking two roster spots helping the math of the roster) “It does.
There’s a few other positions where you have some math issues as well but it definitely
helps with the ability for Travis to play and kind of fill up two spots so that we can have that
flexibility with that other position possibly running back.”
(On the influence of Rams Head Coach Sean McVay and Buccaneers Head Coach Todd
Bowles) “Yeah, those guys both led in very different ways but got very similar responses
from their players. Just keeping in mind the rhythm of the week and the monotony of the
week and trying to keep things fresh for these guys and to not completely crush them in the
meeting room setting so that they’re just sitting there for endless hours watching tape. So,
trying to create different scenarios, situationals, walk throughs, different settings to where
we can continue our active learning and get these guys up on their feet a little bit, get them
off their feet. Both guys did it differently. I texted Sean last night and said So much of what
I’ve learned from you for that time gets put into work everyday and that was pretty cool to
see.”
(On how much he knows about his team after going through training camp) “I think they’ve
responded to challenges thus far that I’ve been proud of. Kind of everything we’ve asked
them to do in so many ways, they’ve really worked their tails off to do, which we’ve all
appreciated as coaches. Is it the finished final product that we’re all hunting up? No, it’s not
but that’s the beauty of it but I do think it’s a group that understands they have the
opportunity to improve. That we all have an opportunity to improve and improve our play
style, the way that we finish, the way that we play the game. I’ve been pleased with their
response to that. How we handle a turnover or a touchdown given up or a fumble, how are
we going to respond? You don’t truly, truly know but thus far from everything that I’ve seen,
I’ve appreciated their response.”
(On the words to describe his first opening game as head coach) “I was talking to a friend of
mine in California last night on the ride home at like 11:30 and he was just saying ‘You’ve
got to take a moment to take that in.’ I definitely didn’t do that for the first three preseason
games. I do have to take it in and I think it’s a cool moment for me personally and
professionally but also to do it with the guys that I’m able to do it with here in the building,
Tony [Executive Vice President of Football Operations Tony Boselli], James [General
Manager James Gladstone], the coaching staff, the people here have been nothing but
extremely supportive and appreciative of that. To try to give the community and the fanbase
a product that they’re proud of, I think that’s kind of what weighs on you a little bit, is you’re
excited to see your players go out and play, you’re curious to see the responses to adversity
and the challenges within the game but you’re eager to try to put a product on the field that
people are proud of.”
(On the strides made by TE Brenton Strange) “I think there’s a pretty natural trust level
between him and the quarterback. For sure, him and Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] have a
good feel on some specific routes that they’ve had some success with over the course of
the last, five months or whatever it’s been, six months. So, I think there’s also a trust, I
know, between Trevor that Brenton is going to be in the right place at the right time. The
accountability piece, the play style, there’s a lot of respect there mutually, I think. When
he’s gotten the opportunities, he’s made plays, and he’s caught the ball, been aggressive
with his hands and I’m excited to see him, with the ball in his hands and space a little. See
how people have to go and tackle him because he is a violent runner when he does get the
ball in his hands. So, I’m excited to kind of see how, he’s able to help us on Sunday.”
(On the difference that RB Travis Etienne Jr. can make) “Yeah. That’s an evolution. Like, so
much of what we were able to do last year in Tampa with those backs kind of evolved. So,
Week 1, Travis has been able to give us an opportunity to do that. Like, he’s lined up in
multiple different spots and handled the workload that we’ve given him that is different
than just lining up either behind the quarterback or next to him. So, I’ve appreciated how
much he’s been able to do, and it also helps us, in the screen game in the pass game
because he can catch it and make people miss in space. So, he’s been a good pro for us,
man. Like, I’ve actually been really appreciative of the way he’s gone about his work and
gone about it. He was here yesterday. Him and Tank [RB Tank Bigsby] were in here yesterday
and getting some extra work in. So, we’ve got to use him as a guy that can help make plays
because there’s only so many plays you can dial, like they have to be able to do something
with the ball to be special, to continue to take the offense to the next level and turn those
10 play drives into four play, five play drives to where we can create some explosives and
not just get what the run kind of should get or the pass.
(On any other unknows he is curious about heading into his first game as a head coach)
“You’re always curious how you’ll be able to run the football physically against another
opponent because you’ve gone against your own team and you get used to that. So, you get
an evaluation only kind of based on yourselves in a few small samples in the preseason,
like running the ball for four quarters effectively, staying with it, grinding it out when you got
to get north of 30 carries maybe to go win the game and you’re unsure of what that looks
like. You have a confidence and belief, but you’re not sure what that would truly look like.
Then, making plays on the perimeter. Like, that’s something that you hope will show up.
When a 50-50 ball opportunity comes or, the ball is in the air, are we coming down with it,
or are they making a plan on it? I think that’s something that you’re eager to go see as well.
(On if he has unknows about himself and how he may coach the game) “No. We’ve kind of
talked about some of the fourth down stuff a little. I think some of the preseason, we’ve
been able to get a few reps at if we want to be aggressive or not and what that looks like in
the game is always where it kind of changes. You have a full beyond a mindset on these
things, but like we talked about, we have Cam [K Cam Little] that can kick it. We have Logan
[P Logan Cooke] that can punt it. So, the weather, the conditions, how they’re playing
defensively, like, these are the things that are going through my mind right now when it
comes to some of the situational football that just doesn’t leave your brain, that’s
continuously thinking about throughout the work week. Shoot some of it doesn’t even
come up, but you’re going through it, going through it. We’ll do a situational masters
meeting on Friday with the players, and I’ll get with [Senior Director of Football Strategy] Jon
Dykema and [Passing Game Coordinator] Shane Waldron on Saturday, and we’ll do a whole
other kind of game management meeting because that’s the unknown for me. I haven’t had
to make those decisions in a game when it comes to the timeouts, the two point
conversions, the fourth downs, and all that. So, that’s a little unknown, but you’re trying to
get reps of it throughout the week and then and as well on Saturday.”
(On the collaboration between Dykema, Waldron and him) “That’s right. Jon Dykema and
Shane. John did it in Detroit, for those guys, and he’s really sharp, very, very intelligent. So,
have trusted the data and information that they’ve been providing for me. They’ve had a
great collaboration, on that when it comes to the situational stuff, game management.”
(On if there is confidence that the team can win Week 1) “Yeah, there is confidence. I mean,
when we’ve executed on in three phases the way that we’d like to execute every play, it can
look darn good. It can and then if we shoot ourselves in the foot or have pre snaps or, you
know, don’t take care of the football or whatever it is, it’s going to be a tough day. Those
things are hard to overcome and so we’ve talked about this from day one before we can
really focus on and beat another opponent, we have got to stop beating ourselves and
that’s something that ultimately, you know, can creep in. Like, it can happen, but we’re
trying to obviously stay in the positive growth mindset and ‘Okay, how do we handle the
next play?’ Like, as coaches, we’re caddies on game day in a lot of ways. Like, next shot.
Next shot. Next club. Next play. Move on. Like, well, we’ve got move on. Regardless of what
just happened, good, bad, or indifferent, we’ve got move on. So, I think those are some of
the things that you’re looking for that your confident though in terms of what you’re seeing
when it looks we execute at a high level. Everybody’s communicating on a high level what it
could be. How do we do that more consistently through four quarters? And then, hey, we
have a bad quarter. We have a bad half. Well, the game’s not over. How do we continue to
respond.”
QUARTERBACK TREVOR LAWRENCE
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2025
(On his commercial with WR/DB Travis Hunter) “It was fun. That was one of the first times I
got to spend some time with Travis [WR/DB Travis Hunter] we shot it back in the offseason,
so it was a lot of fun. He’s got a lot more, I guess, personality than I do so he kind of carried
the team in that one.”
(On not doing a backflip in the commercial and his dance moves) “No, if I could I would
honestly, but I just can’t. I kind of left it all out there. It was more than I wanted to, but it was
good.”
(On the development of his relationship with WR/DB Travis Hunter) “Yeah, we’ve built a
great relationship. Obviously, it’s still the beginning of hopefully a long time playing
together. It’s been awesome, he’s a guy that is easy to talk to, to work with, he wants to be
great, wants to get better, running routes after practice, doing all the little things. He wants
to do all those things. So, when I grab him, it’s always ‘Yes, what can I do to help you?’ and
vice versa. I feel the same way. So, that’s been easy, I think just getting to know him a little
bit more personally has been fun and going to continue to do that throughout the season
and moving forward. That’s important to know your teammates and be able to relate to
them in different ways.”
(On how well RB Travis Etienne Jr. fits into the offense) “It’s been great seeing everything he
can do with the ball. I’ve seen it for a long time and I think people around the league have
seen it. At times, it’s been used in different ways, but I think this is a great opportunity to
really maximize what he’s good at and he’s good at a few different things but just getting the
ball in his hands. That can be run game, pass game, whatever it is. He’s a dynamic
playmaker, hard to tackle once he gets the ball, great in space, and those are just things
he’s really good at. So, to see him continue to build on those is going to be fun.”
(On if he’s excited for Week 1) “Of course, yeah. There’s nothing like it. First game of the
year, obviously. Even the preseason games I still get the little butterflies before you go out
because it still means something, but this is the first one that counts. It does have a
different feel to it. You obviously have a whole gameplan, you put in all the work the week
before but really all offseason builds up to that because you know who that first opponent
is. So, not that you’re game planning four months ago but you still are thinking about that
first opponent and what’s coming up. So, a lot that’s built to this moment, we’ve got to just
go play and obviously the first game, there’s a little bit of who’s going to do what and you
just have to adjust in-game and that’s going to be important for us but it’ll be fun.”
(On preparing for the Panthers defense) “Yeah, you trust what you see as far as scheme
goes but they can always do something different. It’s like every defense now can do
anything. People do so many different things and you don’t want to think that way because
you do have your plan and you want to play fast and let it rip, but you are aware that Week
1, we all have the same tape. This defensive coordinator knows what he does, what he’s
good at, what he wants to do, he knows that we know that and there’s just mind games
going back and forth about what they could possibly do but you trust what you see. You put
a good plan in place which I think we’ve had a good start on and we’re going to go play and
adjust in game if we need to. Yeah, it’s always kind of a little of that back and forth,
especially when they have a lot of new players. It is not the same guys on tape that you’re
watching. So, it’s the scheme but you start looking at some different tells from their players
and you’re like ‘ah, it is not going to be this guy that I’m playing against.’ It’s just part of it,
everyone’s doing it.”
(On helpful it is watching tape of last year’s Panthers-Buccaneers games) “It was great. Just
to see, obviously you can watch the other games and you can tell what different offenses
are doing, but to see our system and the things they were doing and be able to know exactly
what they were running, what they were trying to run, what the can was, what the
protection change was, to see all those things and know what they are, it does make
watching it pretty valuable. Having that matchup, that being a division opponent for Tampa
and Liam being there is definitely a good thing for us as far as planning purposes and
getting ready for this week.”
(On if he has an idea how he will react in the new offense when plays don’t go according to
plan) “Yeah, it’s hard to simulate that in practice honestly because practice is pretty
structured especially when you’re going through the different scout looks for what you’re
trying to get. Typically, you just don’t have enough time to get all the bad looks to all your
plays. You want to see the ones that it’s put in for. We talk about every different thing that
could come up coverage wise and what I need to be thinking and what I need to get to but
it’s hard to simulate that in practice. So, I think just training my brain to move through
progressions quickly. Obviously, I trust my guys up front but protection is not going to be
perfect every play, it’s the NFL, there’s really good pass rushers on every team. Being able
to move, make plays off schedule, that’s important and it’ll be fun to get out there and do it
and just go play. That’s the fun part. Kind of your eagerness going up to the game, and then
the ball is snapped you feel yourself settle down and just go play free and let the plays
come to you.”
(On if he has spoken to Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield) “Yeah, I have talked to him a few
times. It gave me a lot of confidence. I’ve heard great things from other people as well,
whether it’s about Liam and the system or whatever, but hearing his experience and
obviously what they were able to do last year as an offense was super impressive.
Especially as an individual, Baker played very well, so just talking to him he’s told me how
much I’m going to love the offense, how much it’s going to help me and our offense really
go to the next level. It’s really just go to the next level, all those things. He’s been a huge
help for me and has given me a lot of confidence.”
(On how WR Tim Patrick will be used) “He’ll be used. I don’t want to get into all of the
details necessarily. I don’t want to bore you guys, but he’ll be used, he’s ready to play and
I’ve been impressed already with how he’s picking it up. Obviously, we’re not going to say
get out and play 60 plays and throw stuff at him that he hasn’t really repped but he’s a guy
that can go out and make plays. He’s shown it. He’s been in some different complex
offenses. I think he definitely has the bandwidth to learn everything quickly and be ready to
play. Especially now that we have a game plan. You have something you can study. It’s not
going to be like sometimes in practice, call-it periods, you’re pulling stuff that you haven’t
done in two weeks. This is you know what you’re doing, you’ve got to plan for it, so he can
get himself ready.”
(On his level of confidence in the offensive line) “A lot of confidence. That group has done a
great job, just buying in. Obviously, we have some new guys, I think what they’ve brought to
the room has been really big just as far as seeing the guys come together, it’s been cool.
Getting to know some of those new guys better. In training camp, the guys having to rotate
in, gives me even more confidence because something could happen, you never know, God
forbid anything happens to anyone but I think seeing seven, eight, nine guys play, play
together, and play pretty well gives you a lot of confidence as a quarterback. I’m sure the
offensive staff as well. The five that are going to run out there on Sunday, I’ve got all the faith
in and I know they got my back, I’ve got their back and that’s one of the biggest things.
They’re great players too and I know they’re going to get it done.”
(On if he is worried about Hunter on both sides of the ball) “I’m more worried about him on
offense. Not as in, I don’t want him to play defense. I’m just worried about what we’re trying
to do on offense and staying focused on that, but it will be cool to see him. It’ll be cool to
see him doing both. Haven’t seen that, so it’ll be pretty cool.”
(On the importance to a fast start to the season) “Every game matters. You take it one week
at a time, but it does matter. Starting 1-0 is a lot better than starting 0-1. So, it just gets you
going, gets a win under your belt, kicks the season off the right way. Then you get down later
in the season and trying to make the playoffs wherever you’re at in your season, you always
think about what if we just won that one earlier in the year, close one in Week 1 or Week 2,
whatever it was. You got to win those games, so I’m excited to get out there and go do it
Sunday.”
(On if the offense has an identity) “Yeah, I do. I feel like everyone is on the same page in who
we want to be and who we’re becoming. You’re not really tested until the season and
adversity hits. I have a good feeling about how we’re going to respond, but you’ve got to see
it. And as good of a year as we could have, there’s still going to be some adversity, some
ups and downs, it’s about just staying together. We’ve been preaching that, and the guys
have bought into it, that’s what’s important is that people actually believe it and do it and I
have a lot of confidence in it.”
(On if excitement outweighs the uncertainty in Week 1) “Yeah, of course. I’m just excited to
get out there and play. There’s always uncertainty in football, especially playing
quarterback, you want every play to go the way you have it planned but it never does. It’s
about, like we talked about, playing in that grey and making smart decisions and just
playing fast. Trusting what you see and I’m just excited to get out there, it’s been a long
time. I’m excited to get out there.”
(On if he has an idea on what the team might be) “We’re a tough, physical team. That’s
something we’re going to pride ourselves on, I think being situationally really smart, that’s
such a big part of this game and this league. Games come down to one score more often
than they don’t. So, the situations are huge that will win and lose you a lot of games. And
then just a detailed oriented group, the small things matter so much. I think that is
something this staff has done such an awesome job of preaching to us, it’s been coached
really hard every day, how important those details are, the communication, and that’s
something we’ve got a lot better at. Like I said, you want to see it all come together on
Sunday when the bullets are flying and see us do that for a full game.”
