Press Pass | Liam Coen on Final Preparations for Bengals, Practicing the Right Way

0:00Haley, how do you feel about this week's prep just coming off that win? Yeah, I think I was in a nice job of attacking the week the right way. You know, it was pretty hot actually all week at practice. I'm like, geez, can't get it. But they worked. I mean yesterday was physical. It wasn't all perfect, but like started with special teams. I thought our special teams period yesterday was arguably one of the better ones we've had since we've been here together as a group. Started practice the right way. You know, and hopefully today go out and have a good fast Friday and feel good going into tomorrow's prep to last day of prep. I thought it was Junior the receiver down to 23 snaps of one target. How has he responded this week? Great. Great week. I thought he had a great week at a really good day yesterday. Trevin, he connect on a number of passes yesterday. Thought he's responded in a great way and continues to do so. So I'm going to need him.

1:00Like I've said, we're going to need all these guys to obviously continue to make plays for us out in the perimeter. Need him to continue to do that. What do you like about Johnny and Joe's this game right now? Yeah. The diversity and multiplicity throughout to be able to go, you know, hop inside, outside, plays with a lot of confidence. I love his play energy. He's tackled that at pretty high level as well when he's been given some of the opportunities to do so. Need him to continue on that ascension and, you know, been very confident with Johnny and though recently. Going into the season, Copen Lams coming off the injury. Have you been pleased with kind of how he been able to progress in over the last couple of months? Yeah. I mean, anytime you haven't played football in quite some time, it always takes a little bit to get back into the swing of things. There's some things that he's been looking at personally. I want to improve in some of these areas. He's been, I think, extremely intentional each week that he's been, you know, able to go and practice.

2:00Like looking at himself, being honest. All right. Where are some of the way, where areas in which I can attack and try to continue to improve so that he gets to a place where he's feeling confident. Every single play with everything that he does. It's coming along and I think it's only going to get better. The defensive Brian Thomas Jr. Done for the R&B fight's trust. Man, I think I mean production obviously breeds, breeds, you know, a little bit more trust in respect. And I think that, you know, when given the ops, especially I just, you know, finished and making my tape up for tomorrow's meeting. And some of the rushes obviously that he was, you know, he had and limited rush ops against the Patriots. He did some good things and the get off is real. He can get off the football and have really appreciated, though, the way he's tried to attack playing the run when given the ops. And when he's in there. So, yeah, usually when you make plays, you're in a little bit more trust and respect early.

3:01Hey, Liam, I go back a year and a half to two. Do you remember how he came on your radar and how quickly he said, hey, he's going to fit what I like to call him? Yeah, James brought it up, brought him up very early in the scouting process, like really very early. That is somebody that we should potentially target. And, you know, he's, he never wavered throughout the whole process. I typically poke holes, you know, and a lot of things in the guys. And it's, you know, he never wants wavered at all. In terms of his belief in two. And then obviously the rest of the guys and then as you watch more and more, you know, it just kind of became apparent that something that the yards that he got on his own in a lot of ways. And what he was able to do when maybe it wasn't blocked perfectly to get positive yards and to stay on track and on schedule.

4:06And then look, we got to continue to look at ways of getting them more ops and cleaner through the first and second level so that he can take advantage of some of the speed that he has and the long speed that we've all seen just haven't been able to see it yet in a game. And so I know he's eager to be able to do that, but I've been very pleased with toots like discipline in the down in down out runs where he's not taking negatives. Yes, we have not seen a ton of 40, 50, 60 yarders yet, but the efficiency, the yards after contact and what he's doing when it's maybe not perfect. That's what I really appreciate. You talked about needing every guy and someone to season the one of guys where I want to have. What's that say about just a team's enrollment journey. Guys, people will own stuff really any role in the game. Yeah, I think it's cool. It's cool to know. I think if you practice the right way, you prepare the right way, you stay the course that you're going to get an opportunity potentially that every guy that's out there practice today.

5:08Like at some point this season, we may count on. We may call on them. And I was actually having that conversation with BJ O'Jalari yesterday was I have appreciated what he's been able to bring in such a short period of time. And why not him? Right? Like why not? You've done it. You've done it at this level. And so why can't that be him at some point? And so having those conversations, I think, helps too. Where they see the examples of some of the guys that have done it. And then following up with them and checking in with those guys throughout the course of the weeks. So they don't just walk out there and like I'm a practice player only. This doesn't matter. But whatever. I mean, any natural that can go through your brain that can happen. And so just checking in with those guys as well. And also like we hold them to a standard. Their coach is watched. Their show team reps with them. And it's not like it just doesn't get watched or doesn't get coached.

6:08They get that stuff coached. It gets watched. It gets critiqued. And hopefully those guys can continue to have that mindset for us. I talked about them anywhere in a time or place. And we all know what you got coming ahead of you starting this week. Yeah. Sinsi, what's the most critical thing that has to happen outside of football stuff for you guys to really kind of survive that? I think the self inflicted. It's like I think you know the communication of it is a lot of the operation stuff. Right. When you're on the road, it's just that it's more challenging. It is like you don't have all of the tools in communication. Pre-snap. Like you have to limit some of those things. Right. Whereas when you're at home. You can use all the clock. You can use last second communication. You can maybe have a little bit more of a toolbox in terms of inventory to get to. At the Lannis Krimmage with no huddle with some of those things.

7:11So I think it's so much about us as coaches and as a staff identifying and knowing. What's too much? What's not enough? Not putting too much on these guys plates, especially you know with the road atmospheres that we're going to have for the remainder of this season in a large part. So like this atmosphere last year, if you guys remember, was was pretty gnarly. I mean they had a great turnout for this game last year. Made it challenging in some ways in terms of communication. And so it's just it limits and then you're timing of all of your motions. We shift the motion quite a bit, right. And so all of that stuff that you're doing. Like has to be that much better has to be that much more detail that has to be that much more synced up. Because there's no room for air when you're on, you know, the center's got his head between his legs. And you've got timely motions happening and fast motions. And if you mess one of those up, you know, the ball hitting the motion guy or something happens.

8:14Those are things you just don't really deal with at home. And so it is a lot about the balance of coaches not putting too much on these guys, especially going on the road, but also feeling like you have enough ammunition going into the work week. You talk a lot about the second edge and just kind of always have them when when did you know that was important for your team to have and how do you always find one? That's a good question. I think, you know, just having a pulse for the staff having a pulse for the players, the strengths, the weaknesses, the areas in which we can improve using anything on the outside. Obviously, as ammunition and as an edge, potentially, just knowing the place, right? Like knowing that this place is never really gotten a ton of, you know, just, and the Jags are going to walk in and beat everybody.

9:14Like it's just not the case. And so knowing that about this and understanding the culture and understanding the type of players that we have, I think our coaching staff as well. And in the building, not just coaches like medical sports science, strength, they all try to find edges throughout and knowing that like, you know, it's a long year. Man, it's hard to get up for every single day. It's hard to get, you know, enthused and in jackdaw. That's the hard part about the NFL is that like at some point, like it just get tired, sore, like it gets monotony at times. And so like, I think that that's part of it is trying to help motivate and help get everybody in the building, you know, up a little bit because it can get a little bit monotony at times, especially when it's the same schedule, same routine.

10:14And that's what we love. Like we love being in a schedule and a routine. But also you can fall victim to that at times and not get up for a day or a week or a practice or a walkthrough. And so I think that that's our job in this building as coaches, staff, leadership, is to create and find edges to help motivate our players on a daily basis. You have a situation like the wing when we're playing a top-board zone and you expect that. What are the conversations like on the headset in terms of switching up your plan or switching your priority list? Yeah, it definitely just it shuffles some of your specifically situational calls is what kind of happened on Sunday was you go into the game with an order of third down calls. Like I, we're going on third and two three we're thinking this first, this second, this third. And that's all talked about with us as a staff and with Trevor and the players.

11:14Well, that can that that changes, right? And and also having, you know, what plays are called in a run it all purpose, what plays are, man zone, you know, cans and looks and, you know, maybe limiting some of those are like taking the man off. And because if you're not getting any, but you also don't want to miss your op. And so it really comes down to identification early. I think grant and the offense of staff. Do a really nice job of getting the communication from art. What are we seeing? What are we getting? Getting it organized on a sheet of paper on the iPad and being able to, all right, hey, in these first, you know, all these known passing. Like we're not sniffing man. We're not getting so hey, all right, let's maybe this becomes less of a priority. This becomes more of a priority. And it does happen has to happen fairly quickly within, you know, while the defense is on the field. And so that is coaching on Sundays and the NFL, it things happen fast. You've got to be able to get, you know, information top down and on the sidelines and everybody's got to be on the same page.

12:23Because that's when critical mistakes can happen. I'm going to call the place that you got here that you didn't practice. I'd say maybe a handful, not a ton. I'd say between like five and 10 since I've been here, you know, and how I experimented games. And usually it's something that is a core concept that maybe just wasn't like a priority in the plan or wasn't like a huddle call or a wristband call in the in the game plan. I mean, I'd say that actually can happen maybe more than 10 times over the course of the year where it's like, all right, something that's a core principal concept that maybe is like an our two minute menu, but wasn't a wristband it, call sheet play. So yeah, I think it probably had we go into it with probably, you know, plenty of inventory. And so you're kind of like if you can't find something within the plan.

13:24Now that's the beauty of coaching though. Like that's the art of it. That's the flow. Like that's the creativity. And in adjustments on Sunday that you actually really enjoy is having enough inventory that we have that you can always look and what's cool I think we do is like on our call sheet, we have coverage boxes. And so maybe not in this game like we're expecting a ton of two man or something. Well on the call sheet there is always an inventory of a number of plays that our players know that we like to run versus two man might not be in the plan. But they know it we've wrapped it we can get to it same thing that goes with six eight three four zero blitz cover one like what are true core principal concepts that we can get to if and when we start to see something different something that since an addy absolutely does and needs to have because they see such a roll of extra coverage is you know just listen to Jamar and bar borrow speak this week.

14:37They're like we see everything under the sun like we've seen every double double we've seen every bracket we've seen every zone we've seen every man. So it's like as a play call or there you have to have a ton of different answers to coverages and I think that's what makes coaching really fun on Sundays. So a challenge is chase Brown with his versatile skill set when they do have borrow and he's a challenge man out of the backfield receiving his wiggle and physicality and ability to break tackles in the run game. He hits it he's defined. He can get behind his pads. I have a lot of respect for him. I think he's extremely underrated player in this league that it's like you say a lot of teams will just say all right we'll make him run it right I mean yeah it's fine but he gets going and he breaks tackles and there's a lot of space because you're playing light boxes. I mean that can be a challenge as well and I think that's what is challenging about this offense that's asked on a nice job over the course of the years of continuing to evolve and say all right yes we know our you know prime playmakers and big time potential Hall of Famers are with the quarterback in the receiving group but also having the back that he can have that's like maybe not always going to have to grind out hard yard but it's like you go light boxes he's going to hit it down the pipe or create a

16:04transportation scheme that he can get it on the perimeter on so that's what makes them challenging. Since he was the place where Travis got the controversial. Yeah. Travis and his parents got but even after the game he owned it and then even yesterday when asked about it he said he put himself in that position and get caught has his maturity I don't want to say surprised you but impressed you like his personality as a goofball or you know right yeah. His accountability I think is you know real in a lot of ways and when you have confidence as a player I think it's easier to own up to and it can be a challenge it's not always the easiest thing to maybe admit when you put yourself for the team in a tough spot right and yeah as controversial as that was like in the same thing when you get in the penalty in Denver like you know he sees like that's on me like I can't. Grab the guy you know whatever it is I can't put us in that position and so yeah I think it's cool to especially you know he played so little last year and then he has to watch but he got to watch a group of guys come together a group of guys be extremely accountable loyal to each other and I think that can continue to rub off especially when he's a good dude right like he cares he cares about winning.

17:32That's what he cares about and all the other stuff the reps where we picked them does that like I don't give to F's about value and neither does he we care about winning and that's it.