Press Pass | Liam Coen on London Arrival, Keeping Focus Internal & Game Plan for Eagles

0:00Hey, we're cold Friday practice. That would get off the point. Did you ever open the rules? It just won't be quite the same tempo a little bit. It was slowed down, doing more like a jog through. I try to get some full speed reps of like routes on air, throw and catch a little bit, but to come off the plane, the ride, you know, we won't be quite as full speed as a normal Friday would be. But we prepped that way. That's why we had a good physical practice yesterday in full pads. We're able to get after. I thought they did a nice job having a good physical day yesterday. And so tone it down a little bit more above the neck, try to keep these guys awake. Coach, I mean, Travis Tundit had a brilliant last two weeks. How much has that justified the decision in the off-seeds to make him primary focus on defense? Yeah, I think just any time you put a little bit more time in a one job, and it helps provide some clarity for the player. And for him to be able to go play fast with a lot of confidence where he knows what he's doing a little bit more,

1:00where he's just been more focused at that side of the football. And so defense is so much, everything, offense is more complicated, whereas defense is so much more communication in terms of the other guys and what their jobs are and how you're tied into that. And so I think he's done a nice job. I've been pleased with some of the confidence he continues to build. Hi, coach. Welcome back to the UK. Thank you. Obviously, it's a difficult game to plan for when the Eagles have so many players at the moment that we're not sure who's playing or not. How difficult does it make to prepare for your opponents? Yeah, we've tried to look at it as we can't worry about that, or if that even creeps into our minds, we're probably worrying about the wrong things, because it is about us. It's about our execution, our game plan, our fundamentals technique, communication. I have full Nick Cereyani does a great job. This team, this group, won a Super Bowl a few years ago. They know how to handle adversity. They know how to handle some of these things.

2:01They've had a ton of guys play and help them win over the course of the last few years. So I know they'll be ready to play. That's for sure. And it's really got to be about us. I mean, that's something that we continue to talk about as a team. Coach, do you become the farthest dracierist coach to reach 15 wins and also the first head coach at 15, at 20 wins in the NFL since month of the year? But when you hear those numbers, do you allow yourself to appreciate what you've done so quickly? Or have the head coach is it simply one for the next? Yeah, it's very hard to enjoy. You know, wins very long. And this league, just because of the next challenge, comes that you're so quickly. I think what's cool is as a team organization, even just at my family, hey, let's enjoy the Sunday when we win. Let's truly enjoy that. Try to be present in those moments. And then Monday, I mean, you can enjoy for the first half of that day while you still have the players come in. You can show them some highlights of the game. But you have to move on so quickly in this league.

3:03And so if you live in those results, I think, for good or for bad, it's going to be tough sledding to make it through one season. Never mind sustaining that and continuing to try to build a culture of competitiveness, of being able to respond. And so if we live in those results, unfortunately, I don't think I'll last very long. And secondly, you've built a lot of your reputation on your offensive mind, but one of the distinguished things about this team is the defense specifically. So for someone who spends a lot of time trying to overcome the technical layers, how much does having this particular defense on an other side of practice challenge will change the way that you've done the attack. And it's a great question. I think when you have a group led by Anthony Campanela, and our defensive staff, they do a phenomenal job, not only throughout the week of preparation for the opponent, but in the offseason, like you said, challenging us. And so we always talk about finding our edge and sharpening our edge. And we get to do that on a daily basis against each other,

4:06whether it was in offseason, OTAs, mini camp, training camp. When you're going against each other in a group that not only has physical and tough personnel, but challenging schemes that really challenge your rules as an offensive coach, it makes you find answers, find solutions, whether it's throughout the course of training camp or, hey, throughout the offseason program. And so I think it helps prepare you for some of the looks that you see throughout a season. But man, when we compete against each other and good on good, it's fun to watch. It's fun to be a part of. And it challenges you on a daily basis. How do you work the way you've grown the most in the year and two couple months, you bet? Yeah. I think obviously, he's extremely detailed, oriented, and the time on task that he puts into it. I think he's second to none in terms of, I mean, look, after games, win, lose, or draw, if we're at home, I mean, he's back in the office until about 10, 11 o'clock

5:07at night, working on the next opponent. So he doesn't even go and really watch our tape. He's always ahead of the next opponent so much. So like, when we get in the building on Monday, he already has such a grasp of what maybe the opponent is going to do to us next. But I also think the communication and collaboration with the staff, right? He's so intelligent and smart in his own right. But taking bits and pieces from the other coaches and the collaboration that those guys have as an offensive staff and continuing to have men of players over a play's mindset. When you're really, when plays come to you so often and frequently as it does for him, a challenge can be to continue to put the players first, not the plays. And I think that that's something that grants continue to grow into. Do you think that you're going to win? I don't know how much he does.

6:08He does a great job with our players, making sure that they feel his impact and his pride and what we're doing offensively when we do have success. But I don't think he rides those waves. The cool thing about Grant is he's not emotional. And I can be. And so it's good for us. It's really good for me. But it's very good for our offense to have that balance of he can stay like this no matter what's happening, whether it's through a course of a game, throughout the course of the week of preparation, like if something doesn't look good on a Wednesday, I'm typically going to be the one to say, let's throw it out. Like why waste our time on that? We have a million other plays, whereas he can then communicate to me, hey, no, no, no. Let's try it again tomorrow. Let's see what it looks like, because it's got a chance to be really good. And so I think that's where we balance each other out pretty well. Coach, on the C-Rot touchdown specifically, how rewarding is it as a play call in an officer staff to be able to score on a rushing touchdown from that far out?

7:09And was that a counter-run scheme? It was. Yeah, it was a counter-attackal rap play that ended up converting to almost like a tackle trap because of the way that they played. And it was rewarding because of the collaboration, communication, prior to the play occurring, where, since he was giving us a lot of will, pressure, will, dog, and it was associated with movement up front. The coach has got ahead of that. And knowing that we were going to get to that play, cheese, on that next drive, I think that that was something that was cool to see. All right, getting ahead of it, the planning, the communication, and then the go out and execute it. And it'd be a huge play in the game for us. So that was very rewarding. That was cool to see Grant, Brian Paccucci, Sean Sirette, Trevor Mendelsohn, those guys, and then with Chad, being able to communicate and get ahead of some of those problems. Coach, kind of challenges, general words. Yeah, I mean, anytime you got a quarterback that can do both,

8:09it's always a challenge, whether it's with him running the football on design quarterback runs or pay a plan off schedule. And so it challenges your Russian integrity, it challenges your coverage because you got a cover longer. We've been fortunate to be playing against a number of quarterbacks recently that can do that, that have given us some of those issues. And so we've been able to practice our Russian integrity, our Russian lanes, covering longer and through the echo of the whistle. So, and he's a winner. I mean, that's something that's undeniable that you look at, Jalen's history, whether it's in college or in the NFL, he's a winner. And he knows how to play with different guys. They've always been able to do that. And anytime you got a winner at quarterback, you got a shot. Coach, what are your thoughts just generally about playing internationally? A lot of coaches don't like the any disruptions, so if any kind in the schedule. And kind of bigger picture, there could be a time in the future with the stadium coming online back at Jacksonville.

9:10There could be a time where the jacks play less in the future here. Yeah, I mean, look, it is challenging anytime you get out of your rhythm routine and environment. That's a reality. But I do think that there's something to this that this is also a life experience as well that not everybody would get if we weren't playing in the National Football League. And so, to have that, I think we have to be extremely understanding of, intentional, and that's a sense of pride. You get an opportunity to go put this on display, the game of football continuing to grow. I mean, if we have that, I mean, that's good for the game. That's good for the sport. And so, I was just back here this summer. I was at Wimbledon this summer out here. And so, I did a five day golf trip with my dad in Manchester Liverpool. And so, we love it out here. It's my wife's favorite city. I've said that before. And so, I hope we continue to come back because I think it's just really cool for our players, staff, coaches, and organization to continue to grow the game,

10:13but also experience different cultures. Coach, it seems like a lot's changed for the team. I've had the last 12 months since you last here. I'm just wondering if you can give me a one or two specific moments in the last year where you felt like things are really coming together. You'll see what you want with your team. Yeah, I think this, you kind of referenced it where this game last year was a huge eye opener for us and had to look in the mirror at what we were doing, not just schematically, culturally, fundamentals. It provided us a lot of feedback. And so, I point to this one as a huge moment for us where we got a butt kicked last time we were here. And it allowed us to look in the mirror as coaches and players and staff to be able to adjust. And we were able to come off that by and be able to have some great games. And I think last year, if you look at blow in the 20-point lead against Houston, really also allowed us to, again, look in the mirror,

11:14have some reflection, then we went on to obviously have a good year to finish it out. And then to lose in the playoff game against Buffalo is also another one that we've got to still, you know, that feeling in your stomach that you want to be able to get out and it's never fun to end that way. But those are all learning ops. That's all this is, is learning ops in growth moments. So, as we're here, there's a penalty called against you. The most this season, how does that impact the weaker fights? Yeah, we go back to really harping on the fundamentals and take the basics, right? Like we did our tackling circuit again this week and went back to some of the fundees, technique, harping on it. Because look, we can't control every call, but we can control our fundamentals, our techniques, our communication, our discipline. A lot of the penalties last week were like the grabbies, the holds and getting our hands back inside and having great control of the block

12:15and sustaining the block longer. I mean, sometimes those are learning moments, right? It's frustrating during the game because you had two touchdowns called back and that's momentum and that's positive stuff that ends up becoming a negative. So, I think it challenges us because it creates a little adversity in the moment but allows us to keep coaching, which is the best thing about it. Coach, you spoke about communication on defense with the coach and his team. But 21 straight game about allowing a rush during 75 yards. It's actually the core longest streak in Superb. When we talk about that, what has it been the way that defense is structured and it's allowed you to be so consistently effective? I think our personnel upfront, specifically, D-ham, Josh, Travon, Eric Armstrong, said those guys upfront, foyer at the second level. I think Ben Trell has been playing really good for us at linebacker. Our corners are DB's tackle, right? Like Jordan Lewis at Nickel, Buster Brown at Corner Travis last week. Eric Murray and Tony O'John, like they all tackle.

13:16And so, I think it's challenging when you have big dudes up front that can plug some of those holes, get off blocks and play violent in the box. But also when you have a group in the back end that isn't afraid to come up and tackle and set an edge in the run game. And so, it's cultural, I think, on the defensive side of the ball. It's a standard. It's one of our core pillars of success. And I think those guys have bought into it. Coach, with Travon, Lauren's been in this sixth year now. And obviously the second year of this game in particular. How much growth have you seen from him and how much further development do you want to see from him to potentially be this almost generational quarter back to me? Yeah, I mean, spoken by him. I've been pleased with his growth for sure over the last year in a few games. I think his leadership continues to come out inside, whether it's grabbing guys on the side or in the moment making some key and critical plays and having some, you know, fire to him or getting after the guys when he needs to. I think that that's an area that he's continue to grow. His understanding of the system, I think, just gets better and better each week.

14:18He's taking care of the football, which is a huge part of it. It's like, if you can play efficient, the way that he's been playing and not turn the football over, I mean, that's a huge part of success in this league. And so expect him to keep growing and being able to give us those hard downs. Because the quarterbacks, man, it's so, so much situational, right, third down, two minute, red zone. Those moments is when your quarterbacks need to be at their best. And he's been pretty good in some of those moments for us. Good, appreciate it. All right, thank you. Great, guys. Thank you.