Press Pass | Liam Coen on Making Intentional Improvements, Confidence Ahead of Patriots

0:00Yeah. I don't know how to do that. Hey, Sam. Just how do you feel about this week of practice so far just because last week you talked about what practice wasn't enough to carve? Yeah, I think there was definitely some intentional improvements as you continue to go in the game planning. It's like reminding the guys that hey, we've seen every single route concept play, another team can run. We've seen all throughout this spring, we've seen all throughout training camp against each other. And so to not overanalyze things that, yes, it's preparation in different teams, do different things, different ways. But at the end of the day, it's about the fundamentals and techniques and tackling and communication and being at the right spot and knowing your stuff, not as much always worrying about the opponent. That's been a reminder that I think has helped reset us a little bit this week in all

1:01three phases. It's like guys is so much more about us. It truly is. And hopefully come out today on Friday and get a good fast Friday practice. Feel going going into the weekend. Practice? I don't know exactly what it's called, but I've just been using special teams, got a link, they were offensive players and defensive players. Yeah. Kind of working together. Yeah. And then you're going to have some kind of, kind of putting them through. Totally. Yeah. I think it's, you take for granted a little bit, especially young offensive special teams players. Those guys probably weren't playing many special teams over the last maybe two years that they're careers in college because they were maybe the better players on offense. And so they're not playing on special teams as much. And so they're not getting any of those fundamentals of breaking down, coming to balance to make a tackle. What are the actual techniques of tackling in different ways that we tackle and we teach those things? And you know, Ben Nernese coming down, you know, breaking down, same foot, same shoulder,

2:04blocking technique, block disruption as well. Like if we're on, you know, an offensive skill player, offensive player that's on kickoff return. Like learning some of those techniques and specifically, as you mentioned, having the defensive coaches involved in some of that. But it also helps bridge the gap in terms of relationships and communication as a team so that we can all hold each other accountable without it being like, well, I'm like, I don't know you, you know what I mean? Like, you don't coach me kind of thing. And so I think that it was important to, when you watch the tape from week one, especially, and you see some of the things show up and it's like, well, we get what we emphasize, usually. That was something I think has been a good thing for us and it did show up this past week, especially on special teams. I thought we made a jump against Denver and did some good things. They're a part of you and all of it is like, hey, it's pretty cool. Matching up against the team. I grew up rooting for them. Yes, right. You know, I mean, coached against them in, in 2020, obviously in the 2018 Super Bowl,

3:09which was my first year in coaching. And oh, this is easy. Yeah. That just came from Maine, you know, like, this is easy, right? And then, oh gosh, maybe not. And then coached against them in 2020, which was cool. We ended up getting a win. That Thursday night game, I think it was as well. And so it is cool. To be obviously coaching against a group that, I mean, I went to training camp practices every summer. I spent watching those guys and grew up as obviously a huge fan. And still, as you get into the profession, you're always looking at things you can take and pull from different places. And if you just look at consistency, right, as a standard and the way that they've done it in terms of building it, the way it is, and the situational football, doing all the hard things right, you know, like doing the little things, the hard things, the right way, and not shooting yourself in the foot, right?

4:12If not, you know, just playing smart football, you can take from so many different places. And I think that they've always been a pretty high standard of that personally. And I've got a ton of respect for Braves. He came to Kentucky to kind of scout Will Levis at the time. And we spent a good amount of time together during that visit. And then at the owner's meetings over the last two years, I've gotten to know him a little bit as well. And, you know, it's pretty cool. It is cool. It's defensive and blitz in the tone for the first couple weeks. How much pressure does that put on Trevor and an offensive line free snap to make it clear in the back protection? That's it. It's a, you know, Pittsburgh had one out, you know, when Aaron got hit, you know, the big one in his back there and the ball goes up and, you know, it's like a 30 yard fumble. It's all about communication and, you know, pre snap being on the screws. And that's all preparation, being able to identify it with the clock going down and things happening fast. And you have to have not just all five alignment, the quarterback and the running back specifically.

5:17And sometimes the tight end or two involved in the protection systems and schemes. So we spent a lot of time on that throughout the week. We do a ton of extra BPU walkthroughs, meeting sessions where the players are all in there. They're talking about it. We try to, you know, sometimes, you know, whether it's like our third BPU meeting of the week, at least, it's like, all right, the clicker then goes to Trevor and the old line guys and, you know, they're going through it and they're talking through it, how they see it. Because ultimately on Sundays, they're the ones making the calls out there and what they see, you don't want to start second guessing it. And so I have a lot of confidence in these guys to get that thing squared away this weekend. And we need it. We got to be able to protect and give Trevor time and be on the screws from a detailed standpoint. With a facial play more this year, I've been kind of seeing him handle that just expanded loads of fun. Yeah, I think he's done a nice job. It's tough too for like backs to get all the protection work. Like you never feel like you get enough, especially for two who does play on some special teams

6:21as a returner and as a backup, you know, in some spots as well. And so you're always trying to balance time for the backs and blitzpup and protections and knowing all that stuff as much as they can. And I think they've done a nice job. Chad, more like I've mentioned before, does a phenomenal job coach in those guys and holding them to a standard. And I think tune has done a really nice job so far. I'm excited about him continuing to move forward and help our team win. The bond and the same takes a blow to the guy who's been the lead for a bit but still kind of continuing to see. Yeah. And it's interesting I pulled up the 24 game in London and showed some of the clips in the Wednesday meeting there and seeing, you know, there were guys flying around and trail played really well in that game but Deham was like still it was a lot of the same but I felt like, you know, he even looks, he kind of looks bigger in a way like holding the point even more so than maybe even then. And we thought we had a really good player coming in when we got here.

7:22And so he is. He's a standard of I think especially at that position, like you think about D line in the NFL. You often see these guys kind of like hit their stride, you know, mid, you know, upper 20s and because it's so much technique, it's so much the game within the game playing D line in the past rush and then the interior D line play. Like so I do think it takes time. I think it's a learned skill in terms of you're often you're planning in skies that are experienced like, oh line, right? They've been doing it for a long time, experiencing the NFL. There's so many nuances that go into each play and I think D lines a spot where you can get better with age and you can continue to grow. Early season is still kind of seeing how guys handle the game feel. I mean, for some of the young players first chance to see us right. I mean, learning your team is that a valid so much. I think in September, especially like it is truly about us.

8:26And like what we, you know, days one through three install, right? And not over complicating the systems and the schemes and the game planning, like game planning in week three is going to look a little bit different than week 13. It just is, right? Like you don't have to get too cute and do too many different nuance things in week three because, you know, they haven't seen all your stuff from training champ, right? They don't have that film. And so you got to go and execute the things that you did really well all throughout OTA's season through the spring. And yeah, you got to have a little, you know, game plan nuance, but to your point, you want to just let them go play, to let them go play fast and free so that you can evaluate some of the situational football and you can evaluate how they handle the elements and handle some of their first exposure. You get Jalen McLeod in there last week when his first exposure and a tough atmosphere, but you forget. I mean, the guy played at Auburn. You know, he's played in some, some big crowds and some big atmospheres and he didn't flinch. He didn't blink.

9:26He did a really nice job. Did some good things. And those are the ops that you want to continue to be able to evaluate. And so for us, this coach is such a fine line of, man, like, let's go execute what we do best and so that we can go wash the tape on Monday after the game, win loser draw and truly be able to evaluate and say, did we get better or not? Did we get better or not? And that's really what you're looking for. I have a team full of guys that came back from here before. Who you are vary a lot and why? Yeah, I think it's like every team is truly going to be different, even though there's the carry over. It's just you don't always know exactly who you're going to be, especially not in week three. You're just not going to fully know. Do you have an idea? Yeah, you got an idea. But us, I can't say like who we are right now today is going to be exactly how we're going to operate in week 13. I'm talking about schematically what works, what doesn't, what's our best stuff on each

10:28side of all? Yeah, but an idea. And I have more of an idea now. I think that I did last year in week three. You know, I think I can see what we can be more now than I could in week three last year. So yeah, it definitely helps. The continuity helps, but you have to attack it with such a fresh perspective and you hold the standards. You have the standards, but also you have to allow for the flexibility to adapt and to create and to see what we're going to be and who's going to help us in critical moments. Like you have an idea, but is there anybody that's going to step up differently and make plays and games that maybe hasn't always shined in practice or whatever that is and you have to allow for those ops to happen? But I feel like we have a group of guys that do know what they do best and those are the areas we have to continue to focus on and rep and give them the opportunities to do that in the game to let them just go play free.

11:30Last week, the last week showed your locker room speech after the game was over. You're able to tell the guys you love them and you were still proud of the effort that they showed. How are you, as a coach, able to find that balance? Obviously, you're a frustrated whatever emotion you may be feeling, but still to give the players praise and show them the respect. Yeah, because I think I walked off the grass a little bit, like, you know, disappointed in myself, you know, disappointed with a couple of things that I felt like as coaches, we could have helped them with. And like I've said this before, I don't ever question the way that our guys are going to come out and play on Sundays in terms of the effort that they provide. We get what we emphasize. And I didn't feel like I was at my best personally in times of need and, you know, it's all of us. Like it really is. And so when you don't get the result you want, especially when you don't play to your

12:30standard and you don't execute to your standard, a lot of that falls on me and us as coaches as well. And so I felt like, all right, man, we walked into a hostile environment with every possible reason for them to kind of whip our butts in ways. And we kind of tricked it off. And, you know, in terms of our execution, they beat us without question. But we also had some moments where we did not execute to the best of our ability where you walk off the grass saying like, man, we did everything we could and we just got, we got B. And so they beat us. We earned the L absolutely. But, you know, you kind of felt like you let them down in ways. You kind of felt like you weren't your best in times where you needed. And so to let them know that after the game that like, if anything, I'm encouraged because I know we didn't execute to our standard and Denver was a reason for that. Absolutely. But what I mean, it's truly about us. It is.

13:30And we're all in it together. I know it's a busy time. What's it been like for you and maybe so your former teammates and you've asked an off during those start best of our time? It's pretty cool, man. I just got a box of gear recently from them. So shout out to Joe Harris, send me a act for sending that down. And look, three and a half. It is huge. Obviously I've been winning against Rutgers. But to beat the teams that, you know, last few weeks that we should be, right? But we also haven't been in a position over the last few years to say we should beat anybody. And so to be three and a half, it doesn't matter who's on a schedule. They're on your schedule and we're beaten on. And that's what it's supposed to be. And I'm excited about it. I have so much faith in Joe Ryan Bairn for the AD, assistant AD Thorbejorn. I have a lot of passion for that place and you want to see it be as successful as possible. And you can see it. I recruited pop lots in the quarter back there and Joe Griffin, the receiver as well. And so to see, pop came down to Kentucky and worked out for me.

14:31And I have a lot of confidence in him. He's got swagger, he's got some belief. And I love to see a Springfield kid who's a coach's son, ballin' out out there. So it's really cool to see.