Just before the Jacksonville Jaguars game against the San Francisco 49ers, defensive coordinator Robert Saleh raised eyebrows when he accused head coach Liam Coen and his staff of stealing signals legally.
All things considered, this was an odd thing to say, with Coen emphatically downplaying the issue, pointing out that he's focused on the 49ers, not Saleh's comments. Several people across the NFL have caught wind of the remarks and have pointed out how much of a nonsense they are.
Related: The Jaguars already stuck wishing they had waited to trade Tank Bigsby
Robert Saleh's remarks about the Jaguars raised eyebrows across the NFL
Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports has talked to several people in the NFL landscape, and the overall feeling is that Saleh's remarks were odd, noting that "there's nothing illicit about advance scouting and even admits it."
As Jones pointed out, Saleh said that the Jags know how to pick up nuggets and tendencies, which is what any good coaching staff would do. If anything, he's undermining the preparation Liam Coen puts in for game day, making it sound like he's successful because he cheats.
Connor Orr also took a look at Saleh's accusations and said that signal stealing is a common occurrence in the NFL, hypothesizing that San Francisco may want to throw the Jags off. Here's the skinny.
"But what if even mentioning the knowledge of the sign-stealing operation in a public setting was also part of the subterfuge?" Orr wrote. "What if Saleh's press conference was not an instance of a police officer accidentally tipping off the criminal but leading him to the address of an awaiting SWAT team?"
Orr continued, "As another coach noted, outside of changing signals, the other way to defeat signal stealing is to create the thinnest shred of doubt within an opponent in the sign-stealing operation itself. If a quarterback doesn't get a positive response from the gathered information, inevitably, he's going to be too scared to trust it."
This would suggest Saleh is playing 4-chess and wants to sow confusion. If that was the case, though, why do it publicly? By doing so, he's bringing the spotlight on the 49ers, which begs the question, is it worth the backlash?
Think about it, if the Jaguars beat San Francisco in Week 4, critics could delegitimize the win because they stole signals. It's also worth noting that the accusation carries somewhat of a stigma. The New England Patriots haven't been able to get rid of the cheaters label more than a decade after Spygate — They taped opponents' signals. Simply put, these are strong accusations, especially when you take into account that it's a common practice in the NFL.
From a Jaguars side of things, they now have bulletin board material and should be incentivized to beat the 49ers in Week 4. While there already were several intriguing storylines ahead of the game, Robert Saleh raised the stakes massively. Just like that, and all it took was a head-scratching accusation.