The Jacksonville Jaguars are set to face the San Francisco 49ers in Week 3, and opposing defensive coordinator Robert Saleh made the game significantly more interesting with his baffling comments.
Just before the bout, Saleh said that the Jags steal signals but do it legally, so he cannot do much about it. Jacksonville head coach Liam Coen caught wind of the comments, but instead of giving them a thought, he outright dismissed them.
Liam Coen isn't thinking about the accusation that the Jaguars are stealing signals
Ahead of the Week 4 matchup, Liam Coen met with the local media and said that he's focused on the 49ers, not the accusations that the team is stealing signals.
"I'm not going to speak on that fully right now," Coen said. "Have a huge game for us coming up this weekend. Got a great defense that we've got to go attack, and that's where our whole mindset mentally is right now."
When pressed about it, the first-year head coach once again said he's not thinking too much about the accusation.
"Again, I'm just we're really trying to focus on a darn good defense that we have to go and try to go attack, and offensively, get better about us, getting better putting it together for four quarters and trying to create some explosives in the past game, some of those things that were trying to get better at as an offense. So that's what the focus is right now."
It's worth noting that Saleh's theory revolves around the fact that Jacksonville is good at picking up nuggets and tendencies. Regarding the team's ability to scout other teams, Coen says it's all about preparation.
"We have kind of typically, by formation, by game plan, by working really hard as a coaching staff throughout the week, trying to get indicators by your formation, motion, shift, pre-snap. Those are the things that you're trying to do as a coach if you're trying to put your players in the best position to be successful. Whether it's attacking man or zone coverage, with your formations, motions, and concepts. So it's a lot of hard, hard work that goes into game planning and trying to put your players in the best position to be successful."
Robert Saleh just gave the Jaguars bulletin board material for the 49ers game
You can tell that Liam Coen wasn't pleased with the accusation, and rightly so. Basically, Robert Saleh is undermining all the work he puts in, while making it sound like his success is due to stealing signals. Keep in mind that the Jaguars aren't filming opponents or have a designated employee trying to decipher signals from an unknown spot in the stadium.
Simply, Coen and his staff are looking for any tells and tendencies that they can use to their advantage, pretty much what any other coach looking for an edge would do.
The 49ers game will present a tough challenge for the Jaguars in spite of all the injuries, and if they weren't motivated enough ahead of the game, Robert Saleh just offered them an incentive on a silver platter.