Liam Coen and Robert Saleh have already had one sharp-edged exchange, but heading into Sunday’s Jaguars-Titans matchup, both coaches are treating it like part of the job.
The tension traces back to last season, when Saleh, then San Francisco’s defensive coordinator, spoke during the week before Jacksonville’s 2025 game against the 49ers and suggested the Jaguars’ offense under Coen was doing a version of legal signal stealing. The comment appeared to point at Coen’s heavy use of motion, the kind of movement that can help an offense read how a defense is reacting - or even communicating - before the snap.
Coen took issue with that after the game, and he made sure Saleh heard about it.
Now, though, the two are moving past it. Coen said Friday that Saleh reached out to him this week ahead of the matchup.
“He actually texted me this week, so like going into the week,” Coen said, via Jamal St. Cyr.
“Look -- this game, as much as it’s football, there’s an entertainment aspect to it all, as we know, and it’s competitive. And when you compete against people, and you’ve got a history of competing against them, that just raises the stakes a little bit more.
When you have guys that you know do good stuff on each side of the football, we know exactly what this Tennessee Titans team is going to bring on Sunday.”
Coen said the familiarity only adds to the edge of the game, especially with Saleh’s defenses. He expects Tennessee to come out flying.
“We know the type of atmosphere, competitiveness; it’s going to be a dogfight. They fly around.
That’s been every single Robert Saleh defense and team that I’ve ever seen. So, we can laugh about it, and it’s competitive, and we’ll talk on Sunday.
When you have coaches that make changes within the game, they know, alright, you’re in those formations; how are they going to adjust? There’s the game within the game, but that defense, specifically, going back to San Francisco to what it is now, they’re going to fly around and hit.”
Saleh, for his part, also downplayed the old dustup when asked about it.
“Liam’s great, man," said Saleh. "We’ve had plenty of interactions. The whole thing was a little misunderstanding-poor words on my part-but they’re doing a great job.”
The Jaguars and Titans kick off at 1:00 PM ET on Sunday. Jacksonville enters at 6-2, while Tennessee is 1-7.
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