Liam Coen

do they work their tails off in the run game and they do a nice job of putting them in advantageous matchups in the run game and um they'll get heavy they'll go jumbo and but still have those tight ends out there so now you've got bigger people on the grass defensively but they like to maybe spread it out and throw it so they do a nice job of creating matchups for the tight ends and they're good players and there's a trust level you can tell between josh and those guys and um

You know, obviously we struggled a little bit against Bowers, who is, you know, obviously a lot of people have struggled against him.

But I do think that, you know, some of where we're at now, you know, with Antonio and with some of these different packages can help us continue to, you know, defend bigger sets that way, but still have athleticism on the grass and be able to feel comfortable about stopping the run still.

That's the...

predicament that they put you in when you play with a lot of tight ends and you go heavier well now yeah you're better against the run but you're more susceptible against the pass vice versa you play little against heavy people big people now you're susceptible against the run so um that's why you do it that's why you see sean mcveigh doing a lot in la with 13 personnel and stuff so um you know it definitely can create some mismatches you're going against the guy you referenced that 2020 meeting with your

Definitely their linebacker core.

You know, when I was there, it was, I think, Edmonds and Milano, right?

Milano's still there, but obviously they've continued to emphasize athleticism with Bernard in there and obviously Taron Johnson being that nickel position that

He's a damn good run defender when you're playing at 11 and you're staying in nickel, which they do even to 12 personnel at times.

So you can definitely tell within their scheme, they have personnel evolved both on offense and defense, as you mentioned, because it was a little bit more geared towards.

when we played them in 2020, like the skill players and Josh and being able to do those things.

Now you can see the evolution of, you know, the run game, the physicality that while also, I mean, they can spread you out with Shakir and all those guys inside.

So they've done a nice job.

And I've got a lot of respect for Sean McDermott and how they've continued to win regardless and evolve as a staff.

Like, I didn't sit here saying, you know, I hope we win eight or I hope we win ten or, you know, I just... I didn't put many of those...

I guess, labels on the job when you get it, you're really just hoping to improve.

And to help players improve, you're hoping to obviously continue to elevate the standard and raise the bar.

You know, to say I assumed we would win 13 games when I took the job, like, I can't say that.

But I think that...

I guess you could say we've, I'm not going to say overachieved, but I think you can say that we've probably gotten a lot better in some ways.