Robert Saleh: I used a poor choice of words to compliment Liam Coen

49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh’s comment last week that the Jaguars are “almost elite” at stealing signs legally was not taken kindly by Jaguars head coach Liam Coen and the two men exchanged words on the field after last Sunday’s 26-21 Jaguars win.

Saleh addressed the incident in a press conference on Tuesday and reiterated that he wasn’t accusing the Jaguars of doing anything that was against the rules. He said that he thinks “if I said the word film study” rather than mentioning signals, there would have been no response to what he meant as a compliment to what Coen and the Jaguars staff is doing.

“As a coach, watching their tape, I recognize the amount of hours that must be spent to be able to build formations and define every little indicator they can to give their players a chance to be in a successful position,” Saleh said. “That’s exhausting, and every team does it. Some do it better than others and it was my way of acknowledging that these guys are really, really, really good at it. And, like I said, Sunday doesn’t change that. I think Liam’s doing a hell of a job, I really do. You can tell that that team’s really taking on his personality and I hope they came out of the game healthy, and I wish him the best of luck throughout the rest of the season. I wish I could have found a better choice of words, but my intent was always to compliment that football staff.”

A followup question noted that Saleh doesn’t have a reputation for losing his cool while asking about his animated response to Coen. Saleh responded that “everyone has a trigger I guess” before moving on to discuss the team’s Thursday night game against the Rams.

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