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Kyle Shanahan reacts to Robert Saleh, Liam Coen postgame blowup

Untitled design (2)by: Sam Gillenwater22 hours agosamdg_33
49ers HC Kyle Shanahan
Joe Nicholson | Imagn Images

Following the Jaguars’ road win over the 49ers on Sunday, Liam Coen and DC Robert Saleh exchanged some words about comments which were made earlier in the week. Kyle Shanahan has since reacted to the incident, with him calling out the opposing head coach for reacting how he did postgame.

Shanahan was asked about the exchange between Coen and Saleh postgame after the 26-21 win for Jacksonville over San Francisco. He said that he didn’t see it happen in the moment on the field, but also that he thought that Coen took what was said too sensitively based on what he did after winning the game today.

“No, tried to clear it up, but I didn’t see what happened so I’m not sure,” said Shanahan. “Don’t think you should be that sensitive about it, but it is what it is. Not too worried about it.”

This all stemmed from pregame comments made by Saleh earlier in the week about a legal, “really advanced signal-stealing-type system” used by Jacksonville’s staff that’s in year one there with the franchise under Coen. Coen chose not to react to it during the week, but, based on this exchange, obviously took exception to it postgame.

Shanahan may have a point with Coen being a head coach who didn’t have to react that way in that moment. However, Coen left the west coast with the only thing that mattered, which was a win, being the first one of the season for anyone over the 49ers, to put the Jaguars at 3-1 as well.

More on postgame altercation involving Coen, Saleh

Tensions between Robert Saleh and Liam Coen spilled over on Sunday, after it had been brewing during the week after Saleh accused Coen and his staff of an advanced form of sign-stealing. You can see the two being kept away from each other in the postgame video below, as emotions clearly were running hot.

Saleh’s comments drew some scrutiny around the league and incited a discussion about the alleged sign-stealing practice. So what did he say, exactly?

“Liam and his staff, a couple guys coming from Minnesota, they’ve got a – legally – a really advanced signal-stealing-type system where they always find a way to put themselves in an advantageous situation,” Saleh said. “They do a great job of it. They formation you to just try to find any nugget they can. So we’ve got to be great with our signals and we’ve gotta be great with our communication to combat some of the tells that we might give on the field.”

Those comments weren’t met well by the Jacksonville coaching staff. Coen responded during the week.

“I’m not gonna speak on that fully right now,” Coen said. “We have a huge game for us coming up. We’ve got a great defense that we’ve got to go and attack and that’s where our whole mindset and mentality is right now. … Again, we’re really trying to focus on a darn good defense.”