Robert Saleh further clarifies sign-stealing comments: 'My intent was always to compliment'

Tensions spilled over following a game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. Jaguars coach Liam Coen nearly got into it with 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh after comments Saleh had made about his organization.

Saleh had accused the Jaguars of legally “stealing signs” in the run-up to the game. Coen didn’t take particularly kindly to the suggestion.

The two had to be held apart from each other on the field after the game, leading to more than a few news clippings about the interaction. For his part, Saleh attempted to further clarify things on Tuesday.

“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.”

Jacksonville would win the game 26-21, securing a major win to move to 3-1 on the season. San Francisco also dropped to 3-1 with the loss.

Despite the loss and the brief period where Saleh admitted his “trigger” was pushed after the game, the 49ers defensive coordinator seemed fine with letting the issue go. He defended his comments, noting he meant them as a compliment.

“And, like I said, Sunday doesn’t change that,” Saleh said. “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.”

More on the sign-stealing allegation

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.”

Coen did note that his staff does a lot of things offensively to try to uncover tendencies and tells from opponents. That’s seemed to be a major part of what Saleh was referencing.

“We [are] 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 you’re trying to do as a coach if you’re trying to put your players in the best position to be successful,” Coen said. “It’s a lot of hard work that goes into game-planning.”