Todd Bowles & Liam Coen Talk Week 2 Win | Bucs Total Access

Reporter Casey Phillips sits down with Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles and Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen after the Week 2 victory against the Detroit Lions. They delve into the outstanding defensive performance and relentless effort, HC Bowles’ choice for “player of the game,” and OC Coen’s perspective on maintaining offensive continuity.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fuck not three?

Speaker 2 (00:01):
What's the three?

Speaker 3 (00:05):
Please these Buccaneers total access with head coach Todd Bowles.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
That the hell of the job.

Speaker 4 (00:10):
Going back back.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Here's may field shotgun.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Look looks right, I'm back to left those twarters left
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Speaker 2 (00:20):
Another three? Two?

Speaker 1 (00:21):
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Speaker 1 (00:41):
Fire the cannis now.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Your host, Bocks team reporter Casey Phillips and head coach
Todd Bowles.

Speaker 4 (00:48):
Welcome into the Todd Bowles show Casey phillis here with
head coach Todd Bowles. First of all, my stress levels
at the end of that game, and I have nothing
to do with what's happening on the field. I can't
even imagine what that felt like for you, You and
everyone else on that sideline and part of the organization.
Where does that rank for you in terms of a
regular season game that at the moment we're not talking
a playoff game or anything else, that had to be

(01:09):
one of the most stressful experiences.

Speaker 5 (01:11):
No, it really wasn't. At the time, when you're in
the game and you're trying to win the game, you
just think about the calls and about us making the
play and about us getting off the field. So the
stress level for me is like that every week, believe
it or not, And internally it's like that every week.
But the guys played well. They were all calm on
the sideline that they made plays.

Speaker 4 (01:33):
This is why you're the head coach and I'm not
because I can't imagine that that wasn't just you're right, though,
it's probably stressful every single time. What are you most
proud of looking back at that game on your team?

Speaker 5 (01:44):
The way they fought, I mean defensively, tackling the underneath
stuff limited in the yak yards, which is what we
set out to do offensively, just to fight. That's a
tough group up there, and obviously Hutchinson had a big
day for him, but we made some timely plays and
we grinded it out.

Speaker 4 (02:01):
What do you think the win meant to the team
that I know that It's always easy to just kind
of say every game matters, every game is important, but
I'm sure there were a little bit of emotions after
what had happened at the end of last season. To
get a win like this in a place that is
very hard to play on the road. What do you
think this seemed to mean to the guys in the
locker room.

Speaker 5 (02:18):
I think it was just great to get a road
win in front of a hostile crowd. That does a
lot for your confidence. Again, it's only one game, and
it's the second game of the season, but from a
confidence standpoint, playing in a hostile crowd, only getting one
false start and limiting the penalties for the most part,
it meant.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
A lot red zone defense, man, I mean, that was
one of the big stories of the game and what
helped y'all come out with the w held them to
a touchdown on just one of seven red zone trips.
And to me, it wasn't even just that you were
getting the stops in the red zone. It was at
these moments that felt like such momentum swings that every
time it felt like they would start to get rolling,

(02:54):
you guys were able to put a stop on them.
What worked so well in the red zone d in
that game.

Speaker 5 (02:59):
Gang tackle, you know, gang tackling with Gibbs and with
Saint Brown, those guys can catch the ball and turn
in a minute. But Lavonte, it was Izzy, it was Jordan,
it was Zion, it was Cervassier, it was kJ All.
Those guys gang tackling. Understood where the ball was going,
inside out, outside in, and they gang tackled, and they

(03:20):
played well.

Speaker 4 (03:21):
Take us through those last two defensive stands, and what
you remember about what you were having to call, what
you were telling the guys, and just kind of what
happened on those last two stands.

Speaker 5 (03:31):
The last two plays of the last having to two
minutes below two minutes is not ideal. It's not ideal,
but at the time, once you went first down, you
feel like the advantages in your favor. So we started
killing on certain things and taking away certain guys as

(03:52):
they went down the field, knowing he would have to
check it down, but we were ready to rally to
the football. Those guys just played on sheer heart. They
played on sheer heart with the leadership of Levonte and Jordan,
Spearhead and everything. Tyke made a bunch of plays in
the fourth quarter, and they played well. They all played well.
Yah Yah got some pressure, although it didn't result in sacks.
He got some pressure and we hit him quite a bit.

Speaker 4 (04:15):
And tell me about the play of your defensive line
when you're without Calija, you know going in, but then
you end up being without Vita for a big chunk
of it. And I'm sure that that in general is
not a recipe that you would normally choose to dial up.
So tell me how the defensive line handled it missing
at least one of those guys and then for a
lot of it both of them.

Speaker 5 (04:32):
I don't think they knew what to do on offense
because they didn't know who to go at, so.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Kind of confused me.

Speaker 4 (04:38):
A sneaky plan.

Speaker 5 (04:41):
No, those guys play hard. CJ and Mike played well.
They filled in great gains, played a lot of different
positions across the board. Will always play tough at home
in Detroit, and they banded together and they fought hard
and they came out.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
With a win and injury wise, at the point of
us taping this, tell me what you know and what
you don't know about your defense for moving.

Speaker 5 (05:02):
Forward, Well, we'll see about Vita. He's got a great
two spraying, but you know he'll be day to day.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
And then I know this last week had to be
pushing your limits of your creativity. You're planning, you're moving
things around as there were just so many moving parts
of who would and would not be available and guys
having to step up in some different ways. So take
us through the timeline this last week of how your
game planning went, not knowing everything all the way until
maybe a little closer to kickoff.

Speaker 5 (05:30):
Well, we kind of prepare for it, and in the
spring and in the summer we kind of figure out
what guys can and can't do if they had to play.
We're not used to multiple guys missing and not playing,
but we prepare for it, and we understood what we
had to do, what we had to do to win.
And those guys stepped in and played, and we kind
of kept the game plan in their wheelhouse where they
can play fast and I have to worry about things,

(05:52):
and they did a good job.

Speaker 4 (05:54):
Zion's interception, first career pick for him, and again a
guy that we didn't really know for a while if
he was even gonna be available coming off the concussion
profile process. So tell me looking at Zion's interception in particular,
but then his game overall what stood out to you.

Speaker 5 (06:09):
I don't had an outstanding game, not just the interception.
He had a bunch of pass breakups. He had some tackles,
He studied, he understood what was happening to him on
almost every play. He squeezed routes, he came off of plays,
he tackled well. And you know, I think the sky's
the limit for Zion. You're looking at a star in
the making right before our eyes.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
I like that.

Speaker 4 (06:31):
That's exciting to hear. And then Christian Izi and also
getting an interception and tell us about that play.

Speaker 5 (06:36):
Is he makes place? You know, he makes plays. He
came in last week and field in he started this week.
Key area of the field. They were coming down and
they were driving. We got a little pressure on him.
He let the ball go. Is he made a big play?
Is it right in the right spot at all times?
And he's a competitor. He's gonna go out there and
he's gonna compete. He's gonna fight, he's gonna make tackles,

(06:56):
and he's gonna make some plays.

Speaker 4 (06:57):
What are the specific skill sets he has? And it
has let him become essentially kind of the Swiss army
knife for you of nickel outside safety and whatever you
ask of him, Well.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
He's built.

Speaker 5 (07:06):
He's very strong upper bodly, so he's strong enough to
play safety, but he's quick enough to play nickel in corner.
And he's also crafty enough and smart enough to play
free or strong safety. So he does a lot of
things well for us. And he's very sudden to the ball.
His A to B process is like bang bang. Some
people have built up speed. He can get to A

(07:27):
to B and the heartbeat.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
And Jordan White had led the team in tackles. He's
done that both games now so far, but this one
was for a career high tying eleven tackles. Also had
won for loss a pass defense. What did you see
out of his game?

Speaker 5 (07:41):
Jordan's maturity since he's come back and the years he's
spent in the league as far as seeing him grow
when he was here before to when he came back,
is off the charts. I think his leadership and obviously
he was in on the last tackle to stop him
from scoring on the second to the last two minute
drive two minutes stand, and he made a bunch of
plays he had TFLs, he had tackle for losses, he

(08:02):
had a bunch of open field tackles. He played a
complete all around game. Very proud of him as far
as I'm concerned, he was my player of the game.

Speaker 4 (08:11):
Wow, Casey Phillips hear with head coach Todd Bowles. I
know that we talked about a lot of your dbs
being heard, a lot of moving parts, but Jamel Dean
was one of the few, like, hey, we know where
he plays, that he came in healthy. Tell me what
you saw from his game.

Speaker 5 (08:24):
I think the first player, they quick snapped them, so
he gave a ball to Williams. But after that, you know,
the perimeter tackling that he came with and the covering
he did was outstanding. He played a heck of a
ball game out there on the right side holding down
the fort and those guys can break a lot of tackles,
and he's a very short tackler and.

Speaker 4 (08:43):
Then servasier career high ten tackles for him. Tell me
a little bit about his game and what you've seen,
and then also just the role that you have planned
for him and kJ this year and how that's working out.

Speaker 5 (08:55):
Foss is tough, I mean he's very tough, he's healthy
this year Number one, number two. He came out of
college as a great blitzer and a very good zone passer,
but he's a very good cover guy. He's very instinctive,
he's very smart, very good zone dropper, has great awareness,
and his explosion is outstanding. He made some tackles in
the fourth quarter where he was just going and he

(09:18):
was hitting. Kjy did the same thing for the first
three quarters. Boss cleaned it up in the fourth quarter
along with Levante, and with the rotation we have with
those guys, that's been going well.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
He Elijah, Yaya Jose A lot of these guys, this
rookie class defensively. First of all, I love that reaction.
I think that says everything. But they seem to be
so close, both in a joking way that I'm sure
is very entertaining to you, but also they seem to
really spur each other on. How important is that to
see a lot of these young guys have such a
good core group like that, to all be playing together

(09:49):
and pushing each other.

Speaker 5 (09:51):
It's important that you know. I call them kids because
they're all playing the sandbox together, but they're very tough.
They're very smart, they're very instinct, they're very professional, and
they play off of each other, and that's the biggest thing.
They play off of each other and they have fun together.
That makes them a lot closer.

Speaker 4 (10:08):
I like that. How about your outside linebackers, what did
you see from that group?

Speaker 5 (10:11):
I thought, yeah, yeah, I got a lot of pressure.
I thought he got pressure and they were trying to
double him a couple of times, especially in the fourth quarter.
I thought Joe played a good all around game. He
made a great open field tackle on Gibbs out there
close to the end and the flat route right there.
But he had to get all around game. We got
to get more pressure and more tackles as far as
our stunts and games are concerned. But overall, I thought

(10:32):
those guys played hard.

Speaker 4 (10:33):
Let's shift a little bit to the offensive side of things.
I mean Chris Godwin Man, his first half was for
most people a great whole game. He got all in
a half of seven catches, one hundred and seventeen yards
in a touchdown, so third most yards he's had it
in any single half of his career, most since twenty nineteen,
and the second most by any player in a half.
So far this season. What worked so well for him

(10:54):
in that first half, well.

Speaker 5 (10:56):
I think when Baker brought time with his legs, Chris
found the spots to get open and Baker found him.
The connection was there. They pretty much kept a safety
over top of Mike most of the time. So Chris
got loose and got free, and we know you got
to defend both of those guys, not just one of them.

Speaker 4 (11:11):
And he made a bunch of plays and tell us
about his touchdown and what worked so well on that one.

Speaker 5 (11:15):
It was a great call by Liam. Obviously, they faked
the screen with Bucky coming around the edge, and they
bit on it and they jumped up and Chris ran
by him and the rest was history.

Speaker 4 (11:24):
So Chris now has a couple touchdowns already on eighty
three or last year he only had two touchdowns on
eighty three receptions. After this one, he already has two
in just the first you know, six quarters of the season.
Why there's one thing of just kind of getting him
the ball more often, But what are the things about
Liam's offense and how Chris looks this year? That is
why we think we're going to see him in the
end zone so much more often.

Speaker 5 (11:46):
Moving them back in the slot was big coming into
this year as well, and he can play all over
the field. And Liam kind of moves all those guys
around a lot, and they take turns making plays. And
this week was Chris's turn. He made some last one
as well. And you know, the offense kind of revolves
around whatever they double you take away with the single.

(12:07):
You get take the single guy and you take him.
And this week it was Chris's turn and he had
a heck of a ball game.

Speaker 4 (12:12):
And now we got to talk about Baker's juke move.
Tell me your reaction on the sideline when you see
Baker put a guy on skates.

Speaker 5 (12:20):
When Baker throws a move and you fall for it,
I mean that's like Baker's not an old man. He
can run straight ahead and he's very savvy. He did
a one step and go and it was a heck
of a move because they got a very aggressive defense,
and he bought some more time than the next play.
He ran a quarterback drawer run in twice. I just
hope he doesn't make it living with that.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
Yeah, this is not the permanent game plan moving forward.
Breaking down that win in Detroit, So I know that
we briefly hit on Aiden Hutchinson earlier this show. Unfortunately
he did not briefly hit us in that game. Tell
me what it was like trying to face him and
all the kitchen sink that you guys ended up trying
to throw him.

Speaker 5 (13:01):
Oh, it was tough when we were trying to chip
him and he was still getting back. They had to
the quarterback, So he took us out of a lot
of things we wanted to do, and that's a credit
to him. We got to do a better job of
protecting Baker right there, and we got to do a
better job scheming it up, trying to do things to
offset what they were doing.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
And now, also, just tell me a little bit about
the offensive line. And I mean, I know that was
obviously such a huge storyline of what everybody noticed, but
outside of those sacks and Aiden Hutchinson being so disruptive,
what did you see from that group, and especially knowing
you have anytime you have someone new stepping in and
it's a loud place, he's so far from the center
trying to you know, hear the calls as your new
guy handling the noise like that, Just what did you

(13:37):
feel like that group was able to do.

Speaker 5 (13:39):
I thought we handled the noise and I thought we
played physical upfront for the most part. They brought an
extra guy up kind of take away to run that
we couldn't get to. But thought they I thought they
held their own.

Speaker 4 (13:50):
And I know that earlier you made a joke about
the Baker running is not our primary game plan moving
for he was the leading rusher for the team. Again,
not the main plan we go for each week. Tell
me run game wise, what worked and what didn't work well.

Speaker 5 (14:05):
His scrambling worked. You know, Baker has a feel in
the pocket when he needs to run and when he
needs to pass. And I'm good with that because you
can't teach it. He's very smart and very strategic on
the things that he does. When he does run, he
knows when to get down. He has a knack of
having somebody else balanced when he can go for the
first down and when he can't go for the first down.
The run game, for the most part, there were a

(14:26):
few chances there were some holes there but that we
could have got through that we can run through better.
But at the same time, it was tough sledding all day.
It was tough sledding on their parts tough sledding. On
our part, we knew it was going to be a
tough ballgame.

Speaker 4 (14:39):
What have you seen out of Liam Cohen now after
two games of one where it felt like everything goes
your way and everything is right, and then definitely a
little bit more adversity faced with some of it this week.
What do you feel like you've already seen in terms
of his growth and learning in the way he's starting
to evolve this offense a couple of games in.

Speaker 5 (14:54):
Well, it's great to see him with a game where
he can go out in Washington and call anything once
and it works. And it's good to see your coach
in the game where it's a nail bier and it's
tough tooth and nail and you gotta fight, and you
got to figure out calls to win the game, but
not blow the game for the most part. And he
learned that part of it, which he knew, but I
thought he made some timely calls and he got us

(15:16):
into some good.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
Plays and then man Chase McLaughlin, this was this blew
my mind. So he improved his career field goal percentage
on kicks of fifty plus yards to eighty three point
nine per six percent currently stands as the best percentage
in NFL history from that distance that guy from over
fifty is incredible. What did that end up meaning, especially

(15:36):
in a game like this for your offense, and just
how that can affect what you guys need to do
and are able to do.

Speaker 5 (15:43):
I mean it was huge. Every point was every point
was important. Obviously, obviously you saw the field goal they
missed at the end of the half, which would have
changed the game completely because they only needed a field
goal at the end. But Chase made some big kicks
for us. He's a big weapon for us, especially indoors,
and and you know, we feel great when we get
across midfield that we have a chance of getting points.

Speaker 4 (16:04):
And how do you feel about the rest of special
teams in this game? And then just so far the.

Speaker 5 (16:07):
Season, we tackled Tavierre had two tackles on the kickoff,
Cole Keith had a couple of tackles right there. I
think we can punt it better. I think we can
punt it better. We need to win the field position
battle in the punting game, and we got to clean
that part of it up. Other than that, you know,
the fake punt got us I thought we blew that one.
We had it. We missed an assignment there, but they've
been playing solid football. We just got to keep getting better.

Speaker 4 (16:30):
Casey Phillips here with head coach Todd Bowles. All right,
So now shifting to this Broncos game. You got another
rookie quarterback. Interesting, you know two out of your first
three weeks to be facing that. What are some of
the unique challenges about preparing for a rookie quarterback and
then maybe some of the things that excites you a
little bit facing some I don't know, fresh.

Speaker 5 (16:48):
Meat, No, I mean, I think he's a good player.
He starts for a reason. Sean's a very good coach.
He has very good feet, He gets the ball out
quick when he needs to. He can run with it
if he needs to. For us, it's not about facing
a rookie quarterback or the Broncos. It's about us getting
better for the things we need to do better from
last week, and that's important for us. We're not playing

(17:09):
against the opponent we are, per se, but we're trying
to get better. To be a good team, you have
to correct the mistakes from the week before and keep
getting better as the season goes. On and that's what
we're trying to do. So we're not so much focusing
on the opponent as we are focusing on the things
we need to do better.

Speaker 4 (17:24):
As you go about game planning when it is still
fairly early in the season and it is a rookie,
does that change anything about how confident you feel about
your game plan and having as much to go off of,
or does that affect it in any way or to you,
it's just either way, we're going to do our same thing.

Speaker 5 (17:40):
It's more of the unknown, you know. We try to
do some things to game plan and prepare form and
then some things are the unknown that you just have
to do what you do and make sure you be
ready to adjust. So going into the game, we'll be
ready to adjust and we'll do some of the things
that we do.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
Tell us a little bit about the Broncos run game
and what we should be looking out for.

Speaker 5 (18:00):
Very tough, hard knows obvious station own's with the Saints.
They have a very powerful run game, change personnel, a
lot give you some all balanced, some extra tackles in
the ball game. So it's gonna be a physical game,
so we got.

Speaker 4 (18:11):
To be ready for that and how about their wide
receivers and pass catchers. What stands out to you there.

Speaker 5 (18:16):
Catch radius all got a very good catch radius. If
the ball is near him, they're going.

Speaker 4 (18:20):
To catch it, I know on their defensive side of things, pascertain.
This is the guy that's given Antoine run for his
money on being short lived for that highest paid dB
in the league. And what does a guy like that
do for your game plan? And when you look at
a guy like that, or just even as a defensive
minded coach, when you watch someone like.

Speaker 5 (18:38):
Him, gotta know where he is, gotta know where he is.
He has a chance to get an interception on every play,
very good feet, very good bursts off or on and
press coverage. And he's a heck of a football player.

Speaker 4 (18:50):
I know that you mentioned the idea of this being
a game that's a little bit more about even just
what you guys want to do. Whenever you win a
game like this, Lions one where you know it was
sort of an emotional and especially a very sort of
stressful stretch down the end of the game, and do
you ever worry about, uh, almost an emotional hangover from
the team of trying to get them ready to go
play again. And not just rest on those laurels, or

(19:11):
do you ever see a way that you can try
to help impact a team to move on from that
and but still be excited by.

Speaker 5 (19:16):
It, try to move on from it. You know, at
this point with young guys, it's it's harder to handle
success than it is failure. So keeping them grounded and
making sure we keep doing the little things for us
to get better is what we stress and what's important
for us.

Speaker 4 (19:31):
I don't know why, but I feel like you're probably
pretty good at keeping everybody grounded from what I've heard
from trash talking.

Speaker 5 (19:36):
Not that much of a trash talker. You know, I
use glad bags, and I carry out the heavy load,
and you know, I keep.

Speaker 4 (19:42):
It moving perfect. I love it wells. On this edition
of The Todd Bulls Show, he's got some glad bags
he has to take out of this, so we'll let
him go. Coming up next on Buccaneer's Total Access, we'll
have offensive Coordinator Liam Cohen, brought to you by advent Health.
This is Buccaneers Radio.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Buccaneers Total Access brought to you by advent Health. Gun
Look Jared Goff, Bill high snapped. There comes a pressure
Peace sacked to the back fielding the thirty one yard line,
Levonte David shoots like a rotting and got it Bill
Hie after roping.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
Now more with Bucks team reporter Casey Phillips.

Speaker 4 (20:12):
Welcome back into Buccaneers Total Access. First half the show,
we had head coach Todd Bowles. Now I am so
excited to be joined by our offensive coordinator Liam Cohen. Liam,
thanks so much for being with us.

Speaker 2 (20:22):
Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 4 (20:23):
And congratulations on that win back. I mean, first of all,
very stressful. Yes, yeah, I can't imagine if I, as
someone who had nothing to do with it, was dying
as much as I was what it fell like for
you guys down on the sideline. But looking at the
entire team win and the way it turned out, what
do you think that's said about this team at this
point in the season.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
Yeah, I think it said a lot.

Speaker 6 (20:41):
You know, we made it a lot harder than it
probably needed to be in some ways. You look at
some of the resilience that our team showed, our defense
playing the way they did in the second half especially
was was.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
Gave us a lot of motivation.

Speaker 6 (20:55):
Although we didn't put together a drive to go win
it like we would have liked to at the end,
and we had a great drive where we responded after
they went down and scored a touchdown to take the lead,
We go back down, get a touchdown, and justa hey,
how do we take the next step as an offense
to go down and close that game out on offense
and not really put that onus back on the defense.

Speaker 4 (21:17):
It really felt like every time they started to get
some momentum that their crowd would get into it, which
their crowd is a big factor. You guys found ways
to silence it every time. Both sides of the ball
found ways to do that. What do you think you
would attribute to that.

Speaker 6 (21:29):
Guys being in tough situations prior? I mean, look at
what these guys had to play in last year, you know,
dig themselves out of a hole, out of a losing
streak and play in the playoff games and compete. There's
nobody was panicked, nobody was trying to press really in ways.

Speaker 2 (21:47):
The guys just kind of stuck with the plan.

Speaker 6 (21:49):
And really you look at Baker, you look at some
of those guys that Chris Godwin making plays that you know,
extending plays, competing without the ball.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
It was fun to watch.

Speaker 4 (21:58):
And I know you weren't here last year, but did
you get a sense for what this game meant because
of last year?

Speaker 2 (22:04):
I think so.

Speaker 6 (22:05):
I mean I think that like every year is in
New Year. We know that, but there's definitely when you
lose to a team twice and you have a little
bit of that just kind of stuck in your cross Still.
There was definitely a feeling of that as you could
go through the locker room.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
But it was just great to get the win. It's
not really results.

Speaker 6 (22:23):
Over process because we we got to fix some things
on offense, but showed great continuity get that win.

Speaker 4 (22:29):
And I feel like we could talk about Chris Godwin
this whole show. He just an incredible first half. Seven catches,
one hundred and seventeen yards in a touchdown, third most
yards he's had in a single half of his career,
most since twenty nineteen, second most by any player and
a half this season. What worked so well for him,
particularly in that.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
First half, Chris has a knack with Bake.

Speaker 6 (22:48):
They have a great connection, as does Bake with Mike,
and a number of those plays were off schedule where
Bake ended up kind of scrambling and making a play
and Chris was just working with them on a few
of those was where we were able to get him
the ball and then you know the touchdown he was
was open on, which was he did a great job
executing that play.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
To a tee.

Speaker 6 (23:09):
And Chris just he makes place. You know, he's a
great football player, he's a great leader. He does everything
right and so for to see a guy like him
start the season off so hot, that's that's great for us.

Speaker 4 (23:21):
Yeah, do you feel a little spoiled as an OC
coming in with guys like Mike and Chris in your
locker room, not just from their skill set but who
they are.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
That's right.

Speaker 6 (23:28):
The leadership, the continuity, that just the accountability that those
guys have as pros that you can walk in the
building and know they're going to be prepared every day,
they're going to have watched tape, they're going to know
their opponent, and then in times of crisis, you try
to think about getting the ball to those guys and
see what can happen.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
So it's it's definitely a luxury for sure.

Speaker 4 (23:52):
When a new coordinator comes in. I always feel like
everyone you know studies their tape, tries to figure out
what what are some of the trademark things? And I
feel like one of the big talking points about you
before we got to see it was how you were
going to use Chris and the idea of him in
the slot and what all that was going to look like.
I think so far it seems like everything you're doing
looking good. Tell me your thoughts about what when you

(24:12):
first got your eyes on Chris and thought about it,
of this is how I want to use him? What's
stood out?

Speaker 6 (24:17):
You just saw like his I just remember even playing
against the Bucks in twenty twenty, the COVID year here
and just watching him operate in the slot and having
his success in the slot over all those years and
moving out of the slot last year I think was
difficult for him at times. So his ability to play
in there is because he can also block so well

(24:40):
and that he can do some of the dirty work that,
let's be honest, not everybody wants to do. But when
you have that guy like we did in LA with Cooper,
you use him to your strength. So the defense when
he's in that slot and he's tighter, is it run
as it passes a screen?

Speaker 2 (24:56):
What is it? And you know he's given us that
flexible ability.

Speaker 6 (25:00):
So it was a no brainer as soon as you
know we were hired that we were going to move
him back to the slot.

Speaker 4 (25:06):
And I know, you have so many weapons that no
matter who a team chooses to focus on, another guy's
going to be able to do it. But so Chris
was the guy obviously, especially in the first half. I
know it took you guys quite a while. I think
it was something like the three minutes left in the
first half before anybody else made a catch. What was
the combination of either what Chris was doing so or
what was maybe not as open for other guys.

Speaker 6 (25:27):
Yeah, they were playing some too high shell to Mike,
and you know, we had an opportunity early on a
slant to Mike and the safety ends up jumping in
and you know, it just kind of open up. And
then Mike makes two big plays for us in the
second half on an outcut, two outcuts that they ended
up playing a little bit more single high, which gave
us more opportunities for Mike.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
So it was really Chris just taking advantage.

Speaker 6 (25:50):
I mean, he gets an explosive on that screen that
was kind of a big play actually in the game
to get us in the field goal range. So it
was kind of a combination of, you know, Chris being
open in some instances. I dialed up two plays for him,
the screen and the touchdown, that were specific to him,
and those just happened to work. And then the defense

(26:10):
was doing a good job of kind of playing top
down on Mike.

Speaker 4 (26:13):
We're talking to offensive coordinator Liam Cohen here, So how
about you know Baker is a nice juking running back
we have over here. Tell me when you saw these
moves putting a guy on skates, what went through your mind.

Speaker 6 (26:24):
Well, I haven't seen him be able to do it yet, really,
because you going through mini camp and you go through
OTAs and training camp, and well, the quarterback's not live,
so he's typically been really practicing playing in rhythm and
getting the ball out of his hands and playing fast.
So I have not seen him do this until last
week Week one. And so to have a quarterback be

(26:47):
able to scramble and be able to extend plays with
his legs while keeping his eyes down the field, that's
a huge threat to the defense because they think you've
got it, you know, locked down, they think they're getting
off the grass. They might have a sack and he
gets out of it and he can make plays. I
mean that is huge for our offense and for where
we need to go.

Speaker 4 (27:07):
And tell me about his scramble TD as well.

Speaker 6 (27:09):
Yeah, Yeah, that was a designed quarterback draw where he
had just had a big scramble to get us a
first down on like a third and four in the
red zone. And I was a little hesitant to call
it because I thought he might be a little out
of breath, but kind of you know, at that point,
you're going with the hot hand. He had just made
a great play. Didn't think they would be expecting it

(27:31):
in that moment, and we dial the draw up and
it was pretty open inside there, and he goes and
makes it play.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
It's pretty cool to see.

Speaker 4 (27:38):
And I feel like those are the plays. There are
some a ton of examples of why guys love to
kind of play for him, that there's playing with him
and for him. I feel like those are some of
those plays when he throws the stiff arm, when he
you know, does some of these things that maybe sometimes
make you a little nervous. Yeah, I figured, well that's it.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
He rallies the troops.

Speaker 4 (27:56):
Yeah, and what have you seen from that? And what
that can mean even for an offense when you have
a guy at quarterback like that.

Speaker 6 (28:02):
Yeah, especially when he's getting out of sacks where maybe
the old line didn't do as good of a job,
or the bout whatever it was. Where he's avoiding a
sack and he's getting out of those moments that ultimately
is taking care of them and so in then turn
makes them want to play harder for him because they're

(28:24):
playing off of each other and they want to protect
him at all costs. But he also has the ability
to protect them if they do miss something where he
can get out of it. We don't want to live
like that, but when it does happen a few times
a game and he takes advantage of it, it's going
to help our team win.

Speaker 4 (28:41):
I know a few of the times he had to
use his legs, you would have preferred him not too
largely because Aiden Hutchinson was a little active in this game.
He's a little annoying. Yes, tell me what it's like
to go against him and all the things you tried
to throw at the wall to see what would stick.

Speaker 6 (28:56):
Yeah, at the end of the day, we didn't chip
them one time, and he got a sack. On that
one time, and then he got multiple other sacks through chips.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
So very talented player. You know. In this past.

Speaker 6 (29:09):
Offseason, he he adopted a spin move that he didn't
really have last year, which makes him even that much
more challenging to go against. So we had a chip
plan for him on all plays essentially, which then only
allowed us to get three receivers out, which was hard
for us because of the way they were playing their

(29:29):
coverage structures. So he dictated a lot how that game
played out, and you know, we need to be better,
but we had a plan for him and what.

Speaker 4 (29:39):
Were the challenges specifically with the offensive line of that.
It's kind of later in the week that you learn
you're not going to have Luke and then knowing that's
a rough place to play loud and then your backup
that's coming in is as far from the center as
you can be.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
It's hard.

Speaker 4 (29:53):
So tell me how you tried to mitigate that and
just some of the things that you learned even in
this process.

Speaker 6 (29:58):
Yeah, we did a ton of silent kidence all week
and then really the week before we got ahead of
it a little bit.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
And you know, school he is a pro.

Speaker 6 (30:07):
He came in and in a tough situation against already
be one of the best pass rushers in the NFL,
and you know, we've got to help him out a
little bit more where we can. But when we got
the news that Luke wasn't gonna be up, you know,
we immediately went to the drawing board and said, Okay,
how can we try to make you know it so
that Hutchinson doesn't ruin the game. And well, that's what

(30:30):
great players do. They can still do it. So you know,
I can go to sleep at night knowing that, hey,
one time we didn't chip him and he got a
sack and that's on me.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
I'll take that.

Speaker 6 (30:40):
But we tried to do everything we could in order
to try to slow him down, but he was on fire.

Speaker 4 (30:47):
Yeah, And the run game, I know that it also
didn't maybe have the stats or numbers you were hoping for.
What did you see from that and the learning move forward?

Speaker 6 (30:55):
A lot of the some of the issues that we
had running the football in that environment. We miss some
communication where we weren't getting some proper calls out and
targeting the runs the right way, because well, Detroit does
a great job defensively of mixing up their fronts. They
don't just line up in you know, the same two

(31:16):
or three front structures and you know what to expect.
It's a rolodexa calls. You know, one guy being in
a different technique or alignment could create a different call
for the guys up front. So we had some miscommunication
up front, and we also miss some runs. You know,
we miss some runs where we need to hit some
of those runs at the end of the game when
they are there in that kind of game, we need

(31:39):
to take advantage of them when they're there.

Speaker 4 (31:40):
Two games in, I feel like they were in some
ways sort of polar opposite experiences for you as an
offensive coordinator. One is like you just get to do
whatever you want and it's working, and then you deal
with some injuries, some adversity on the road, and you know,
some game wrecking type people. Looking at these two experiences
for you, now, what are the ways that even as
a new offensive coordinator here you've already worn and grown
from both of those and how having such different experiences

(32:03):
Week one and two could actually be beneficial for you.

Speaker 6 (32:05):
Well, you learn that you can lean on your players
to make plays and trust them. You know, you can
trust these guys to compete at the highest level that
when things aren't going great, they're still going to be
able to respond. And at the end of the day,
it's about players, not plays, and that I've got to
be a little bit more open to trust these guys
to you know, let some things go and let them

(32:27):
go play freely. But for us to win two games
in two very different ways, you know, you learn a lot.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
Like hey, each week.

Speaker 6 (32:35):
Is its own entity, and especially going into this atmosphere,
into this game, we knew the challenge that was coming up.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
I think we handled the noise fairly well.

Speaker 6 (32:44):
We had the one pre snap penalty, but other than that,
we played a pretty clean game from a penalty standpoint.
We got to finish in the red zone better. We
got to go. It's all about us this week. Go
get better.

Speaker 4 (32:55):
Yep. All right, We're gonna take a quick break here
on Buccaneers Total Access brought to you by Advent Health.
We're talking offensive coordinator Liam Cohen. This is Buccaneers Radio.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
You were listening to Buccaneers Total Access with head coach
Todd Bowles and Bucks team reporter Casey Phillips, brought to
you by ad Van Health.

Speaker 4 (33:11):
Welcome back into Buccaneers Total Access. I am talking to
offensive coordinator Liam Cohen. We talked a little bit about
this pass game and we'll look ahead as well. But
I also, just as a new coach, we always love
to give everybody the opportunity to get to know you
a little bit better and your philosophy bit. So it
tell us just a bit about your path to this
point and the points that you really attribute to how
you've gotten where you are and what has formed and

(33:32):
shaped you as an offensive coordinator.

Speaker 6 (33:34):
Yeah, I think kind of growing up in the Northeast
and bouncing around in some lower level FCS football in
the Northeast, you kind of you learn to do some
of the grunt work you learn to be an assistant coach,
and then going and getting an opportunity to go co
work for Sean McVay with the Rams, And that's kind
of where I thought about looking at it. Where you're
getting your PhD in coaching and trying to learn as

(33:56):
much as you can about this game, and then hey,
over the last few years, taking chances on yourself and
betting on yourself to try to put yourself in a
position in your family, in a position to get where
you want to go, which has ultimately led us to Tampa.

Speaker 4 (34:11):
What do you see is the biggest differences in your
position for college and pro and how doing both has
helped form you.

Speaker 6 (34:18):
Yeah, I think in the college level, you only have
so much time with these players. You really have an
hour meeting and then you go practice because they've got class,
they've got study hall, they've got things to do, and
so you really have.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
To limit what you can put on the players.

Speaker 6 (34:34):
That's something that you learn to adjust to a little
and then Okay, make the transition back to the NFL
and you have time. You have players with experience, you
have really smart football players that can do a little
bit more. So now it's just finding that balance of Okay,
how much is too much, what's not enough? What can
these guys handle without slowing them down mentally. I think

(34:57):
it's been really nice. And then you know, obviously working
in the nil world of college football, you know, it's
a different landscape, it's a different world, but it allows
you know, you got to be a little bit more patient,
You got to have a little bit more positive outlook
on things and get these guys playing.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
So there's definitely pros and cons, but like the NFL.

Speaker 4 (35:19):
What do you remember about the interview process here, your
initial interactions, especially with Coach Bowls and what you were
also of course trying to say, this is why I'm
a good fit here, but also for you, it's interviewing
about this being a good fit for you. So what
stood out to you about that?

Speaker 6 (35:32):
I think you look at the respect level that everybody
in this profession has for Coach Bowls. That was something
that I had researched and looked into prior to obviously
coming here on an interview, And then when we sat
down and were able to talk football, just hearing his
philosophy the way that he really wants this thing to

(35:52):
look offensively was very much in sync with with what
I've always kind of thought and what I've expected an
offense to look like. And so that was great to
hear the support and and to hear his philosophy was
really much in line.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
So it was a pretty pretty smooth process.

Speaker 6 (36:12):
We really just talked ball, we talked philosophy, we talked football,
and it was a pretty pretty good match early on.

Speaker 4 (36:19):
And what was it like facing his defense early on?
Because I hear that, you know, not not the easiest
to go against loves to loves to throw everything at you.
How helpful was that for you as you got adjusted here?

Speaker 6 (36:30):
Extremely it's it's it's hard early on because you're trying
to install an offense and you almost have to teach
some exceptions before rules with when it comes to the
foundation and core principles of run blocking, of past protection
and things like that. So it was a challenge, but
it prepares you. It prepares you for moments and for

(36:52):
pressures and for looks that you're.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
Going to see in season.

Speaker 6 (36:56):
So those reps are now logged for us and we
can always draw back on those experiences to, you know,
to get better week in and week out.

Speaker 4 (37:05):
We're talking to offensive coordinator Liam Cohen. I know you've
said a lot of times about this, it's about the players,
not the place. And there's always the I have my
philosophy in my offense, and then there's the actual people
I have to go off of. When you got here
and got to really know the guys on this offense,
how much, if it all, did you have to alter
what you had originally planned coming in here.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
Yeah. I think when you have a true.

Speaker 6 (37:28):
X receiver like Mike, that's that draws attention that dictates
coverage that can win one on ones down the field
if you let them. That's been a little bit of
a different learning experience for us because very very much
so with the rams Are offense. Really it did ran
through Cooper Cup and we would move him around a

(37:50):
lot to put.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
Him in places.

Speaker 6 (37:52):
But now that you have you know Chris and Mike, well,
if they're going to double Mike, well then Chris can
have a good And then you see the first game
of the season, they leave Mike one on one and
we take a top and we get it, and so
they can play off of each other and that kind
of helps me as a play caller.

Speaker 4 (38:11):
What would you say is the hardest part of your
job as a play caller that maybe especially people wouldn't
necessarily know sitting on their couch.

Speaker 6 (38:19):
I would say that at the end of the day,
it's kind of on you in a way where, hey,
if things go well, everybody's they and then things don't. Wow,
there's a crappy call, that's a crumby call, that's you
stink run it, pass it. Everybody's going to have opinions.
But at the end of the day, you know, you

(38:42):
just got to be confident in yourself and in the
staff and trust it and go with your gut.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
But I think the ultimately, you know, just piecing together.

Speaker 6 (38:50):
A plan, right, it's like, Okay, we want to make
sure we have this from like this for Chris, J Mac, Trey, Rashad,
Bucky Cade. You're you know, you got to put pieces
of the pub together and that's kind of what it is.
It's design is really what it is.

Speaker 4 (39:06):
Do you have moments you can think about where you're like,
I absolutely crushed this call. This was amazing, and in
times that you're like, what was I thinking?

Speaker 6 (39:13):
Yeah, I mean I think the Commander's game that the
couple of the touchdown plays to either Chris on the
left side on the quick out Mike on the first
touchdown of the season, but really probably the one that
J Mack at the end of the game was a
call that Baker and I had kind of gone back
and forth of when we had a stopping and play
before the fourth quarter.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
We both liked the call.

Speaker 6 (39:35):
It worked out boom, and then I think you can
kind of look back this past week. The touchdown to
Chris was something we had really planned for and we
knew we wanted to get to that play once we
crossed the fifty, that was something that you.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
Feel good about.

Speaker 6 (39:50):
And then probably a sacher early on in the game
this past year.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
You know, this past week when we had.

Speaker 6 (39:55):
Mike one on one on a little man beater rub
we don't you know, to schoolly side and Hutchinson makes
a play and you sit there and you're a little
bit down on yourself as a play caller.

Speaker 4 (40:06):
Yeah, but you can't stay down long. I mean, you
got to bounce right back, go, you got to move on.
And so for you looking at this offensive line in particular,
we talked a little bit about some of your skill
position players this group. First why I always love how
in the hallway they just move as a herd like
they which it's gotta be nice of. I know this
last week you had to put a backup in, But overall,
it feels like the chemistry of this group, even with

(40:26):
a few new additions, got built really quickly.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
I think.

Speaker 6 (40:29):
So I think you look at the group of five
there and and the rest of the room. Really Hainesy
in school obviously is there's continuity, there's chemistry, but there's
you know, Ben Brettison's a pro he's played a lot
of football.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
He's a really smart football player. He can he adds
a whole nother thing to that room.

Speaker 6 (40:48):
And then you bring in a rookie and Graham who's got,
you know, extremely high ceiling and some of the things
that he did the other night were really really impressive.
Learned each week keeps getting better and so you add
that to that room and it's a good group.

Speaker 4 (41:05):
Of guys, and what do you feel like are the
big things that especially, you know, a line coach Kevin
Carberry have just heard great things about what he's done.
What have you seen about his influence on that group?

Speaker 6 (41:14):
Yeah, I think he and Brian Paccucci have done a
phenomenal job of kind of we've transitioned a little bit
in that room with we have all new calls. You know,
even last year with Dave being new, they kept all
the same calls up front because the coaches were there prior.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
This is all new for these guys.

Speaker 6 (41:33):
Up front, run calls, protect protection calls, everything. So to
get all of that installed in a short period of
time has been beneficial for us. But it's a testament
to those coaches in there. Those guys bought in and
we need to keep getting better and take the next step.

Speaker 4 (41:50):
All right, We're gonna take one more break here on
Buccaneers Total Access, brought to you by Advan Health.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
This is Buccaneers Radio Buccaneers Total Access with head coach
Todd Bowles.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
Now use brought to you by Advan Help.

Speaker 4 (42:02):
Welcome back into Buccaneers Total Access. I'm here with offensive
coordinator Liam Cohen. Let's talk a little bit about that
run games. So we were talking about the offensive line
right before the break. Tell me about Rashot and Bucky
and like your ideal vision of these two guys, their
skill set, how you'd like to use each other.

Speaker 6 (42:16):
We're gonna need them both. We're gonna need them both
all season to impact games. And both of them have
different styles. They both bring, you know, missibility to the
to the game where you can get Rashot in space
and throw them the ball and also get him, you know,
on the linebackers and he can do some things that way.
And then Bucky provides a spark where you can feel

(42:37):
the difference, you know, when he's in there in terms
of just the pace of play, and he just does
some good things.

Speaker 2 (42:42):
But both of them are going.

Speaker 6 (42:44):
To be really good players for us all year long,
and we need them, you know, we need them both.
So we got to count on both those guys, and
then as we go, okay, what do they both do
really well and start to kind of gear what we
do towards those things. So we're getting the right things
out of both of them with the production we need.

Speaker 4 (43:03):
You brought up one of the plays that you're really
proud of so far was the play to Jalen McMillan
week one. This is a guy who came in and
it felt like just lit the world on fire day
one a training camp and everyone just talked about him NonStop.
What did you see in terms of the way he
earned that trust from Baker, from yourself, where you two
are talking about this call to Jalen already week one

(43:24):
as a rookie that you're like, yeah, this guy has
earned it.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
Yeah, he came in and really worked really hard early on.

Speaker 6 (43:30):
You know, be Mac did a great job with him
when he first got in the building with us, came
in a rookie mini camp, and probably designed almost every
play of rookie Mini camp to go to him when
it came.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
To a pass play.

Speaker 6 (43:42):
So we really just kind of got him involved early
and put pressure on him to really learn and to
grow as a rookie.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
He's brought great energy to the group. You know, Chris and.

Speaker 6 (43:55):
Mike love having him, and he's made plays, so that
earns trust pretty quickly.

Speaker 4 (43:59):
Yeah, that's the key. Catch the ball, do the things.
Another guy the similar story in the sense of earning
the trust, Cam Johnson. I mean, I can't think of
many instances where an undrafted guy earns a spot, especially
when he was hurt for so much of the preseason.
So what did he do in such a limited amount
of time to get your attention.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
That same thing?

Speaker 6 (44:19):
Just unbelievable person, great kid, great guy. Just put that
a little bit, puts his head down, works, He'll go
run a route full speed, catch the ball, makes him
when he miss flip the ball to our manager and
sprint back to the.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
Huddle and do it again.

Speaker 6 (44:35):
And he's been able to move around and play multiple
different positions. B Max done a phenomenal job as well
with him and getting those guys ready to play. But
Cam is his time is going to come, and we're
excited to see.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
When it does.

Speaker 4 (44:51):
And Trey Palmer, what do you see as his potential
in the ways that he can influence the offense.

Speaker 6 (44:55):
Yeah, Trey's got the long speed, man, He's got long speed.
He can really, you know, get past the defense the
third level. I mean this past week, it doesn't show
up in the stat book, but him getting that past
interference on the first drive of the game, that's an
explosive pass at the end for us.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
That's how we look at it.

Speaker 6 (45:12):
So if we can continuously get him vertically and get
him down the field and keep him going and get
him a little bit more involved, Trey's going to be
very instrumental to our offense.

Speaker 4 (45:21):
Now let's talk about the tight end group, because I
feel like, you know, we mentioned the sort of pillars
of things of what we had learned about a Liam
Cohen offense before we saw one. One of them was hearing, yeah,
you are more of an eleven personnel guy one tight
end at a time. So as we're looking at the
fifty three getting cut down, it was, well, man, how
many are they going to keep? You kept four in
a I mean, that says something about what you think

(45:41):
of those guys. But in your mind, if only one
is likely to be on the field at any given time,
what made you say, man, these guys are still all
like we got to get four and yeah.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
I think that.

Speaker 6 (45:51):
You look at the top two Kid and Pain, well,
those are the guys that are going to play the
majority of the time. You know, co has done some
really good things in the run game but also on
special teams, so we didn't want to lose that element.
And we also did not want to put Devin on
waivers because of some of the future, you know, the
things that we can see for him in the future.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
So that's kind of the thought process there.

Speaker 6 (46:13):
And we've got to get those guys involved more in
the game plan. This past week was a little bit
of a frustrating one because we had to use them
to chip and take Hutchinson watch that's right.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
So we'll get those guys more.

Speaker 6 (46:26):
Involved this week and Caid and Caid's just been so
steady and I actually apologize to him after the game, said, look, man, hey,
we had to do what we had to do to win,
but I appreciate your patience and your time's coming.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
So they're going to continue to get better.

Speaker 4 (46:41):
And Caid, known as the nicest human on the face
of the earth, is never going to be upset.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
No, he sent me a great text back that made
me feel better.

Speaker 4 (46:47):
Oh well, that's definitely a thing that Cad can do
one hundred percent. What do you see is his biggest
strengths and the way you would like to use him
when it comes to getting him more involved.

Speaker 6 (46:56):
He's just accountable. He's in the right spot at the
right time.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
Baker, trust him.

Speaker 6 (47:01):
You can put the ball in tough spots and kid's
going to make a play. He's just such a good
dude that you want to see have success because of
the way that he approaches it, the way that he practices,
the way that he competes.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
We've got to get.

Speaker 6 (47:14):
Him more involved and we will if you really if
you say, my son's going to be like Kate I
and you'll feel pretty good.

Speaker 4 (47:20):
Yep, that's very true. You mentioned Devin Colp and the
fact that he's another guy late round pick still proved
that he was going to be someone you needed to
keep on the roster. What are the initial things that
you see out of him as that potential you mentioned
He can run.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
I mean, Devin can run.

Speaker 6 (47:34):
We've got to get him, you know, a little bit
more detail with his fundamentals, techniques, a little bit more
consistent catching the football.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
But he's flashed.

Speaker 6 (47:43):
He's flashed some some one handed catches above his head
and he can stretch the defense vertically. So excited about
his future, we just got to keep going along with him.

Speaker 4 (47:53):
We know you had history with Baker already, not super long,
but brief. Brief history with Baker. Tell me from what
you knew about him before to now really getting to
work with him on a much longer, more consistent basis,
from truly an x as an o' standpoint, what he
brings in the way he studies, his film sessions, and
the things that we might not know about him outside
of just like Stiff Farming the guest.

Speaker 6 (48:14):
Right, Well, Baker, when I first got with him in
twenty two, what I learned about him was his note taking,
his preparation. He's extremely detailed when it comes to He's
a highlighter freak, so he's got like a bag of
highlighters of all different colors. And when he studies, he
highlights things in different colors and those things have meanings, right,

(48:36):
those different colors have different meanings to him. It's how
he studies, it's how he learns. I thought that was
very impressive. And he watches tape. You know, he's in
here early, he leaves late. He watches a lot of
tape with the offensive line, So I think the fans
should know his preparation is where you would want a
franchise quarterback to be.

Speaker 4 (48:56):
I like that. We're talking offensive coordinator Liam Cohen. So
what are the biggest things moving ahead looking to the
Broncos that separate from just what the Broncos do? Looking
at yourselves? What are the big things that after these
first two weeks you're going to say, this is what
I want to see this, this is what we need
to focus on.

Speaker 6 (49:10):
First and foremost. We need to run the football better.
We've got to create some continuity. We've got to gain
a little bit more chemistry in the run game. We've
got to stop going backwards in the run game.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
Just being better in the red area.

Speaker 6 (49:24):
You know, that's where we've gotten down in so many
chances to score touchdowns and we've come away with three.
So we've got to find a better way to compete
in the red zone and score some more touchdowns. And
then you look at week one versus Week two, really
where we struggle was on third down.

Speaker 2 (49:39):
So we need to get back on track this week.
It's about us.

Speaker 6 (49:42):
It's our improvement, taking the next step of it as
an offense and see what happens.

Speaker 4 (49:48):
What are the biggest challenges in terms of the red
zone and the ways that you and your offense are
going to try to attack it a bit more.

Speaker 6 (49:53):
Yeah, you know the field shrinks, right, So the field
shrinks down, and if you are going to double Mic
and play a safety over them, well, you've got to
be able to run the football.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
And you know.

Speaker 6 (50:04):
That's something that you have to kind of scheme every
week is Okay, where's Mike, how are they gonna treat Mike?

Speaker 2 (50:10):
And then what can we do to counter that? So,
whether it was execution or play calling, it wasn't as
good the first two weeks. Is not good enough.

Speaker 6 (50:17):
So we've got to go back to the drawing board,
look at how we can be a little bit more
efficient in the red area, kind of challenge some of
these coverages that people are playing. And also the biggest
thing is to be able to run the ball in.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
The red zone.

Speaker 4 (50:30):
Now, looking at the Broncos defense, what are some of
the things that stand out to you that'll be an
interesting matchup?

Speaker 6 (50:34):
They have two good edge players. They have two good
edge rushers. They play with a lot of five down front.
They're trying to stop the run while also playing some
safeties in the back end. And they've got one of
the best corners in the NFL in Certain, So it's
gonna be a huge challenge for us. You know, they're
that's a good good defense. I mean, they're playing really

(50:55):
good defense right now. Vance Joseph has always done a
good job. So you know, we've got to be able
to run the football more effectively, as I mentioned, but
uh being we have to be creative about trying to
get Mike involved, you know, with a really good corner and.

Speaker 2 (51:06):
Certain on him.

Speaker 4 (51:08):
Yeah, and tell us a little bit more about Certain
and some of the things that he brings to the table,
because you know, the Broncos are not a team that
like the Bucks have seen as Austen. So having got
a chance to get a look at him, Yeah.

Speaker 6 (51:17):
Long, athletic, unbelievable ball skills. If you put it anywhere
near him, he's going to make a play on the ball.
You know, really really good at the top of the route.
He can transition, he plays vision vision eyes to the quarterback.
He can play man and man, just a long good
you know corner in this league that we've got to
be aware of.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
What's your favorite part of your job?

Speaker 6 (51:39):
I think just working with a group of guys like
this here, these these players here, these coaches, Uh, they
they're all in.

Speaker 2 (51:47):
You know, they're all in and what we're trying to
get accomplished.

Speaker 6 (51:50):
When you hear the guys when come off the sideline
and we score a touchdown and they're saying, hey, good call, coach,
you know they get it.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
This group gets it. They're fun to coach, they're fun
to be around, and so they make going to work
every day fun. So you know, we just got to
keep taking the next step.

Speaker 4 (52:06):
And finally we'll close with this what's your process now
that as the week progresses, the way you prepare, the
way you film study, how far out for an opponent
are you looking? And take us through kind of your
your timeline.

Speaker 6 (52:16):
I'll start on mondays of getting a jump on the opponent,
start to buzz the tape a little bit this afternoon,
this evening we'll do run game first and foremost, and Tuesday,
with the player's day off, we start with.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
More run game in the morning. Normal D and.

Speaker 6 (52:30):
D on Tuesday, Wednesday's third down, Thursday's a little bit
of third now, excuse me, Wednesday's normal D and D
with a little third down. Thursday third down, a little
bit of red zone. Friday a little bit more of
a red zone.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
Emphasis.

Speaker 4 (52:44):
Well, Liam, thank you so much for joining us. I
know it is a busy time as you were describing,
this is right when you're doing all your hard work,
So thank you so much for spending time with us.
And congrats on the two and oh start.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 4 (52:54):
All right, that's going to do it for us. Here
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