The Jacksonville Jaguars’ offense under head coach Liam Coen has a signal-stealing system, but one that is legal.
Or at least that is how San Francisco 49ers’ defensive coordinator Robert Saleh described it.
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“Liam Coen and his staff, a couple guys coming from Minnesota, they got legally a really advanced signal-stealing type system where they always find a way to put themselves in an advantageous situation. They do a great job of it,” Saleh said.
Of course, what Saleh is referring to isn’t signal-stealing in the sense of the Jaguars‘ videotaping San Francisco’s offense or reading what’s taking place on their sidelines. Instead, he is referring to how the Jaguars’ offense operates pre-snap.
The usage of motion in Coen’s offense can help the offense get a read on what the defense might be doing based on how they react–or even communicate–to the movement from different alignments.
In addition to that, this is a scheme where Coen likes to run a variety of plays from just a few personnel groupings, which can help create mismatches, as well as like-plays, or plays that look similar initially but are actually quite different.
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All of that is meant to keep the defense off-balance, guessing, and give the offense an advantage.
“They formation you to try to find any nugget they can,” Saleh added. “We have to be great with our signals. Be great with our communication to combat some of those tells we might give on the field. They’re almost elite in that regard.”
Even with some legal signal-stealing tactics, as Saleh called it, a difficult test awaits the Jaguars this week. Through three games, the 49ers have one of the stingiest defenses in the NFL.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Liam Coen’s Jaguars’ offense has legal ‘signal-stealing’ system