49ers' Saleh admits he should've used better words with Jaguars' Coen - ESPN

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Two days after getting into a heated postgame exchange with Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen, San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh reiterated that his comments last week about «legal signal stealing» were meant as a compliment but acknowledged he could have chosen his words better.

«It is all good,» Saleh said Tuesday. «Whatever happened on Sunday doesn't change how I feel. In my heart, I genuinely was trying to give a compliment, and I own the fact that I probably used the wrong choice of words, but however you want to word it. I mean, they're really, really good at putting their players in position to be successful. As coaches, we're always chasing leverage. They're trying to have winning leverage. We're trying to take leverage away and everyone in the league is trying to find every avenue they can.

»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. 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."

Saleh went on to compliment the job Coen is doing as coach of the 3-1 Jaguars, who handed the 49ers their first loss of the season Sunday.

«I think Liam's doing a hell of a job,» Saleh said. «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.»

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