Brian Flores – October 16, 2019 (Conference Call)
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Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Head Coach Brian Flores Conference Call
(I read that your high school coach – Coach Dino Mangiero – he was like 80-5 or 90-5. Did you ever lose a game at Brooklyn Poly Prep?) – “In high school?”
(Yes.) – “No, I never lost a game in high school. We had a tie one time in high school; but yeah, I was very fortunate. We had some good teams and a lot of good players.”
(The team was good when you were there, so you’ve never had a losing season in your life in football. Is that correct?) – “That is not correct. (laughter) I played for, obviously Pop Warner; so yeah, I’ve been fortunate to be on a lot of good teams. But ‘never had a losing season…’”
(This is not about you, obviously – this endeavor – but what have you learned about yourself here? Is there a newfound patience or what do you think?) – “I’ve always been the same. I’ve never made excuses. I’ve never complained. I’ve never worried about anything except for the next day and trying to improve and get better, build, and that’s kind of how I’ve approached everything really since those days in high school. That’s what I learned from my high school coach. That’s really my approach. I’m not going to complain. I’m not going to make excuses. I’m just going to try to get better every day and as long as I do that, then I’ve got peace with that.”
(What prompted the decision to go back to QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, especially when you had said something about letting this week play out a bit and you made this decision really before you started practicing this week?) – “Every week, you kind of look at the opponent. You see their strengths and weaknesses and you kind of put them up against your strengths, your weaknesses, and we just felt like that was the best move for this team this week.”
(Does it say anything about just the idea that a veteran like QB Ryan Fitzpatrick would obviously give you a better opportunity to win games, I guess regardless of the opponent?) – “I think that was the case this week. That’s what we talked about. That was the decision we made and that’s why we made that decision.”
(What do you make of this season? I know it’s been tough and there’s been a lot of questions about players’ commitment and just the losing hasn’t been easy. How do you keep this team together and what is your message to keep this team together?) – “I’m here every day. I kind of see the way these guys work, the way they apply themselves in meetings and walkthroughs and practice and the effort they give and all those areas. What I see is I guess somewhat different (than) what you’re talking about. These guys are motivated. They work hard. Right now there’s a lot of adversity in this building and I think that is in a lot of ways strengthening a lot of guys in this building. Hopefully we’ll be better for it.”
(You prepared for Bills QB Josh Allen Week 16 last year when you were in New England. What kind of strides have you seen him make in his game breaking down the first five games of his season this year?) – “He’s definitely standing in the pocket, reading the defense, going through his progression and he’s got a big strong arm and he’s making some really good throws. That’s – I would say – more so than he did a year ago. He would kind of take off and run when he had maybe a little bit more time, and now he’s sitting in the pocket and making those tough throws. He’s still a major threat running the football. That’s something that any team that plays against him has to kind of deal with. I think he’s a good quarterback.”
(What gives you the confidence that this team can have a breakthrough and compete given what the numbers look like, given that the Vegas odds have you as 16 1/2-point underdogs or however many points and people are down on you? How do you keep the outside noise out of the locker room, and what gives you confidence that this team is capable of competing this weekend against a pretty good Bills team?) – “We just worry about the guys in this building. The odds and those things – I really don’t, I don’t even – that’s the first time I’ve heard them this week. I really worry about what’s going on here. I think this team tries to do that and we try to just string good days together. We just had a good practice. We’ve had good meetings. We’ll go up there. We’ll compete. It’s a good team. We know that. It’s a tough team. It’s a physical team. It’s a well-coached team and we’re just going to try to go up there compete and obviously give our best effort and try to come out of there with a victory.”
(As a linebacker at Boston College you played against Bills RB Frank Gore in 2003. Do you remember anything about going up against him?) – “That was such a long time ago. Not really. (laughter) He’s a very good – he was a very, very good player. He was much better than me back then and he went on to have an incredible career. I have a lot of respect for him as a player, as a person, and he’ll be ready to go Sunday. I know that for sure.”
(As somebody very familiar with running a high-level defense, when you look at Bills Head Coach Sean McDermott and Bills Defensive Coordinator Leslie Frazier’s defense on film, what really stands out about them and what they’re able to do, especially after five games this year?) – “They do a great job with disguise really across the board. I think just from, ‘is it two-high, is it one-high, is the star blitzing, is the Mike blitzing, is the Will blitzing?’ Really what I love (about) watching these guys is they’re all great effort, they’re relentless to the football, they’re trying to punch the ball out and they play together. I think that’s – above all things – they play together as a unit, as a team. You can see that on film. The communication, all of those things are at a high level. As a defensive coach, I have high praise for Sean, Leslie and what they’re doing, and I know for us it’ll be hard to – we’re going to have to play at a high level to compete against that defense.”
