Brian Flores – November 15, 2020 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 15, 2020
Postgame – L.A. Chargers
Head Coach Brian Flores
(That CB Xavien Howard interception seemed to have been the huge turning point. Can you take us through that play, his significance to this team, and significance to this game that that play made?) – “Yeah, that was a big play in the game. There was a lot of big plays. I think it was a total team effort. I thought we started fast, played well in the kicking game, offense punched it in, so got a defensive stop, got the block on special teams and then the offense punched it in after that. And then we got off to a fast start. I think defensively we played, … We made it hard for them early in the game, getting off the field on third down. A lot of guys played well. I thought there was good communication, really across the board defensively, the kicking game, offensively. Like you said, ‘X’s’ (Xavien Howard) play was a big play in the game. I wish we would have turned it around and made a little bit more out of that next offensive series. A lot of things we can correct in the game. It’s nice to make those corrections in a win.”
(You guys have won five straight now. Is this sort of the style of play, the style of winning that you want for your team going forward?) – “However we … If it’s a win, I’m not sure it’s the style. I’m not really into style, fashion, as we talked to Armando about earlier in the week, but playing team football – offense, defense, special teams – if that’s what you mean, everyone involved, everyone’s role is important, good fundamentals, good technique, and just trying to grind out wins in a tough league, every game’s hard. That’s, again, like I said all week, their record is misleading. That’s a good football team. (Justin) Herbert is a good player. They’ve got a lot of good players over there. It’s tough to move the ball. It was tough to stop them. It was tough to make plays in the kicking game, but we executed a little bit better than they did and came out with the win.”
(Just wondering at what point during the week maybe you gave RB Salvon Ahmed the heads up that he was going to have an increased role in this offense? And what you thought of his game today?) – “It’s like everybody else on the team, the way you perform in practice will go a long way with how much playing time you get. So at what point in the week, it’s not like we walked in Wednesday and said, ‘It’s yours.’ He had to practice well. He practiced well Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I think we talked to all the backs and really everyone at every position and, ‘Hey, this is what the plan is, the initial plan is, or here are our thoughts and we’ll see how well you practice and if you practice well, then we…’ He went in there and performed well. I thought he ran the ball effectively. Again, we could have … We left some yards out there also, so I mean it wasn’t perfect, but we’ll make the corrections and hopefully be better next week.”
(With RB Salvon Ahmed, what went into your decision to start him? And can you talk about the speed that he brings and how that adds a dimension to this offense?) – “I think that he practiced well. Like I said earlier, he practiced well, made a couple plays last week. He’s been practicing well. And we gave him an opportunity and I thought he ran the ball effectively today. It wasn’t perfect, but again it’s not a one-man show, he had a lot of blocking up front from the o-line, the receivers and the tight ends. If nobody blocks, it doesn’t matter how fast you are. I know you probably have some speed there, but if nobody blocks for you, you’re not going to be able to get around the edge. So again, it’s a team effort and his runs are a … He had a lot of guys blocking for him.”
(How would you assess QB Tua Tagovailoa’s performance today? And do you leave this game feeling like you guys made the right decision drafting Tua?) – “It’s still early to … I haven’t watched the tape. Again, there’s … I got to watch the tape. It looked like he made two pretty good decisions. It looked like there were some throws there that he got into some tight windows. I’ll watch the tape as far as … We’ve talked about this. We have a lot of confidence in all our draft picks, that they’re going to develop and improve. He’s no different. That’s what we’re trying to do, develop and improve, and take it week-to-week and not make grand, ‘Hey, this is, you know’ … We’re not going to make any grand … We’re not going to talk about any player and say, ‘Hey, you’ve arrived and you’ve done it.’ Everyone has got to improve and get better. The players, coaches, everybody. So nobody has all the answers. I certainly don’t. It starts with me, and hopefully we just improve really at every position, including with the quarterback.”
(Earlier you mentioned the success in the kicking game. I wanted to see if you could walk us through the blocked punt and what happened there. Looked like some late shifting caused the pressure. Is that what happened, and if not, can you just tell us what happened on the blocked punt?) – “Danny comes up with different … Danny Crossman, our special teams coordinator, comes up with some schemes every week and we don’t get to run it all the time, but we had an opportunity to get that run early, do our best with it. And like you said, we had some a little bit of shift in motion, moving guys around, and we felt like it was an opportunity to maybe get a rush. We got it. But the big thing is executing it. Oftentimes you draw something up and it hits the way you want it to hit, whether it’s a run play, a pass play, a defense, but then you got to make the play. So it was a great block and a recovery and we were able to punch it in.”
(It’s been said that when you’re trying to turn around a franchise the only thing tougher than attaining success is managing success and for you guys to come off such an emotional big win last week, and to come out and get this victory, how significant is that and what does it say?) – “I think we have a mentally tough team. I think that this team they know that it’s important, it’s a week-to-week league, how we prepare, how we practice, how we walk through is a direct correlation to how we play. I think they understand that. This is a hungry group, they fight for each other, it’s important to them, they’re competitive, so they work at it and we’re seeing the fruits of that have labor out on the field. It wasn’t perfect. We know we got a long way to go, we know it’s hard to win in this league and we just take it one game at a time. We’re not looking down the road, we’re looking at the next day, the next meeting, the next practice, and just trying to take it one day at a time. I think that’s the approach that … That’s my message to the team on a daily basis and hopefully they’re kind of listening to it and I think that’s probably the best approach. That way we’re not thinking about everything else that’s going on, we’re just focused on right now.”
