Brian Flores – December 9, 2020
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Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores
(I’m sure the Chiefs are no different than any other team in how they like to move around their receiving pieces on the line. How critical is it for you guys on the back end and the secondary to have that communication and make sure you have the matchups you want, whenever those guys…) – “Yeah, I think like every week, communication is vital, especially against a team like this with so many explosive weapons. (They have) a great quarterback and a great play-caller, so we’re going to have to do a good job on the back end, but also really across the board defensively. This will take a total team effort. Everyone has to handle their responsibility and communicate just to give ourselves a chance. This is as explosive a team as there is in the league, as you all know. We’re going to have to do a good job across the board.”
(Over the years, there’s a lot more great receivers than tight ends. When you have a great tight end, it seems like there’s a lot of things you can do with that. A guy like TE Travis Kelce, what does having a guy who can do the things he can do at the tight end position, specifically what challenges does that create?) – “Well, when you have an elite player like that, you have to pay close attention to him. When he’s in the tight end position and he’s in the middle of the field – they do a good job of flexing him out, they move him around a lot, so you have to pay close attention to him. You have to try not to have a bad matchup with him because if you do, obviously (Patrick) Mahomes is going to get it to him. It creates a lot of issues and oftentimes, you’ve got to double the guy. But when you double him and they’ve got guys on the perimeter, then those guys get singled. So it presents a lot of issues. I think oftentimes you’re looking at him and then they stick a run in there, and they get yardage in the run game because of that as well. He’s a dynamic player. He’s one of many on their offense and defense. Let’s not forget about this defense either. They’ve got some explosive players there too – guys who can ruin a game. They’ve got a good team.”
(You guys have been aggressive this year attacking offenses and having some success. Is that something you can continue against QB Patrick Mahomes? Or how much does he change what you do as far as your blitz packages and whatnot?) – “Look, they’ve got a lot of explosive players. We always want to be aggressive. The game is aggressive. It’s an aggressive game. We want to call it aggressively. We want to call it aggressively in all three phases – offense, defense and special teams – and they’re no different. They try to apply pressure really in all three phases, as well. I think (Head Coach) Andy (Reid), (Offensive Coordinator) Eric (Bieniemy) – I would say these are two of the best guys in the league. They do a great job. ‘Spags’ (Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) does a great job on defense. (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Dave) Toub does a great job in the kicking game. They’ve got a great staff and very good players. Like every game plan, there’s a mix of things you want to do. Every team’s got it. Every team’s got blitzes, every team’s got pressures, every team’s got coverages. So we’ll see how the game unfolds. We’ll have a plan going in. Oftentimes that plan has to be adjusted. That’s another thing about this group. Andy and ‘Spags’ do a great job – and Eric – they do a great job of making adjustments in-game, so it will be a great challenge.”
(With G Solomon Kindley, being able to move him from right to left guard there when G Ereck Flowers got injured this past game, how does that interchangeability help you and just engaging the assessment and performance of specifically the three rookies, making history and being able to play there. Just revisit that one more time.) – “It’s always nice to have – you need position versatility, really across the board and specifically at the offensive line (positions). We can only bring eight to the game, so if you want to play the top guys, a guy that can go from right to left or guard to center or right tackle to left tackle, as Jesse (Davis) has done, right tackle to guard, or tackle to guard, that flexibility is very important. It gives us a few options. But yeah, those three young guys, I think they’ve improved on a weekly basis. They’re a very challenging opponent this week against this group. Again, Frank Clark and (Chris) Jones, they’ve got a very good group here. It will be a tough challenge. We’ve got to prepare well this week.”
(What are the challenges and potential benefits of going no-huddle with a young quarterback?) – “Again, every week is different. The challenges – look, this is a very good defense. They do a good job of disguising. They do a good job with the rush. They do a good job in the run game. No-huddle, that’s kind of the big thing that everyone’s talking about right now but I think we’ve just got to do a good job of executing. You can no-huddle, you can huddle, you can do whatever you want but if you don’t execute, none of it works. I think this idea of no-huddle is kind of a fancy word right now for us but you can no-huddle and you have to execute. I don’t have much more to add to that except if we don’t execute, we can no-huddle and not execute and we’re off the field quicker. We just have to execute – no-huddle and when we go in the huddle.”
(I’m curious your thoughts on how QB Tua Tagovailoa responded over the past week or week and a half to the benching, to the injury. At what point last week did you have a good sense that he’d be able to play and did he show you something with his resiliency of how he bounced back after a rough couple of weeks?) – “I’ve been talking about his resiliency for weeks. Nobody’s listening. (laughter) Look, this is a tough kid. He knows how to deal with adversity. I’ve said this for multiple weeks. He’s like any player. He’ll have ups and downs in this league. Anybody who is involved in this league, that’s how it is. It’s not surprising that he can deal with adversity or has a resilient attitude. That’s kind of how he is, who he is. I think he’s done a good job from that standpoint.”
(In 2018, you faced the Chiefs and had two pretty epic games. The 43-40 regular-season game and then the AFC Championship game where you held them scoreless for a half. What have you seen in QB Patrick Mahomes and just kind of the team, in general, evolve since then? And what do you remember about those games?) – “I remember it was hard to stop them. It’s still hard to stop them. It’s probably harder to stop them now. I think this is a – I think Andy (Reid) and (General Manager Brett) Veach, they’ve done a really good job of building this team. My buddy (Assistant Director of Player Personnel) Ryan Poles is in the scouting department, my B.C. (Boston College) guy. Ryan Poles is in the scouting department there, so I’ll give him a shout out. They’ve got a lot of great guys over there. (Run Game Coordinator/Defensive Line) Brendan Daly, I would say is one of my closest friends in the coaching business. He’s their run game coordinator and a fantastic coach. (Eric) Bieniemy. When you talk about kind of seeing a team evolve, they’ve got a little bit of a killer instinct. (Patrick) Mahomes has got it. (Travis) Kelce has got it. (Tyrann) Mathieu defensively. (Chris) Jones. When they smell blood in the water, they go after you. I think that’s – I see Bieniemy there, I see Andy (Reid) there, I see B.D. (Brendan Daly) as part of that. ‘Spags’ (Steve Spagnuolo) obviously. They’ve got a really good staff. I know they’re coaching those guys hard and their players respond. Yeah, you’ve seen a lot of growth obviously since the last time I was on the field coaching against this group. They’re better. They’re confident. They play hard. They execute. They’ve got good coaches. If E.B. (Eric Bieniemy) is not a head coach here soon, something is wrong. It’s a good team. It’s a great challenge for us and we’re going to have to prepare and practice well this week, and play a competitive ballgame.”
(Do you have any kind of update on WR Preston Williams you can share with us?) – “Preston is obviously dealing with a foot (injury), and we’re coming towards the end of the season here. We’ll see. We’ll see if we can get him back. He’s doing everything he can from a rehab standpoint. We’ll see.”
(Us outside of the building have fun with this matchup, figuring out whose on WR Tyreek Hill, whose on TE Travis Kelce. I’m sure you guys have those conversations. Maybe not as fun. I don’t want your game plan, but what goes into that decision of which corner to have on this guy or how to handle Kelce? How do you go about that in a particular week?) – “Hill or Kelce? Because you said both guys?”
(I guess both, but maybe WR Tyreek Hill since we talked about TE Travis Kelce earlier.) – “Who are you going to put on (Sammy) Watkins? Who are you going to put on Mecole (Hardman)? Who are you going to put on (Demarcus) Robinson. We’ve got to handle the backs too. (Clyde) Edwards-Helaire is a good back. Le’Veon Bell isn’t a slouch either. I wish we could have 14 defenders. That would be nice. They are hard conversations. Do we man them? Do we zone them? Do we blitz them? Andy (Reid) has every play in the history of the National Football League. They run option, they run RPOs (run-pass options), they missile motion you. It’s not going to be easy. You guys can have fun with that. We’ll do our best to try to get them covered and get them matched up. I know that doesn’t answer your question; but I think ultimately, we have to do a good job of communication, we’ve got to get lined up, we’ve got to play a disciplined football game, defend the deep part of the field and force them to execute, which they do a good job of executing. Not give up anything easy.”
