Brian Flores – September 8, 2021
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Wednesday, September 8, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(Is T Greg Little back?) – “Yes, he’ll be out at practice today.”
(Is T Liam Eichenberg a full go?) – “You’ll get the injury report later on, but we expect him to practice today.”
(Are there any players who are out that could be unexpected?) – “No.”
(Can you share with us the 2021 team captains?) – “Yes. Offensively (it is) Jesse Davis, Mack Hollins. Defensively (it is) Elandon Roberts, Jason McCourty. And in the kicking game, (Clayton) Fejedelem.”
(I’m curious what your game day routine is for yourself, especially on the road. Do you get up early, get a workout in? What do you go through to mentally get yourself ready?) – “It depends on a 1 o’clock versus 4 o’clock or night (game). I try to get a good night’s sleep. We prepare throughout the week so I feel pretty good going in. Get a good night’s sleep, no work out. Maybe watch a little bit of film, go through the game plan one more time, see if there is any thought that I may have, talk to the coordinators see if there is a thought they may have. There are a thousand things it could be. ‘Hey, what do you think about this player on this, or this route on this third down play, or this concept’ or something we could do defensively that may be a little bit different than what we practiced, which is a minor adjustment. That’s the word I was looking for was a minor adjustment that we could make.”
(Do you eat something or just something you make for your own…?) – “No. No rituals. I eat what I feel like – what’s in the café, what I feel like, what looks good. I don’t have any rituals.”
(Alabama now has three starting quarterbacks in the NFL that were all consecutive. You’re obviously facing one and you have one on your own team. That program’s ability to turn out high-level quarterbacks says what about the job they do there?) – “I don’t think it’s just quarterbacks. They have position players throughout – offensive linemen, defensive linemen, linebackers, safeties, corners, receivers, tight ends. They do a good job there of recruiting and then coaching the players so they can have success at their level, which gives them an opportunity to play in this league, and they’ve had a lot of success in this league as well. Coach (Nick) Saban has done a great job. His staff has done a great job. They’ve done a great job recruiting and we’ve got a few ‘Bama players on our team. We’re pleased and happy with those players. They came to us with good fundamentals, good techniques, knowledge of the game, knowledge of situations and that’s a testament to the program they were at.”
(Out of your team captains, I thinks it fair to say that WR Mack Hollins is a little bit under the radar during training camp. What did you see from him in terms of leadership and why he’s worthy of being a team captain this year?) – “I think that’s probably under the radar from your vantage point, but in our locker room – that’s just something no one else would know. He brings energy on a daily basis. He works hard. It’s important to him. He plays in a variety of positions. He plays in the kicking game. I think he does a lot of good things for our team. His teammates elected him captain and I think they did that for a reason.”
(How pronounced is the difference between Week 1 scouting report versus Weeks 2 through Week 17? There is educated guesswork every week obviously, but particularly so in Week 1, I would think. Is it a significant difference in what you show guys?) – “Yeah, I mean in Week 1, that’s when you have the least amount of information. I think a lot of it is predicting, forecasting based off of the preseason, based on what players have done in the past, what coaches have done in the past. But coaches change. We all go through different concepts, different themes throughout the offseason – offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. (We all) implement a few new things. I think at the end of the day, Game 1 is about fundamentals, techniques, communication, tackling well – which is obviously a part of fundamentals – throwing, catching the ball, playing penalty free. I think those things, no matter what week, those are things that are standard operating procedures you have to have. But Week 1 from a scouting plays, schematic concept standpoint, yeah you have the least amount of information. Then you really rely on your rules, believe your rules, follow your rules and your fundamentals. I think if you do that, really in any game, it’s probably your best bet.”
(What would be your thoughts for QB Tua Tagovailoa relative to using his voice to stress his input on not only the offensive concepts, but the weekly game plan?) – “There is always a discussion from the quarterback, in the quarterback room, within the entire offense. We’re running a route, here are the depths. He’s talking to the receivers, he’s talking to the backs, he’s talking to the O-line. As far as input on the game plan, yeah there is definitely input from the quarterback and quarterback room. I think that input is also based on the players you’ve got around him. I talked to so and so and he wants to run it like this, or I talked to this guy and he thinks he can get open on this. I don’t know if it’s specifically Tua’s input. I think it’s Tua’s relationships, which turns into a team input on what we would do offensively, if that makes sense.”
(Is there a cut-off point where you have to prepare for this game without T Austin Jackson or TE Adam Shaheen, or is there still hope that either of those players can play?) – “Yeah. They are not here, so we are preparing as if they are not going to play. We’ll go through the process. If we get them back, we get them back; but as of right now we’re going through it as if they are not going to be there.”
(How do you balance going against a quarterback who’s playing in his first NFL game trying to confuse him with looks, make his mind go a million miles an hour versus just doing what you do defensively, knowing he’s inexperienced and maybe mistakes you try to force will maybe come naturally?) – “I’d like to think we’re always trying to disguise and create a situation where it’s not easy for the quarterback. I’d like to think that. I think that’s always part of the game plan. That player has the ball in his hands on every snap, so if you can disrupt that player, then you have a good chance of creating disruptive plays. I think we’re always trying to have an effect on the quarterback – rookie, veteran. I think that’s where it starts, I would say just at least from a pass game standpoint. But they’ve got a very good run game. I think we’re a little bit of ‘Mac Jones, Mac Jones, Mac Jones.’ He’s a good player, but they’ve got a lot of good players on that offense and defense and kicking game, so I think for us, we’re playing the Patriots. They’ve got a good offensive line. They’ve got good tight ends. They’ve got good receivers and I think there’s a lot to handle there. If we just put our emphasis on affecting the quarterback, then they’ll probably get us somewhere else. So there’s a lot here.”
(There’s a lot of talk of players making a big jump from Year 2 to Year 3. Where do you think your biggest jump has been now entering your third season in charge here?) – “I think I just take this one day at a time. I don’t really kind of look at it of where was I last year versus this year. Right now I’m just trying to help our guys have success, help our guys improve, help our guys get better today. I just don’t think that way. I don’t think about where I was a year ago from where I am now. I try to be present and I think that’s how I’ve kind of operated. I try to get our players to operate that way and I don’t think about next week or last week or last year. I just try to be in the moment.”
(You’ve obviously gone back to New England a few times now as head coach of the Dolphins and obviously you’re focused on the task at hand which is the game and your opponent, but are there moments when you’re there where you get a little more reflective – maybe even dare I say more – I don’t think I will dare say that because you’re always motivated – but is there anything special that even after the game, before the game, that stands out when you’re in new England on that other sideline?) – “This has happened twice and one time there was no fans, so it was a very different atmosphere and then the other one was two years ago and again, I’m not a guy who kind of thinks to what happened two years ago. I was there for a long time. I learned a lot there. There’s a lot of – obviously from Bill (Belichick), and I’m very fortunate to have been there. I enjoyed my time there and there’s still some people there that I have good relationships with and then I have a great deal of respect for their coaching staff, the people in that organization; but when we go there, we’re going there to compete. And there’s no – that’s what it is. I’ve said this before – they know that. Bill (Belichick) – everyone on his staff is there to compete and that’s what I learned there and I’ve taken that with me here and that’s my approach. So there’s no nostalgia. I know I used that word the other day, but I’m just going there to compete.”
(I noticed LB Jaelan Phillips listed third-team on the initial depth chart. What factors played into that decision?) – “I wouldn’t look too deep into the depth chart. Jaelan (Phillips) has worked really hard. We have so many different groupings. You can only put one group on the depth chart so I want to say it’s the base group. Actually I think it’s the nickel group. So a lot of groupings – we’ve got nickel, we’ve got dime, we’ve got base, we’ve got nine DBs in the game. We’ve got a lot of different groupings. He’s worked hard. I think we’ll find a way to get him some snaps, but we’re going to play the guys we feel give us the best chance to have success.”
(You want to play the best five on the offensive line. If T Liam Eichenberg were to rise into that for Week 1, your comfort level in playing him at a position where he hasn’t practiced all training camp, even though he does have college experience there?) – “We’re going to play the best five. Obviously part of that is making sure all five guys are comfortable playing the position that they’re playing and we have to feel comfortable with that, that the players are comfortable. That’s what we’ll do. Liam’s played a few different positions and I think that’s the case for a lot of guys on our line. Rob Hunt has played tackle. Jesse (Davis) has played tackle and guard – left side, right side. (Michael) Deiter has played guard. Rob Jones was a tackle in college. We like the versatility and that’s why we have it, for situations like this where we could potentially be down one guy; and if that’s the case, then the next guy’s got to kind of step up. I think we’ll be comfortable with whoever we put out there.”
(You’ve said many times that you tend to be present like the answer you stated a couple minutes ago. You just focus on what’s in front of you. Do you find that players generally have that same approach or is that something you kind of have to steer them toward?) – “I think we all naturally think about the past, think about the future. I think that’s just kind of general human nature or that’s been in conversations with people about this topic. What’s in front of me, what happened – I think it’s harder to stay present. I think there’s a discipline to trying to be in the moment. And yeah, I think that’s something we talk about a lot and I think in this game, if you’re thinking about what happened on a previous play, that could affect you on the next play. So we want them to be in the moment because good or bad, we’ve got to focus on the next play. ‘I just scored. I’m good.’ No, that’s not how we want to operate. Or ‘I just had a bad play. I’m no good.’ No, that’s not how we want to operate. I think that’s not just a football lesson. It’s really a life lesson and if you can apply to that to the other things in our lives, then I think we’d all be better for it. So just my thoughts, not that they mean much. (laughter)”
(What are your on-field expectations for QB Tua Tagovailoa on Sunday?) – “Good fundamentals, good technique, good communication, good decisions and that he has fun playing this game that he loves to play. That’s part of this, too. Nobody talks about that, but that’s part of this, too. I love coaching football. I’m going to be having fun on Sunday because I’m doing what I love to do, and hopefully you guys are all doing what you love to do – covering the team – and the players are doing what they love to do – playing the game. So that’s what I’ll tell him to do.”
